Students Say: ‘NO FARE!’

By John Tarleton
From the February 19, 2010 issue | Posted in John Tarleton , Local | Email this article

Under the MTA’s plan, students would be charged half-fares starting in September of this year and full fares beginning in September 2011. The fare hikes would cost families with children who use mass transit to travel to school about $800 per year, per student, and could reduce the opportunity for less well-off students to attend schools outside their neighborhood district.

The MTA faces an operating deficit of almost $800 million in 2010 due in part to cuts in state assistance.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has called the elimination of free student MetroCards “unconscionable.” However, others question the priorities of the mayor and the MTA, which is continuing to build the $2.1 billion extension of the 7 train to the far west side of Manhattan at the behest of Bloomberg. The city is providing much of the financing for the project.

“The MTA’s going belly up and the most important thing we can do is save the free student MetroCards,” Assemblymember Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester), chair of the Authorities Committee, told Metro Feb. 4. “And some of that money is now going to build half a train line.”

From 'The Indypendent', NYC Independent Media Center.

US students are planning mass demonstrations against education cuts (including cuts to student transport concessions) across the country on 4 March.