From the Indypendent:It’s not often that anyone gets a free ride during a recession, but throughout the city, a growing program is giving out more than 600 subway MetroCard swipes each month.
In response to the economic recession and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) fare hikes, community activists across the city are organizing the People’s Transportation Program (PTP), days where the goal is to swipe as many people through the turnstiles as possible with several daily unlimited MetroCards. Every third Saturday of the month, train riders in the Bronx, East Harlem, Queens and Brooklyn may walk into subway stations to find someone willing to pay their way.
Perhaps, surprisingly, the People’s Transportation System is not breaking the law. Individuals are free to share unlimited MetroCards, although they must wait 18 minutes between swipes for the card to reactivate.
“As long as they’re not charging people [for swipes], we can’t stop them from buying the cards and providing the service free to the people,” MTA spokesperson Paul Fleuranges told The Indypendent.
Gene Russianoff, director of the New York Public Interest Research Group’s Straphangers Campaign, said that roughly half of the revenue for the $6 billion annual budget for the city’s transit system comes from user fares alone. Russianoff, however, said it would take a lot of MetroCard sharing to make a dent in the revenue.
And by the way...the fare goes up tomorrow and the MTA will be broke for awhile.
9 comments:
If his catches on, the MTA will require an hour between swipes.
Now that it's been published, yes.
Like that jerk that put chairs in the subway last fall, a stupid stunt.
Dont these kids do anything useful? Has making a statement of the urban condition been reduced to this level of silliness?
They have a great future.
And as there will be more and more of them ... so will we....
Anonymous said...
If his catches on, the MTA will require an hour between swipes.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
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Actually, you already have to wait a certain amount of times between swipes on an unlimited card. You can't do it one swipe right after another one.
They will get arrested,it is illgal.Well intetioned,yet illegal.They're gonna get arrested and the whining will start.
Yes, they do require that you wait--18 minutes as stated in the article.
Yes, we all know that. Thanks for dropping in from 1991.
It's even explained in the article...
The MTA will find a problem with this. I have been hassled for asking to put many 5 and 10 cent metrocards into a useful amount.
http://whatyourdonotknowbecauseyouarenotme.blogspot.com/2009/06/on-metocards.html
Actually the time limit only applies to the same station you just swiped it in. For example, if you swiped and got on the train at the 42nd street station, you can get off at the 34th street station and swipe again without the time limitation.
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