3 ms·

I think the price is fair. But the ridership, growing or not, is already HUGE. Multiple lines are packed multiple times every single weekday and sometimes on we

by ploxiln 12y ago

I think the price is fair. But the ridership, growing or not, is already HUGE. Multiple lines are packed multiple times every single weekday and sometimes on weekends too. Whether people are paying $116.50 monthly or $2.75 per-ride, the MTA must have huge revenues. Wikipedia says "operating revenue" in 2011 was $6.5 billion. That's a huge amount of money. Sure, it's a big system, with a lot of costs, but... so much money... and there's no easy way to apply competitive pressure, you can't have a literal competitor, so I don't know what could be done, but it has to be possible to have better maintained stations, even more frequent trains during rush hours when certain lines are literally overflowing, and have money left over. And somehow they were losing money in 2011. Well, individually, I suppose not...

mc32 12y ago
That price is competitive with many systems in other major international cities[1] --many international cities have fares based on distance. Flat fares are nice (contrast with tokyo, wash DC, london, stockholm) [1] http://www.priceoftravel.com/595/public-transportation-prices-in-80-worldwide-cities/ http://www.priceoftravel.com/595/public-transportation-price...
- weeksie 12y ago
  I doubt the accuracy of that table. It's been a number of years since I regularly took CityRail but I remember the price of trains in Sydney to go up pretty drastically the further into the suburbs you got. Like, $5/ride and such. Though maybe that was for fares all the way out to Wollongong. I've always found the flat fee nature of the NY subway to be wonderfully egalitarian, since the high fees tend to be a regressive tax on those who can't afford to live close to the city.
hkmurakami 12y ago
Tokyo has 3 railway operators: Japan Railways (above-ground rail, but it runs the Yamanote line which hits all the important stops and it's packed like sardines in rush hour), Tokyo Metro, and Toei Subway. I know that competing operators from Yokohama->Tokyo were putting up some combatative ads earlier this year, so this competition must actually help.
Shivetya 12y ago
More people rode this same system in 1956 and I seriously doubt they had all the routes and trains they have available now. The subsidy on fares is such that fares themselves only pay forty percent of the cost to run the agency. So there is an upside and downside to all of this, the upside is more people use it, the downside as they do it costs everyone more. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/20/nyregion/delays-and-costs-agitate-mta-riders-in-a-system-bursting-at-the-seams.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/20/nyregion/delays-and-costs-...

by ploxiln 12y ago

mc32 12y ago

That price is competitive with many systems in other major international cities[1] --many international cities have fares based on distance. Flat fares are nice (contrast with tokyo, wash DC, london, stockholm) [1] http://www.priceoftravel.com/595/public-transportation-prices-in-80-worldwide-cities/ http://www.priceoftravel.com/595/public-transportation-price...

weeksie 12y ago
I doubt the accuracy of that table. It's been a number of years since I regularly took CityRail but I remember the price of trains in Sydney to go up pretty drastically the further into the suburbs you got. Like, $5/ride and such. Though maybe that was for fares all the way out to Wollongong. I've always found the flat fee nature of the NY subway to be wonderfully egalitarian, since the high fees tend to be a regressive tax on those who can't afford to live close to the city.

hkmurakami 12y ago

Tokyo has 3 railway operators: Japan Railways (above-ground rail, but it runs the Yamanote line which hits all the important stops and it's packed like sardines in rush hour), Tokyo Metro, and Toei Subway. I know that competing operators from Yokohama->Tokyo were putting up some combatative ads earlier this year, so this competition must actually help.

Shivetya 12y ago

More people rode this same system in 1956 and I seriously doubt they had all the routes and trains they have available now. The subsidy on fares is such that fares themselves only pay forty percent of the cost to run the agency. So there is an upside and downside to all of this, the upside is more people use it, the downside as they do it costs everyone more. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/20/nyregion/delays-and-costs-agitate-mta-riders-in-a-system-bursting-at-the-seams.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/20/nyregion/delays-and-costs-...