City Council: "You poor and need a MetroCard? We got you (if DeBlasio doesn't stop us)..."

[Deucey]

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/council-pushing-half-price-metrocards-poor-new-yorkers-article-1.3925875

The City Council proposed paying hundreds of millions of dollars for half-price MetroCards for poor New Yorkers in its budget response, Speaker Corey Johnson said Tuesday.

The budget plan will include $212 million a year in city money to pay for the discount fares for people living under the poverty level — an idea Mayor de Blasio has said he supports but for which he doesn’t think the city should pick up the tab.

“This is not us subsidizing the MTA,” Johnson said of the proposal, part of the Council’s response to the mayor’s budget. “This is us helping low-income New Yorkers.”

And it will be one of the “pillars” of the negotiation between the Council and de Blasio over an $89 billion budget, he said.

Politicians push cheap MetroCards for low-income New Yorkers

“The mayor, when he ran for mayor in 2013, he talked about the tale of two cities,” Johnson said. “For folks who can’t afford the subway every single day, I think that shows the city that they’re living in.”

It’s not the only financial relief in the Council’s proposal — there’s also a $400 property tax rebate for home, condo and co-op owners earning less than $150,000 a year.

The discount MetroCards would be available to people living below the federal poverty line, which is $25,100 for a family of four.

Transit advocates have pushed the idea for years, but both the state and city have balked at paying for it.

City pols blast Cuomo proposal to fund MTA with property taxes 

De Blasio has said he supports the idea but wants it paid for through a state-enacted tax on the rich, which would also bring in money for subway repairs — something he reiterated following Johnson’s proposal.

“City resources have declined in the last few weeks,” he said, citing cuts from Albany. “So I understand the City Council wants to achieve something noble, but it’s going to be a very straightforward conversation with them about the money we have available and how far it’ll reach.”

But the speaker has said the millionaires’ tax is not going to happen and the city should foot the bill.

“I don't see that happening. It didn't happen during the state budget. I don't see it happening during this legislative session, and we believe that we should take city dollars and resources to fund this,” he said during an appearance on WNYC’s “Brian Lehrer Show.”

Some 35 Council members wrote to Johnson last month asking for fair fares to be included in the budget proposal. The full budget response will be released later Tuesday.

The property tax rebate, meanwhile, comes as the Council’s budget response also calls for the creation of a commission to overhaul the city’s byzantine property tax system — which a group called Tax Equity Now is suing over, saying the system favors white, rich homeowners who often pay less than middle- and working-class owners in outerborough neighborhoods.

The rebate would cost $187 million, Johnson said, and go to about 467,000 households.

“Our property tax system is broken,” Johnson said. “This does not fix that, but it shows that we are thinking about the needs of homeowners.”

The property tax rebate would require state approval, according to City Councilman Steven Matteo (R-Staten Island), who has been pushing for a rebate for several years.

De Blasio has vowed to set up a property tax commission in his second term but so far has not yet done so. Johnson said he was open to creating a commission using legislation, but that he would “hope we don’t have to.”

He cited a 1993 property tax commission put together jointly by Mayor David Dinkins and the City Council as a model.

“We don’t have the solution, that’s why we want to put together a commission of experts to come up with the fairest way to do it,” he said.

His request comes as the city seems to be set for a pair of dueling charter revision commissions — with de Blasio saying he will launch his own to examine campaign finance issues and the Council looking to legislatively create one with a broader scope. But Johnson was optimistic the property tax commission wouldn’t meet the same splintered fate.

“I sure hope not,” he said.

 

(Barry Williams/for New York Daily News)

The property tax rebate would require state approval, according to City Councilman Steven Matteo (R-Staten Island), who has been pushing for a rebate for several years.

De Blasio has vowed to set up a property tax commission in his second term but so far has not yet done so. Johnson said he was open to creating a commission using legislation, but that he would “hope we don’t have to.”

He cited a 1993 property tax commission put together jointly by Mayor David Dinkins and the City Council as a model.

“We don’t have the solution, that’s why we want to put together a commission of experts to come up with the fairest way to do it,” he said.

His request comes as the city seems to be set for a pair of dueling charter revision commissions — with de Blasio saying he will launch his own to examine campaign finance issues and the Council looking to legislatively create one with a broader scope. But Johnson was optimistic the property tax commission wouldn’t meet the same splintered fate.

“I sure hope not,” he said. 

[Deucey]

How about the city put more money to the MTA and lower MetroCard fare for everyone?

I know I'm tired of giving up $122 each month and having to let two or three trains pass by because "signal problems" or "miscellaneous" happen.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

30 minutes ago, Deucey said:

How about the city put more money to the MTA and lower MetroCard fare for everyone?

I know I'm tired of giving up $122 each month and having to let two or three trains pass by because "signal problems" or "miscellaneous" happen.

