Thursday, March 26, 2009

At Least They're Getting Social Media Right

As someone who is planning to move to NYC in the near future, I've been trying to follow the MTA fare hike votes as closely as those already living in the city.  Yesterday, the plan was approved to raise single rides from $2 to $2.50, and monthly MetroCard passes from $81 to $103.  These changes will go into effect on May 31st, and the Metro-North Railroad and L.I.R.R. will also see rate increases starting June 1st.  There will also be service cuts, which 
will likely cause even more crowding on busses and subways (is that possible?).  

According to the New York Times, these will be the most sweeping service cuts since the city’s fiscal crisis of the mid-1970s. Only once before in the 105-year history of the subway have fares risen two years in a row (fares last increased in March 2008).  These higher fees and service cutbacks are intended to help MTA with the $1.2 billion deficit it is currently facing. 

After reading a few articles on the topic, I posted this comment to Twitter:

Within 30 seconds, I had an email in my inbox notifying me that "NYC MTA Alerts" is now following me on Twitter.  Wow.  Upon further investigation, I realized the Twitter feed provides up-to-the-minute service updates, and never actually mentioned anything about the fare hikes.  However, I was still impressed with how quickly my tweet was detected (maybe it's automated? is there even a way to do that?).  

Well, slightly impressed.  Not enough to make up for the extra $22 I'll be spending every month to get around town.

1 comment:

  1. Great post - don't forget about the 1100 layoffs. The subway has become such a nightmare that when my lease is up in May I will be moving within walking distance of work.

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