A People’s History of MTA Fare Hikes
1995 was 1933 or 1971 all over again. One member of the Straphangers Campaign called Giuliani to task for his proposed 25-cent increase. “What’s a fare increase? It is a tax increase on the more than four million people who use city subways and buses every workday,” he wrote. “Subway riders have an average family income of $38,000, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. A two-income family at this level will save $100 or less if an income tax cut is adopted in Albany. Yet that family’s yearly commuting costs will go up $260 if the fare is raised by a quarter.”