Well the decides the fare, but I agree. 212 million annually for a figure that will definitely ride for half fare Metrocards is a waste. It won't stop people from farebeating. They will just resell the Metrocards.

[Lawrence St]

The fare prices really do need to stop going up. But that's not even the main issue, you pay $2.75 for "great service" yet 75% of the time, either the metrocard vending machine fails to refill your metrocard, eats it, the subway stops working, or you get involved in a fight on the train when you just want to go home in peace.

But then again, almost most of the time, the delays arent MTA's fault. I remember when I got trapped three times because of power issues at either 7th Av, or Dekalb Av. At the point you know the subway is done for the day.

[Deucey]

44 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Well the decides the fare, but I agree. 212 million annually for a figure that will definitely ride for half fare Metrocards is a waste. It won't stop people from farebeating. They will just resell the Metrocards.

True. I know I would.

Hell, last time I had a full fridge was cuz I bought a food stamps card from a crackhead off Jersey Street.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

48 minutes ago, Deucey said:

True. I know I would.

Hell, last time I had a full fridge was cuz I bought a food stamps card from a crackhead off Jersey Street.

Even so it's hard keeping a fridge stocked. I try to go to Whole Foods twice a week, but even then I only buy enough for a few days this way nothing is wasted, not to mention the time going to the market and schlepping the stuff home.  I also have started ordering staples online that I can stock the cabinets with. The only thing I buy for the fridge in bulk is frozen organic veggies, otherwise organic herbs and such, I buy as I need and try to use them before they go bad. Right now I have organic arugula and organic basil in the fridge.  That stuff will last maybe for another week tops, so I have to finish it.  And of course you know beer doesn't last long, not in my fridge anyway... 

[Future ENY OP]

The biggest problem with the  right now is it doesn't address the people who work and live within the intraborugh areas like Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Upper Manhattan.  We all know Midtown and Downtown Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn are frequent central business zones. However, the amount of subway delays, congestion and the fare being $2.75 is that we are all being short changed. 

People like myself have stop depending on TA services and would rather jump in a car to take advantage of Downtown Brooklyn parking before 7AM and since the TA can't address those concerns I will continue to hop in my car for the convenience to reaching Downtown. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

4 minutes ago, Future ENY OP said:

The biggest problem with the  right now is it doesn't address the people who work and live within the intraborugh areas like Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Upper Manhattan.  We all know Midtown and Downtown Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn are frequent central business zones. However, the amount of subway delays, congestion and the fare being $2.75 is that we are all being short changed. 

People like myself have stop depending on TA services and would rather jump in a car to take advantage of Downtown Brooklyn parking before 7AM and since the TA can't address those concerns I will continue to hop in my car for the convenience to reaching Downtown. 

I can't blame you for driving to be honest.  The entire system is outdated in terms of addressing where people are traveling to. Everything is still very Manhattan centric, and in particular Midtown. Meanwhile we see growth and development Downtown in Manhattan, and certainly in the outer boroughs. I also think that these developers need to start being held more accountable. If the city is going to allow them to built to no end, they should be forking over monies to help improve transportation.

[Deucey]

2 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I can't blame you for driving to be honest.  The entire system is outdated in terms of addressing where people are traveling to. Everything is still very Manhattan centric, and in particular Midtown. Meanwhile we see growth and development Downtown in Manhattan, and certainly in the outer boroughs. I also think that these developers need to start being held more accountable. If the city is going to allow them to built to no end, they should be forking over monies to help improve transportation.

I think for every new development, there should be built at least a 300 space parking garage separate from whatever parking the development is providing.

That way, street parking could be eliminated and an additional travel lane could be added so either more cars get through faster, or there's a protected bus lane so bus riders can get through faster.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

8 minutes ago, Deucey said:

I think for every new development, there should be built at least a 300 space parking garage separate from whatever parking the development is providing.

That way, street parking could be eliminated and an additional travel lane could be added so either more cars get through faster, or there's a protected bus lane so bus riders can get through faster.

Or better yet, if this city could stop sticking in bike lanes on every damn street where they don't belong, narrowing lanes to just one in each direction, that would ease things too.  

[Future ENY OP]

1 minute ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I can't blame you for driving to be honest.  The entire system is outdated in terms of addressing where people are traveling to. Everything is still very Manhattan centric, and in particular Midtown. Meanwhile we see growth and development Downtown in Manhattan, and certainly in the outer boroughs. I also think that these developers need to start being held more accountable. If the city is going to allow them to built to no end, they should be forking over monies to help improve transportation.

