Is it about time the kids paid? I think so.
So let’s hear your thoughts on the cutting of free and reduced fares for NYC Students.
Personally, I’m torn. I can see how it is something that students should have. Then again, times are tough. I think that everyone needs to chip in. I guess I’m on both sides of the issue.
Here’s some things I do know.
1) “I have three kids. How am I supposed to afford buying them each a MetroCard.”
Nothing makes my blood boil more than this one. It’s the same excuse used for not having to pay for many services.
Here’s an idea: Keep your legs closed, get on the pill, put on a condom, and stop pumping out children. The fact that poor people have more than one kid is absolutely amazing to me. I can understand making a mistake and having a kid. However, once you’ve realized the difficulties (personally and financially) of having a kid without the income to support it, what the hell business do you have birthing more? Grow the F up.
I don’t want to hear that you have so many children you can’t afford to pay for stuff on your own. That’s a problem YOU created.
2) I love this quote from this NBC post:
Samad Ahmed, 16, who takes the N Train to get to school in The Flatiron District, put it this way: “I mean we’re in a recession. I don’t know how you expect my Dad, who drives a car for a living and works real hard to keep us fed, to take on another burden. It’s unfair.”
Yeah Samad…another burden like YOU.
3) My kid will have to walk too far.
Well, you’re kid is fat. It will be good for them. If they’ve got to walk 30 blocks to school, great. They need it.
I could go on, but I’ll let you pick it up from here.
- 58 Rider Opinions
- Tags: student fare
Wow, that was an incredibly hateful post. Time to unsubscribe. Sounds like you’re suffering from too much Limbaugh or Beck.
ReplyRush is the symbol of everything that is wrong with the planet.
But wait, it is hateful for me to complain about people having kids they cannot afford? If times are tough, move somewhere cheaper to live. Raleigh, NC needs cab drivers, costs 40 percent of what it costs in NYC to live and will bus your kid to a great school for free. Then there’s the bargain in-state college tuition to some of the best schools in country. I’m tired of excuses.
ReplyGuess what kid? You don’t get to go to school now because your parents were irresponsible 15 years ago.
Unsubscribing.
ReplyWow some people take things way too seriously. Not you SUBWAYblogger, AdrianLesher and digamma.
ReplyWow. Trolling for Exxon dollars? Pathetic. What people will do for money!
Replyunsubscribed. this is ridiculous. point me to one suburban school where kids have to pay out of pocket everyday to get to school.
ReplyGlad I’m not the only one who recognizes how hateful this post is. What about the families that were perfectly well off 15 years ago when they had the kids, but are just now being squeezed by the recession? As liamaa said, in other places kids and families don’t have to shell out for their bus service.
ReplyThis blog post is incredibly insulting. Subway Blogger has a history of being a jerk and a misanthrope, but this is beyond disgusting.
Reply@digamma: 15 years ago? Hey, you’re old enough to get an after school job to pay for that bus pass. Congratulations.
@liamaa: The reason they have free buses in suburban communities is because students are miles and miles away from school. However, just like in the city, parents are responsible for getting them to school if they live closer than 2 miles.
Being able to choose and apply to the high school you want to attend is a luxury. Not to many school systems out there have a policy like that. If you live in the Bronx, and want to go to school in the Flat Iron district, that is great. Good for you kid. But you’re going to have to get yourself there. Otherwise, I’m sure there’s a school closer to you.
As a matter of fact, if you get good grades (I’m talking honor roll)…fine. You can get a free Metro Card to go where you want to school. If you’re a special needs kid, we’ll come up with something different for you.
I’ll even take it a step further. If you’re kid graduates with a B average or better, the city will reimburse you for all transportation expenses. If you’re kid drops out or fails, it is on your dime to get them there.
Maybe that will help get some parents involved in the failing schools.
@Angela: You are a moron. Yes, they do have to pay for the bus service. So do people that don’t even have kids. They are called TAXES. Since you rent your apartment, you don’t have to pay property tax. In the suburbs, property taxes are often the primary funding source for schools.
@dts401: Yet, you’re still here.
ReplyI like the blog but the post is over the top. “If they’ve got to walk 30 blocks to school, great.” Dude, walking 3 blocks in the NYC winter, like today’s weather, is tough. Imagine 30.
Reply@Jacob: Jake – That’s about 1.5 miles in most neighborhoods. Certainly less than two miles. From 96th Street to 64th Street on Broadway/Amsterdam is a 28 minute walk.
