As anyone could probably notice from my other blog posts, that I am a big proponent of finding ways to save money for both the government and the users of our transportation system. Recently I read this article online about several proposed MTA rate increase. Each of the proposals vary slightly, some charging more for daily use and some more for long term/unlimited passes while some are a combination of both.
I find this rather funny that I read this article about raising fares just after going through the list of many different ways to entire people to use public transportation as opposed to cars. Now while I understand that the MTA does need increases in revenue to make improvements and repairs, but I think that the money could be raised differently. I think this because I run under the assumption that raising the cost of something will cause less people to use it, thus could drive more people to not use the public rail system. Luckily these proposals would also increase rates for using MTA owed bridges so it might be more costly to drive across these bridges, but the changes may affect users of the rail more then those driving.
In my opinion I think the best way would be to increase fares just on the bridges to encourage more users of the rail system and raise the cost for single trips. If someone plans on taking a single trip on the MTA they most likely will pay the extra dollar, while people who use it every day, the majority of the traffic, would not be affected.
What do you think?
For the full artcile please click here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/15/mta-fare-hike-2013-unveils-four-proposals-125-monthly_n_1966975.html
I find this rather funny that I read this article about raising fares just after going through the list of many different ways to entire people to use public transportation as opposed to cars. Now while I understand that the MTA does need increases in revenue to make improvements and repairs, but I think that the money could be raised differently. I think this because I run under the assumption that raising the cost of something will cause less people to use it, thus could drive more people to not use the public rail system. Luckily these proposals would also increase rates for using MTA owed bridges so it might be more costly to drive across these bridges, but the changes may affect users of the rail more then those driving.
In my opinion I think the best way would be to increase fares just on the bridges to encourage more users of the rail system and raise the cost for single trips. If someone plans on taking a single trip on the MTA they most likely will pay the extra dollar, while people who use it every day, the majority of the traffic, would not be affected.
What do you think?
For the full artcile please click here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/15/mta-fare-hike-2013-unveils-four-proposals-125-monthly_n_1966975.html
Although I agree with you I see the situation a little differently. Check out my latest blog post on this topic.
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