That is correct. You even have some upper Manhattan people driving Downtown for the convenience of not taking the train. Generally what is supposed to be a 35-40 min ride on the   from Inwood to Downtown-Fulton Street can turn into 90 mins easily simply there's signal trouble, sick passenger, or RCC issues at Chambers or West 4th.  Using the  train as an example since it's one of the longest routes in the system.

i do agree with the notion that developers need to held accountable for the properties that they build and not include transportation into their factor. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

5 minutes ago, Future ENY OP said:

That is correct. You even have some upper Manhattan people driving Downtown for the convenience of not taking the train. Generally what is supposed to be a 35-40 min ride on the   from Inwood to Downtown-Fulton Street can turn into 90 mins easily simply there's signal trouble, sick passenger, or RCC issues at Chambers or West 4th.  Using the  train as an example since it's one of the longest routes in the system.

i do agree with the notion that developers need to held accountable for the properties that they build and not include transportation into their factor. 

Between the signal problems and the homeless taking over the cars, it's no wonder that people are driving.  The trains are packed, slow and crawl from points north of 59th on.  Then on weekends, you're lucky if you have any service at all depending on your location.  I have to be uptown twice a week now, and I've been regretting it, especially on weekends.  If you don't pay attention to the status board, good luck.  I think last weekend there was no service on the  from 145th to 168th, so I gave myself an extra 15 minutes each way to just walk to where I was going.  I don't think they provided any shuttle service either.  I think they'd be better off just shutting down stations and getting the work done.  Trying to keep track of what's happening at the station you need every single weekend is annoying and very inconvenient because you have to keep switching up your commute.  Either you don't have any service, or only service in one direction forcing you to back track. I think it would be easier to get used to one set up.

[Deucey]

46 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Or better yet, if this city could stop sticking in bike lanes on every damn street where they don't belong, narrowing lanes to just one in each direction, that would ease things too.  

Or shave the curbs 4 inches so there's more width in the travel lane so buses don't have to stop or cross double yellows when someone opens a car door.

[biGC323232]

4 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Between the signal problems and the homeless taking over the cars, it's no wonder that people are driving.  The trains are packed, slow and crawl from points north of 59th on.  Then on weekends, you're lucky if you have any service at all depending on your location.  I have to be uptown twice a week now, and I've been regretting it, especially on weekends.  If you don't pay attention to the status board, good luck.  I think last weekend there was no service on the  from 145th to 168th, so I gave myself an extra 15 minutes each way to just walk to where I was going.  I don't think they provided any shuttle service either.  I think they'd be better off just shutting down stations and getting the work done.  Trying to keep track of what's happening at the station you need every single weekend is annoying and very inconvenient because you have to keep switching up your commute.  Either you don't have any service, or only service in one direction forcing you to back track. I think it would be easier to get used to one set up.

Word up.......Seems to me thats the new millinuim thang....Signal problems,Homeless taking subway cars to themselves,Fares raising every year,Every wkend there's service changes....And before anyone say it I know the system is over 100 years old but good god there is a service disruption every wkend...Back in the 90s there wasnt this many wkend diversions...

[Via Garibaldi 8]

5 minutes ago, biGC323232 said:

Word up.......Seems to me thats the new millinuim thang....Signal problems,Homeless taking subway cars to themselves,Fares raising every year,Every wkend there's service changes....And before anyone say it I know the system is over 100 years old but good god there is a service disruption every wkend...Back in the 90s there wasnt this many wkend diversions...

I forget what station I was in over the weekend, but an  train or an came in and something made he whirl around.  Probably the number of homeless people in one car, but also the amount of space these people took up.  I mean it was like a shopping cart of something full of crap.  This is another problem that needs to be addressed and is causing so much crowding on the trains.  Between that and these damn people trying to get on with those huge bikes...  Either bike it or take the subway, but these people have these big bikes trying to get on and I don't get it.  Do they live that far from the subway station and if so why can't they just take the bus? They're already paying $2.75 so you get a free transfer with the Metrocard.

[R68OnBroadway]

5 hours ago, Future ENY OP said:

That is correct. You even have some upper Manhattan people driving Downtown for the convenience of not taking the train. Generally what is supposed to be a 35-40 min ride on the   from Inwood to Downtown-Fulton Street can turn into 90 mins easily simply there's signal trouble, sick passenger, or RCC issues at Chambers or West 4th.  Using the  train as an example since it's one of the longest routes in the system.

 

The  train has the worst reliability  imo and is always f'd up when I take it. Missed one at 14th and 8th on my way to LGA and it was a 15 minute wait for the next one. At 9 AM. Anyways I hoped on an  to TS for the  which crawled from 96th to Central Pk North. Hoped to catch the M60 SBS at 125th but it was so slow I bailed at 110th for a cab (why do the  go so slow in that tunnel anyways on the straight parts?) Another time at JFK I waited 17 mins for an  while some short turn one sat idle on the SB track for 15. 

