One Brooklyn
December 3, 2020
Brooklyn, NY – Today, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams released testimony to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) on a proposed fare hike for riders starting in 2021, where he expressed his opposition to these potential increases. He noted that they will fall hardest on those who can afford it least, particularly low-income riders and frontline workers already struggling to keep up with basic expenses due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the accompanying economic downturn.
“The proposed fare hikes by the MTA would create even greater financial strain on Black and Brown and low-income New Yorkers, who are already reeling from the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. These are by-and-large the same people we counted on to keep our public transit system running, our grocery shelves stocked, our hospitals staffed, our streets clean, and other essential duties at the height of the pandemic. We should first consider solutions that wouldn’t impose additional burdens on the New Yorkers who can least afford it right now. With an incoming Biden administration, now is the time to lobby for the agency to get its due funding from the federal government, and to ensure that our public transit system continues to be the grease lubricating the economic engine that is New York City,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.
The pandemic has deepened the MTA’s financial woes. The agency is currently hemorrhaging money, largely due to a drastic drop in ridership and farebox revenue collection that resulted. The MTA estimates it is facing a $15.9 billion budget deficit through the year 2024, and it has requested $12 billion in federal funding to stave off draconian service cutbacks. Absent this support, it has proposed 40 percent cuts to subway and bus service, and 50 percent cuts to commuter rail service. It would also be forced to lay off more than 9,000 employees. The proposals being considered would raise $153 million over the next year.
In his testimony, which was delivered during the first of eight virtual public hearings the MTA plans to hold, Borough President Adams urged the agency to weigh alternatives to fare increases that would cause less disruption to riders, particularly those who continue to rely on public transit to commute to their jobs, run errands, and fulfill basic needs — most of whom are Black and Brown. He recommends several options for closing the budget gap, including pushing to fast-track implementation of the State’s stalled congestion pricing plan under a Biden administration, lobbying for greater funding for public transit in the pending federal stimulus package, and promoting the measures undertaken by the MTA to welcome riders back safely.
Earlier this month, Borough President Adams sent a letter to United States Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging them to immediately provide federal funding to the MTA to avert service cutbacks after the MTA initially unveiled its “doomsday budget.”
The full testimony can be viewed here.
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