New Yorkers know a fare hike when they see one – Latest News
“Fare adjustment”: That’s what MTA boss Janno Lieber laughably calls the subsequent subway-fare hike.
Give us a break: A hike is a hike. And each New Yorker is aware of it.
Lieber is resorting to Team Hochul’s Orwellian-naming schtick for papering over unhealthy information and rotten coverage.
As within the faux-wonk time period “congestion pricing” for a $9-per-trip tax that’s nonetheless headed back to the originally-planned $15 — which can likely rise on in what Lieber can call “a congestion pricing adjustment.”
More mush: Don’t neglect that Gov. Kathy Hochul bragged about “saving” New Yorkers money by beginning with solely $9 when she socked them with that tax, not the complete $15?)
More From Post Editorial Board
OK: The subway hike is simply a dime, to $3 (for now).
But it comes atop numerous different taxes that hit New York residents with the nation’s heaviest state- and local-tax burden.
“While a small increase may seem like nothing to you at all, it makes a big difference,” one resident, Hannah Reed, informed MTA board members.
Get opinions and commentary from our columnists
Subscribe to our each day Post Opinion e-newsletter!
Thanks for signing up!
Yet the brass received’t admit the reality: “I would not call this a hike,” board member Neal Zuckerman huffed. It’s “a very gradual raise, and I think very respectful of the inflation and affordability issues.”
What vanity. As one straphanger, Emmanuel Vasquez, fumed, “There’s always flooding, there’s always a brake emergency, there’s always a power outage” on the subway, however officers by no means stop zapping riders with hikes.
And that’s regardless of the billions the company collects not simply from fares however metropolis, state and federal tax income, companies, particular person taxes and, yes, “congestion pricing.”
And whereas it diverts money to politically-driven initiatives like Second Avenue Subway enlargement: On Monday, the board OK’d a $1.9 billion contract for simply a half of project; the ultimate tab will run at the least $7 billion for simply three new stations.
Lieber & Co. know darn effectively their repeated dips into New Yorkers’ pockets sting; they simply don’t care to confess it.
Why else conceal behind weasel phrases?
