As if the world stock markets’ precipitous fall, beginning in 2008,  and the carnage that quickly spread from Wall St. to Main St. wasn’t enough to make one wonder if or how they could have avoided the downdraft, being a New Yorker in this recession has just gotten a little more poignant. The mere fact that the MTA, who’s balance sheet and financial stability is  highly dependent on how much of the city’s annual budget can be carved away each year for it to even operate, let alone the fact that due to a measurable correction in real estate in NYC as echoed throughout the United States, and that the illusion of value and thus collateral stability the MTA can boast about when it comes to borrowing money, is significantly tied to the health of the real estate economy in NYC; the MTA had no choice but to seek a bail out for themselves at a cost to nearly every New Yorker who needs to move about this city.

However, unlike some of the other bailouts that took place, where the individual who was being divested of his/her money was otherwise recoded as a tax payer and the money being paid out to these behemoth, too big to fail entities, was actually being handed out by the government on behalf of the individual. At least in this scenario, the individual was completely helpless to prevent and/or adjust the amount he or she actually took out of their pocket to line those of others. But with the MTA, they took their bailout request straight to the people!!  It first began in January, 2009, with a significant reduction in  service across all commuter and rider networks, so that the rider, although he/she was still paying the same amount at the ticket window, he/she was receiving less in return. The second phase of the bailout now required individuals to dig deeper into their own pockets for the same reduced service, and this officially went into practice for the subway system on June 1st, 2009 with a fare hike from $2 to $2.25. The final phase, which took effect November 1st, is the most gloriously astonishing one of them all. The MTA was able to maneuver itself into a position where it’s influence and fiscal carelessness forced the State of New York into taxing the TLC, the commission in charge of regulating all taxis in NYC (the only other way to get around NYC quickly), into raising their fares,  a base fare hike from $2.50 to $3. So not only do subway riders and commuters already face fare hikes on MTA operated systems but now they get to experience the same good feelings once they get into an NYC cab. Mind you, this is not in response to the normal progression of fares as dictated by inflation and increased capital costs, but instead as an emergency measure designed to right the ship, at least in the near term, right?

To me, as a New Yorker, as a United States Citizen and particularly as someone who needs to get around this city every day, it is a very big pill to have to swallow this well orchestrated confluence of factors. What i have refrained from touching upon throughout this report, the bloody elephant in the room, being the fact that we are all feeling the recession in many other ways as well. How we get from point A to point B and the cost of that to the individual is only one aspect of a much lager monster, the individual is required to face everyday. What boggles the mind is that the individual is the very entity for which our system should be working hardest to shelter from further harm, for they are the gatekeepers to a healthy, functioning system. The MTA depends on increasing ridership, they depend on the demand of the individual to need to get to and from work every day, to and from social events, simply to and from…if you grind the individual down to nothing, then nothing is what we will ultimately have.

If less than nothing is what we are given, then we should and will look elsewhere for something more than nothing. One way to help yourself is to seek out other transportation options; car pooling is a great way to evidence the act of individuals looking out for fellow individuals. And in fact, a friend of mine, Margot Tohn is just the individual who is looking out for other individuals by providing a great guide to all the parking lots in NYC, which helps in finding the cheapest most practical places to park that car, once you have arrived at your destination. She understands the impropriety of this fare hike. Another way the individual can directly offset this newest bailout strategy is to pair up when riding in cabs. Using Cabcorner.com to help individuals look out for themselves is one way to get the job done.