The MTA Gets Back to Its Core Business of Screwing New YorkersS

Let's all give a hand to New York's MTA, for their work after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy. Really. They had to get an entire system back on line, despite extensive damage and heavy public pressure, and they did it. Let's just take a moment to acknowledge the hard work of all those workers who got down in dark, flooded tunnels and fixed that whole mess so this city could get moving again. We salute you all. This moment in time represents the most public good will the notoriously poorly managed MTA has had in many years.

Naturally, they had to do something shitty.

Sandy made the whole subway system inaccessible for many days (the exact figure depends on which trains you ride). For people who buy the $104 unlimited subway pass, that means that what was supposed to be a bargain for subway riders turned into a ripoff—subtract a week of rides, and that $104 price is terrible. So everyone suggested, quite logically, that the MTA just extend current 30 day passes by a few days or a week to make up for the lost time.

"No," says the MTA. The NYT reports today that an MTA officials said giving riders refunds would be logistically impossible.


"No," says the MTA.

Last year, after Tropical Storm Irene led the authority to shut down the subways, the cards were not extended, and no refunds were offered. But after the 2005 transit strike, riders were compensated with a three-day extension of unlimited cards.

Asked if there was a reason that extending the passes now would be more difficult than it was in 2005, a spokesman for the authority said he did not know.

MTA defenders point out that the subways were free for a couple of days after the storm, when they first got running again. UNLESS YOU LIVE ON ONE OF THE MANY TRAIN LINES THAT WERE NOT RUNNING EVEN DURING THE FREE PERIOD. If this is a money issue, there should be a tax, and everyone should pay it fairly and equally, because that's how things should work. Instead, the MTA just stone cold took the money of people who bought 30 day passes. Thirty days means THIRTY DAYS MOTHERFUCKERS. Nobody is blaming the MTA for the system being down. We are simply asking for WHAT WE PAID FOR ALREADY ASSHOLES.

Ah. That felt good. Cussing out the god damn MTA. Everything in NYC is almost back to normal.

[NYT. Photo: Paul Lowry/ Flickr]