Register for MTA online hearing about fare hike

http://mta.info/mta/news/hearings/fareandtoll/webinar.htm

Subject: ...

Yuck - I really hope they don't hike the price of the 30 day unlimited. They could probably do with hiking the 7 day/fun pass ones, because that burns more tourists, but hiking the 30 day just burns people who actually live/work in NYC. Bummer!

how much traction did spitzer really think he was going to get out of keeping the per ride fare at $2? tourists don't vote.

I'd willingly pay more than $2 a ride if I knew the money was being spent to upgrade the system. I'd like subway stations that arn't shitholes and a control system designed more recently that the 1940s please

Ever brought Londoners over here? Taking them on the subway is embarassing.

Evilbert wrote: I'd willingly pay more than $2 a ride if I knew the money was being spent to upgrade the system. I'd like subway stations that arn't shitholes and a control system designed more recently that the 1940s please

Ever brought Londoners over here? Taking them on the subway is embarassing.

Ever take them on at 2 am? Never been more proud. Their trains may be cleaner and more reliable, but they don't run 24 hours.

Carnivore wrote: [quote=Evilbert]I'd willingly pay more than $2 a ride if I knew the money was being spent to upgrade the system. I'd like subway stations that arn't shitholes and a control system designed more recently that the 1940s please

Ever brought Londoners over here? Taking them on the subway is embarassing.

Ever take them on at 2 am? Never been more proud. Their trains may be cleaner and more reliable, but they don't run 24 hours.

for real! and no skanky upholstered seats! londoners have nothing on the MTA. not that I think the MTA should cost more. but the tube is outrageously overpriced and slow. and shall we discuss ventilation and air conditioning on the tube? right. vaguely ventilated, not air conditioned. note the londoners stripping down in tube stations waiting for their morning commute. SUCK.

oh right, I've been in london the last few years both in summer and winter. I've dealt with the tube, local trains, eurostar, cabs, hotels, etc. I don't care what londoners think - I know what I think about their system. and yeah. 2 a.m. not only can we drink, we can get home. that's a gutshot.

oh! and i forgot the 11 p.m. vats of puke at tube stations/on tube trains! please don't try to say that the tube has anything on our subway. it's a pathetic comparison.

I tried to log in to the webinar (late) and I got a little window which had typed in it in green, something like 'What happened to all of the questions we sent in advance?' and the answer, in black, something like 'We are having technical difficulties - please be patient'. And then another green question, 'Is anyone here?' and in black 'We are having technical difficulties - please be patient'.
Does anyone know if the webinar actually happen?

I also like the fact that we can ride from Coney Island to the outer edges of the Bronx and Queens for only $2. The Tube's tiered fare system probably makes better business sense, but our flat-fare system is better for lower-income riders, many of whom live further out in the buroughs and have to commute to Manhattan.

My friend sent me this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/11/nyregion/11fare.html

The transportation authority is trying to answer questions about the fare increase, too, but so far its efforts have gone as smoothly as an A train in the evening rush carrying the dreaded sick passenger. Yesterday, an online forum set up by the authority to answer questions turned calamitous when hundreds of inquiring straphangers fell victim to technical glitches.
A Web-based software platform that was supposed to allow all registrants — in what the authority called a Webinar — to see one another’s questions, several of which were then selected and answered orally by the presenters. To hear answers to the questions, each registrant was to receive a toll-free phone number to call in and listen.
Jeremy Soffin, an authority spokesman, said in a statement, “There were obviously technical difficulties, although we received hundreds of questions and know that the audio worked as well.”
The statement went on to say that the authority would still try “to answer many of the submitted questions and post them online in the coming days.”

I had registered for the webinar but wasn't able to get on. Sounds like I wasn't the only one.

*shrug* I've never seen the subway system as being a practical 24hr service. Getting to the outer boroughs after 2am is an exercise in tedium, the trains are full of drunks and aggressive bums, they have an intermittent service (if they're running at all - try using the G train after midnight) and it's rare to find any notices about delays. Most women I know won't even use the subway at night because of safety concerns.

I usually take a cab if I'm in the city late - it's just not worth the trouble waiting half an hour for an F train to arrive.

Yeah, the NYC system is cheap compared to others, but if you pay a cheap fare you get crappy service. I'd take the London system any day.