A People’s History of MTA Fare Hikes
But was the surplus so great? According to a Times editorial from 1998, “what many blithely define as the transit system’s ‘surplus’ is simply the amount by which actual revenues are exceeding a conservative revenue forecast that could finance only a subpar level of transit service to begin with. During the two rush hours, for example, just half the 20 lines have intervals between trains of five minutes or less.”