Would it make sense to swap the  and  south of Euclid? This is rather far-fetched, but considering how long the  is, it might improve reliability.

[Lawrence St]

We've heard the reason why the won't work, cue whining:

"WE DON'T WANNA LOSE OUR ONE SEAT EXPRESS RIDE TO MANHATTAN, WAHHHHH"

[R68OnBroadway]

37 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

We've heard the reason why the won't work, cue whining:

"WE DON'T WANNA LOSE OUR ONE SEAT EXPRESS RIDE TO MANHATTAN, WAHHHHH"

The Rockaway stations barely get any ridership, and they can just take the express bus into Manhattan or the Q52/53 to Rockaway Blvd. 

[N6 Limited]

10 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

The fare prices really do need to stop going up. But that's not even the main issue, you pay $2.75 for "great service" yet 75% of the time, either the metrocard vending machine fails to refill your metrocard, eats it, the subway stops working, or you get involved in a fight on the train when you just want to go home in peace.

But then again, almost most of the time, the delays arent MTA's fault. I remember when I got trapped three times because of power issues at either 7th Av, or Dekalb Av. At the point you know the subway is done for the day.

Oh right, the "power" issues. .  Many of which Con Ed denied, and it was found out that if they had to turn the power off due to an "unorthorized person on the tracks" or what have you then they'd call that delay due to "power issues".

[checkmatechamp13]

4 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I forget what station I was in over the weekend, but an  train or an came in and something made he whirl around.  Probably the number of homeless people in one car, but also the amount of space these people took up.  I mean it was like a shopping cart of something full of crap.  This is another problem that needs to be addressed and is causing so much crowding on the trains.  Between that and these damn people trying to get on with those huge bikes...  Either bike it or take the subway, but these people have these big bikes trying to get on and I don't get it.  Do they live that far from the subway station and if so why can't they just take the bus? They're already paying $2.75 so you get a free transfer with the Metrocard.

If the bus is slow and/or unreliable, I can see why they would bike it instead. 

3 hours ago, R68OnBroadway said:

The  train has the worst reliability  imo and is always f'd up when I take it. Missed one at 14th and 8th on my way to LGA and it was a 15 minute wait for the next one. At 9 AM. Anyways I hoped on an  to TS for the  which crawled from 96th to Central Pk North. Hoped to catch the M60 SBS at 125th but it was so slow I bailed at 110th for a cab (why do the  go so slow in that tunnel anyways on the straight parts?) Another time at JFK I waited 17 mins for an  while some short turn one sat idle on the SB track for 15. 

9

Why didn't you just stay on the  to Jackson Heights for the Q70? I try to avoid that PABT-Times Square passageway at all costs, and if I have to, I make the transfer at an easier location like Park Place (from the IRT) or Jay Street (from the  )

[R68OnBroadway]

5 minutes ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

If the bus is slow and/or unreliable, I can see why they would bike it instead. 

Why didn't you just stay on the  to Jackson Heights for the Q70? I try to avoid that PABT-Times Square passageway at all costs, and if I have to, I make the transfer at an easier location like Park Place (from the IRT) or Jay Street (from the  )

I was planning on stopping at Zabar's for a loaf of rye, but after how slow the  and  went I knew I wouldn't have time, so I figured I'd take the M60 instead. 

[W4ST]

3 hours ago, R68OnBroadway said:

The  train has the worst reliability  imo and is always f'd up when I take it. Missed one at 14th and 8th on my way to LGA and it was a 15 minute wait for the next one. At 9 AM. Anyways I hoped on an  to TS for the  which crawled from 96th to Central Pk North. Hoped to catch the M60 SBS at 125th but it was so slow I bailed at 110th for a cab (why do the  go so slow in that tunnel anyways on the straight parts?) Another time at JFK I waited 17 mins for an  while some short turn one sat idle on the SB track for 15. 

Would it make sense to swap the  and  south of Euclid? This is rather far-fetched, but considering how long the  is, it might improve reliability.

This plan probably wouldn't work, because the  has half of the TPH of the  , so train service to the Rockaways and Ozone Park would be much worse. However, if these trains got the same TPH, it might make sense to switch them south of High Street, so the  goes express in Manhattan while the  goes express in Brooklyn and to the Rockaways/Ozone Park.

[RR503]

1 hour ago, W4ST said:

This plan probably wouldn't work, because the  has half of the TPH of the  , so train service to the Rockaways and Ozone Park would be much worse. However, if these trains got the same TPH, it might make sense to switch them south of High Street, so the  goes express in Manhattan while the  goes express in Brooklyn and to the Rockaways/Ozone Park.

The  actually makes more stops than the  in Manhattan. Given that, I'm not sure how sending the Rockaway service local in Manhattan would help things...

The number of stations on a route is generally much more predictive of line performance than line length. See the  vs the  for example.