Saving the MTA in Two Easy Steps
flickr photo credit: ryanbudhu
The MTA, in my opinion, should be one of the most lucrative “businesses” in the world rather than be in debt and sacrificing and/or cutting service that millions of people depend on everyday.
In a recent article by the New York Times it was stated that: “…subway riders will most likely notice leakier, dirtier stations. Part of the authority’s savings will be achieved at the expense of cleaning crews who fix water leaks and clean the steps of escalators. Automated MetroCard readers at the turnstiles will be inspected less often, and hundreds of the system’s oldest subway cars will stay in service longer.” This is completely unacceptable, and what’s worse is this attitude could lead to dangerous and hazardous health or physical risks to the riders.
My Two Ideas How to Save the MTA.
Selling Ads (better)
flickr photo credit: oblaat
For a moment, let’s consider that according to the MTA website there are 5.1 million people who use the system everyday as of 2009. Now let’s think of that in terms of internet traffic, which is equivalent to Google’s daily traffic (calculated from monthly average). I don’t know many people who thought of our subway in these terms, each day New Yorkers and tourists use our subway just as much as the entire world uses google.com! The subway is unavoidable for the majority of commuters and the amount of opportunities for advertisement placement is unlimited. With the “guaranteed” volume several millions travelers, selling ads should be lucrative since it’s one of the biggest businesses in the world. After all how do you think Google got all its money (become the #1 used service and sell ads). Now I understand the MTA already sells ads but it could be better, and I also understand that Google’s type of service doesn’t require nearly as many people as the MTA does to operate, which leads me to my next step to save the MTA.
Stop Charging “per Ride”
flickr photo credit: jasonstaten
This may be a long shot because I don’t believe it’s ever been attempted, but what if the MTA stopped charging New Yorkers on a daily or monthly basis and instead taxed the 8.3 million residents of the five boroughs. This would allow the MTA to collect money from people who don’t even ride the subway/bus system as a result dispersing the burden more evenly across the local public. This would also allow New Yorkers to ride the subway/bus systems without concern of individual or monthly payments or yearly fare hikes. Furthermore, the 45.6 million tourists or non-New York residents would pay an elevated fare rate to boost improvements and maintenance of the system instead of permitting widespread degradation.
The MTA is the 4th most traveled mass transit system in the world, how do you want our subways to look?
flickr photo credit: bnz506
flickr photo credit: michelle_wright
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