Straphangers Campaign
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IBO: MTA Fares on Pace to Rise 50 Percent Over Next Decade
The 2009 MTA funding package passed by Albany included a plan to increase fares and tolls every other year. The most recent of those fare hikes, implemented in March, increased fares 8.4 percent, with the MTA anticipating another increase in 2015. If this pattern continued for the next decade, fares would rise 50 percent, to $3.75 per ride, according to an analysis by the city's Independent Budget Office requested by NYPIRG's Straphangers Campaign [PDF]. Unless city and state leadership act, fares will drastically outpace the inflation rate, even as crossing the East River bridges and driving to the most congested, transit-rich part of the city remains toll-free.
July 30, 2013
This Awards Season, Manhattan Buses Rank as the City’s Worst
Since 2006, Streetsblog has provided red carpet coverage of the annual Pokey and Schleppie awards, given out by the Straphangers Campaign and Transportation Alternatives to the city buses with the slowest average speed and the least reliable service, respectively. This year, Manhattan buses took the crown in both categories.
December 11, 2012
Instead of More Fare Hikes, How About Bridge Tolls That Make Sense?
Since the beginning of 2008 -- right around the time that Albany legislators failed to enact congestion pricing -- NYC subway and bus fares have been hiked three times. Now the fourth fare hike in five years is on the horizon, and with Albany lawmakers sitting on their hands as MTA revenues fail to keep up with costs, there's no relief in sight for millions of transit-riding New Yorkers.
October 15, 2012
At Sloth-Like 3.5 MPH, M50 Bus Wins This Year’s Pokey Award
Want to understand why more Manhattanites don't ride the bus? Look no further than this year's Pokey awards, given out annually by the Straphangers Campaign. Manhattan buses, as usual, top the list of the year's slowest service.
December 1, 2011
Here They Are: The Best and Worst City Transit Scenes
The Straphangers Campaign and Transportation Alternatives have chosen the winners for their best and worst of New York City Transit photo contest. The top “Good Transit Scene" was "Break of Day " by Sabrina Porter, while John Wehmeyer took the prize for best “Bad Transit Scene" with ""Reassuring? Not so much!"
July 6, 2011
Transit Photo Contest Down to Ten Finalists – Time to Vote
The transit photo contest held by the Straphangers Campaign and Transportation Alternatives has moved into the final round. Five finalists have been selected for the photo that most captures New York City's transit system at its best, and five have been chosen to represent the system at its worst. You can vote for your favorite here.
June 20, 2011
Submit Your Pics of the Best and Worst of NYC’s Transit System
We often describe the importance of transit in numbers, like the fact that 54 percent of New York City households don't even own a car. But even the most convincing stats can get a little dry. To help capture what the subways and buses mean to a city where the transit system is the closest thing to a shared experience for eight million people, the Straphangers Campaign and Transportation Alternatives are launching a photography contest. A picture is worth a thousand words, after all.
May 16, 2011
Manhattan Buses Dominate Pokey and Schleppie Awards
Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign (l) and TA's Paul Steely White unveil this year's honorees
November 12, 2008
Will Richard Ravitch Resurrect Congestion Pricing?
Marc Shaw, former chair of the Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission, caused something of a stir in the local press on Friday, when he predicted that congestion pricing would "rise again" as a proposal to toll East River bridges and a cordon across 60th street. Speaking at a panel discussion at the RPA's Regional Assembly, Shaw said he had been told by Richard Ravitch, the one-time MTA head who's been asked by Governor Paterson to devise ways to shore up the agency's finances, that pricing is "on his agenda."
April 22, 2008
Gene Russianoff on the MTA’s $17.5 Billion Hole
Gene Russianoff, senior attorney for the Straphangers Campaign, talks to Streetsblog about the future of transit funding without congestion pricing. Direct quotes are in quotation marks.
April 8, 2008