The Daily Commuter.

Well, the vote came in and most of them casted the correct vote. The new policy only allows free travel to current MTA board members who are traveling for official business, which I don’t object to. There was one person who didn’t cast a vote, I guess he objected to it without committing to a “No”, and there were other people who didn’t even show up to vote; for more info click here.

And then there is a man by the name of Warren S. Dolny who used to be an MTA board member, and threatened to sue after the vote was announced! You can read more about this here. He claims that the free rides was promised to him for life by the MTA. Who the hell decided to give current and former board member lifetime free travel perks back when they established the board especially when they no longer serve as a board member?!!

Even though the amount that racked up may not put a dent in the lack of funds for improving the quality of the MTA system, it is frustrating to the everyday commuter to know that while we have to pay more and more for using the trains and buses, these board members who can more than afford to pay for a round trip fare is crying about having to pay like the rest of us. In fact, you can read about how much these travel perks rack up to here.

Another thing that annoyed me when the vote was announced was a comment by Board Chairman Dale Hemmerdinger. He claimed this travel perk issue was a distraction from dealing with the real issue at hand, which is that the MTA does not have the expected funds to execute the various improvement projects. That claim is so wrong and clearly shows me that the MTA is just not doing that great of job with handling their financials. The amount of the travel perks may not be a lot of money in the large scheme of things but when the everyday commuter hears and reads about the MTA crying that they don’t have enough money and may need to raise the fare, we are going to be annoyed and frustrated with MTA. And then when it is revealed that MTA is just giving away money that should go into project improvements, YEAH, we are going to be pissed off!

One of the readers of The Daily Commuter sent in a comment with a link with the latest update of the MTA budget cuts. For the article, click here.

Although I appreciate the NY Times thorough articles explaining the MTA’s side of the story, I don’t appreciate MTA using this as a PR moment to try to pull our heart strings so we don’t become upset with MTA inability to properly watch their money raising and delegate their funds to improve the system. MTA was crying that they didn’t get the expected tax revenues, and that NY State was not giving as much funding as they were expecting, and that construction cost was increasing as with everything else. First of all, construction cost is always on the rise so they should have anticipated that in their project planning. The MTA employs many people who used to work in the private sector of the construction industry. These people include former architects, general contractors, construction managers, estimators, project managers, etc. I don’t accept that MTA was acting responsibly in budgeting their projects without referring to their in house employees, and/or consulting with private architects or estimators, or construction managers. And how can MTA make plans for improvements without really securing the funding for it?

And what gets me is that most people who use the trains and buses are using it because it is the least expensive way of getting around the 5 boroughs. So, when the gas prices continue to rise with, more and more people are turning to the trains and buses to get them to their final destination and then home. So when MTA starts to cry that they can’t afford to make the improvements they were set out to do, they are not going to get sympathy from the everyday commuter. Here is this great public transportation entity that has been collecting our money in order to use the buses and trains; we’re accepting of that. The everyday commuter understands that it takes money to operate and maintain the system. What the everyday commuter doesn’t understand and becomes frustrated and annoyed with MTA is that the increase in fares do not seem to be put toward improvements to either schedules, cleanliness and maintenance of the buses, trains,and stations. In fact, it seems to have the opposite effect. The trains and buses just keep getting dirtier each day, and there are constant delays or lack of service of a particular route.

And on top of the crying, many of the authorities at the MTA get very handsome raises! How about using that money to improve the trains and buses!?!

In the context of the authority’s financial difficulties, Mr. Sander was asked about the appropriateness of a raise he received this year that increased his compensation by $10,000, to $350,000.

Mr. Sander portrayed the raise as being in the best interest of the authority, saying that other transit systems paid their executives more. “Our ability to retain and attract talent is significantly at risk,” he said. “The reality is the salary structure for the M.T.A. is set in relation to my salary.”

The above quote is from the NY Times article.

How on earth is Mr. Sander’s raise “…in the best interest of the authority”?  Can you believe the nerve of this guy?  And he’s one of the people who expects the everyday commuter to understand the financial difficulties the MTA is going through?!!

I just heard on the news from CBS that the MTA is now considering cutting their budget due to MTA’s inability to raise 2 to 3 billion dollars to spend on planned improvements.  What this means is that some of the planned improvements slated for 2009 will not happen; one of these improvements are signal upgrades!  Can you believe that MTA is willing to risk potential lives riding on these trains by keeping the inefficient signals they’re currently using?!  Not to mention that there will be delays because the signals already don’t function as they should.

It is reported that Manhattan and Brooklyn will be effected the most with potential budget cuts.   People, be prepared to get up and to work either 30 minutes early or late!

Irregardless of whether the budget gets cut, fares will most likely rise yet again.  So commuters, be prepared to pay $2.25 next year!

So I arrived at my train stop in Queens to catch my bus.  I was surprised to see a long line of people waiting for the bus.  I guess, someone took an extra long nap.  Anyway, just at the bus pulled up, it began to rain.  The bus was very crowded and all the seats were taken.  I was standing.  An elderly man gets on the bus.  He had his senior pass and he looked around to see if anyone was going to offer him a seat.  No one!

At the front of the bus, the three seats behind the bus driver sat two women (one Chinese and the other Indian) and another person.  On the opposite side was a young black couple and another person.  Adjacent to the seated young black couple and another person was a woman and her son.  I thought she was going to offer the elderly man her seat but nope.  She just sat there looking at him as if thinking that she should offer her seat to him but just didn’t act on it.

The elderly man eventually got a seat from a young hispanic guy but that was after he transferred his gym clothes from one bag to another and then switched footwear.

I was disappointed.  Nobody offered him a seat.  Nobody! The man clearly looked feeble and in need of a seat.  They just looked at him, saw that he could use a seat but did nothing.  I was disgusted.  Look, I’m not a do-gooder, or a girl scout.  I don’t always offer my seat to people but when I see someone in need of a seat, I’ll certainly offer it to them.

I came upon this report by accident. My tellie on my computer was tuned into NY1 and they were talking about another NYC issue. When I went to their website to find out more, I noticed one of their headlines, “Cuomo Threatens to Sue MTA Over Travel Perks”. That certainly got my attention. I clicked on their article and video and actually caught the broadcast of the report.

It seems that former and current board members of the MTA and their family members are given free Metrocards and E-Z Passes for them to use. Both Cuomo and Gov. Patterson want these MTA board members and their families to give up these travel perks. Supposedly, in order for this to happen, it needs to be voted amongst the board members. The members who do not agree to giving up these travel perks claiming that when they use it, they can see the faults of the MTA system and be able to do something to rectify the problems. That is such total and utter bullshit! I mean, really! Do these freakin’ ass board members really think that they do take mass transit to work or meetings?! And even if they did, do they really care enough to actually do something about the problems? I mean, there are countless problems with the MTA trains and bus systems! I don’t know which trains and/or buses these board members take but if they experienced and of the long delays, over crowding, and congestions we are experiencing, they would not propose increasing the fares and cutting services.

Having the board members give up their travel perks is not going to balance the MTA budgets but it would be a nice start to bring them down from their high and mighty pedestals of entitlement.

You can read more about this issue from the New York Times.