Exactly. It would be cool to go out on a Saturday morning, and spend the entire day exploring, but you’d end up spending $50 on subway and bus passes. Imagine if you didn’t have to pay for transportation, and that $50 gets spent in restaurants and shops instead?
Nitpicking: it’s $34/week max for MTA transit. Each ride is like $3 but it caps after 12 rides in a week. If you just go in for a Saturday you’ll probably pay like $15 in transit.
That’s more than free but not that much for a day. The real winners on removing fares are people who have to commute every day
And how many people are going out to explore alone? Got a family of 4, and want to go to Central Park for the day? That’s about $25 just for the ride there and back. Go one other place in your day out, and you just added another $12. A fun day with the family, bouncing around the city, can rack up some serious transportation costs.
Sure, the commuters will be the big winners, but they also like to go out on the weekends. How many are staying home because they need to preserve their MTA card for next week’s rides?
A lot of people travel alone. Like yesterday I went to a friend’s party and everyone took transit there from their separate homes.
The part about a family of four could make sense. I think you’re not supposed to have more than one rider on the same card, but I never tested it. Edit: you have to wait 18 minutes at the same stop for it to count, I think.
How many are staying home because they need to preserve their MTA card for next week’s rides?
I think it’s a 7 day window, so if you start on Monday you’re incentivized to go out on the weekend because that’s when it becomes free to ride.
Anyway, I think we agree more than we disagree. Transit fares are regressive. When I was unemployed I didn’t go places as much because I didn’t want to spend the $6.
If a fucking MTA pass wasn’t so expensive I would explore NYC endlessly
I think MTA transit caps at $34/week now. I don’t ride as much anymore because I work from home, but that seems pretty good if you’re riding a lot.
Citi bike rentals are also cheap-ish, but the streets vary wildly from protects to death trap.
Exactly. It would be cool to go out on a Saturday morning, and spend the entire day exploring, but you’d end up spending $50 on subway and bus passes. Imagine if you didn’t have to pay for transportation, and that $50 gets spent in restaurants and shops instead?
Nitpicking: it’s $34/week max for MTA transit. Each ride is like $3 but it caps after 12 rides in a week. If you just go in for a Saturday you’ll probably pay like $15 in transit.
That’s more than free but not that much for a day. The real winners on removing fares are people who have to commute every day
And how many people are going out to explore alone? Got a family of 4, and want to go to Central Park for the day? That’s about $25 just for the ride there and back. Go one other place in your day out, and you just added another $12. A fun day with the family, bouncing around the city, can rack up some serious transportation costs.
Sure, the commuters will be the big winners, but they also like to go out on the weekends. How many are staying home because they need to preserve their MTA card for next week’s rides?
A lot of people travel alone. Like yesterday I went to a friend’s party and everyone took transit there from their separate homes.
The part about a family of four could make sense. I think you’re not supposed to have more than one rider on the same card, but I never tested it. Edit: you have to wait 18 minutes at the same stop for it to count, I think.
I think it’s a 7 day window, so if you start on Monday you’re incentivized to go out on the weekend because that’s when it becomes free to ride.
Anyway, I think we agree more than we disagree. Transit fares are regressive. When I was unemployed I didn’t go places as much because I didn’t want to spend the $6.