It’s really bizarre. There’s so much to criticize about the transit system here but the majority of what’s done (or perhaps what bubbles up on popular websites) is weird breathless criticism of things that either don’t matter or are small enough to be minutiae.
- Bring the NYC subway fully under the control of the city: remove Albany from the decision making process so we can actually fund the system.
- Charge based on distance.
- Stop policing poverty. E.g. stop paying cops to arrest fare jumpers and fix shit instead.
Charging based on distance would be a huge fuck you to the city’s most cash strapped.
I think the single fare is one of the city’s most egalitarian features and I hope it stays that way.
In this age of inequality further burdening those with the least is the last thing we should be doing.
I’d much prefer a tax on residences which stay vacant for more than six months a year, and a tax on empty store fronts encouraging store front rents to drop enough to let back in some more Mom and Pop stops to shop instead of yet another bank, Walgreens, or Subway.
I should have been more clear in my comment that we need to allow the lower classes free access to the subway. You're absolutely right that distance-based fares with no support structures would fuck a lot of vulnerable people.
> Bring the NYC subway fully under the control of the city: remove Albany from the decision making process so we can actually fund the system.
Great. Then you can also cut out the statewide taxes and the local taxes for counties that are in the MTA region, but where the vast majority of people don’t use the MTA.
About charge based on distance. I don't know about NYC in particular, but I would not support that where I live without thourough understanding what actually drives the costs in the system. It is not uncommon that commuters in far away suburbs, that commute far, actually get quite poor service, considering for example number of options for transit. Fewer trains or buses, etc. My guess is that what drives the costs is staff, and staff per square km is most likely higher in central parts of the system. So a fair fee strucure could very well be completely different than per distance.
Commuters that are coming into NYC itself from the suburbs are already paying distance pricing for the MetroNorth and LIRR which break up the routes into zones and your fare is based on how many zones you transition.
Also don't forget trains physically still cost money to maintain. The longer distance they travel, they sooner they'll need to undergo maintenance. As one example, the wheels they roll on do need to be taken off, inspected, repaired/replaced on fixed schedules.
The longer they travel with less people moved, the more expensive it is.
Another case is that the fuel or electricity they use isn't free either.
Bring the NYC subway fully under the control of the city: remove Albany from the decision making process so we can actually fund the system.
You trust City management more than I do. How did NYCHA work out? How about the endless proliferation of agencies being created, hand-outs to City employees and contractors?
Stop policing poverty. E.g. stop paying cops to arrest fare jumpers and fix shit instead.
Putting aside the debate about fare evasion and its relation to budget, being discussed here, how does not 'paying cops' and paying someone else (?) play a role?
The amount of time and money being spent on policing fare jumpers is so small as to be effectively zero. But it's a point people will try to make all the same.
Distance based charging is absolutely coming long term. The contactless system is the ground work for it. It cannot be implemented with metrocards currently without creating absolutely massive bottlenecks to leave stations at rush hour.
How does contactless avoid that bottleneck problem? Even if you have a system with 99% or more success rate on first "swipe", it's still going to bottleneck quite badly.
Ever take the CTA in Chicago? Completely contactless.
Discounting the speed walkers who nearly cartwheel over the turnstile we manage to put millions through a day without bottlenecking the fare/board process even on busses (with the exception of those types of riders who will watch the bus coming down the road blocks away and still forget to have their pass ready)
I think you misunderstand. You'd still be made to pay, if you look like you've got a job. In San Francisco, the fare inspectors know exactly whose tickets they should check and whose they shouldn't.
- Bring the NYC subway fully under the control of the city: remove Albany from the decision making process so we can actually fund the system.
- Charge based on distance.
- Stop policing poverty. E.g. stop paying cops to arrest fare jumpers and fix shit instead.