NYC's Metropolitan Transportation Authority today approved a new "austerity budget" for 2009 for NYC's bus and subway system that starkly contrasts the "lap of luxury" budget we've been enjoying in '08. In what we've taken to calling the "pimps up, ho's down" budget of 2009, the MTA's plan calls not only for a fare hike from $2 per ride to over $2.50 per ride and a monthly increase from $81 to over $100 per month, but it also calls for cuts in service. It's kind of like telling a tenant you're going to raise their rent and take away the heat and water.

There are many things I don't understand about the MTA, but one is a matter of very simple arithmetic: If the subway used to run profitably for 30 cents a ride, and no giant service advancements have been made to the system in decades, and now you have more people riding it for $2 per ride, why the fuck isn't it profitable now? Something smells fishy to me. There is no way the overhead of investment in that system is soaking up all those dollars, and there's no way significantly fewer people are riding the subway due to the recession. Somebody at the top is getting rich.

This is what happens when you have a private company acting as if it's a government agency - with zero competition. We should just do like we're doing with rest of the country and nationalize that shit. Either that or open it up to truly competitive free enterprise and allow everybody to operate their own subway cars. Although that might get a little dangerous.
-AM