ReplyA single mother, with a low-paying retail job and a 14 year-old son, unable to work after school to pay for his two-subway-train-line commute due to homework and the law, who years ago had every reason to expect a prospering family with a father who would never abandon his family, cannot afford these cuts and absolutely requires assistance to send her only loved one to a public facility that was instituted for the purpose of education, an optimistic endeavor aimed to provide equal opportunity to all members of a successful society.
Mr. SubwayBlogger, I’m out of here.
ReplyWhy its an issue Subwayblogger.. Let the kids walk away with a freebie.. and when you see it as a whole, its not such a big burden on your wallet either. And if it is.. may be then YOU are the burden.
ReplyWow…what an asshole. Metrocards for students is something that they depend on. At 17, I left high school to get my GED. The program I was in was aimed at high school aged people 17-21 who needed their GED. We were given free cards. Without those metrocards, I would not have been able to attend that program (and experience the best year of my life from 2007-2008). The school was in Midtown Manhattan and I lived in downtown Brooklyn. Needless to say I would not have been able to “walk”. @Subwayblogger: Maybe you’re a pretentious pric/bitch who has money to go to and fro, but for some of us, we need those free cards as students. As a high school student I’d expect them. As a college student, I don’t expect them (not to say that they wouldnt be helpful). You really need to reassess your values. I’m totally pissed @ this blog @ this point.
Reply@Andy:
ReplyLol. Stop kissing subwayB’s shitty ass. Your nose will brown soon.
Slightly harsh post i think, children and the elderly have always paid less for travel as normal prices for fully working adults are out of their budget
ReplyVery controversial stance you have taken there, not quite sure I agree
ReplyHarsh. When I was in HS I was very thankful for the metrocard they issued me. I had an hour train ride to school, so walking was out of the question. There was no way my parents would have been able to afford a monthly, so I was grateful. But this is pointless anyway, most of these kids just jump the turnstile anyway, not much of a gain there.
ReplyWhy don’t we make the real issue clear. The school system is required to pay for transportation; not the MTA.
Free MetroCards should still be given to those that need them but the MTA should NOT be the ones funding them; the city and state should, just as transportation is everywhere else in the country. Period.
ReplyLong time no post!!
ReplyOh, I love this! I totally agree…if you reproduce it, pay for it.
ReplyI understand your argument, but do you necessarily think that it should be held out on the students, and that they should be told that they can’t have an education, due to a poor decision of their parents, how would you feel if this was told to you?
Reply@The SUBWAYblogger:
This post is awesome. When I came across this randomly I SUBSCRIBED to this blog. Transportation is a service not a privilege. Services cost money. If you want to ride you have to pay. They should privatize the entire system, like it was before the state took control. The leftists wonder why the subway looks like crap; it’s because they let too many people in for free and reduced fares while the rest of us pony up the difference. Forget that. I tired of mediocrity. It’s called fair share, not your fare share.
ReplyWow, talk about stirring up some emotion and controversy. You’ve certainly accomplished that with this post.
ReplyJumping into the debate… I feel that this whole thing is a non issue. If you debate this, its like debating taxes. There is no right or wrong.. but you have to accept one aspect and let the other go.
ReplyWith the exception of parents who have children who are disabled and are clearly unable to utilize public transportation or children who’s parents are on public assistance, I would love to see parents finally assuming the responsibility to pay for their children’s bus and subway fares to and from school each and every day in addition to paying for them for all the other occasions when they are using the system. How many parents are now paying fares for their children who are over 44 inches tall ? How many are paying for each child over the 3 child limit allowed to ride free (provided they all meet the height requirement) with an accompaning adult? From what I observe each and every day here on the subway system, most parents have their children duck under the turnstile or they just bring them in the high wheel turnstile with them. There are a lot of defiant parents and adults that insist that all children ride free, it is just not true. It is fare evading too. A lot of times the police don’t enforce the rules. The station agents can only tell them to pay the fare but most of the time it is just a waste of energy on their part. A lot of tourists usually comply with the rules. It is the height of the child that determines if they pay, NOT their age. If the children are not receiving free lunch at school, the parents must either make them lunch or give them money for lunch, well now they will have to give them a metrocard or some extra money for one. They can send them to schools closer to their home, if their funds are so tight, let them walk to school, it is great exercise for them. I believe the law says that all children must attend school, it doesn’t say that the city, state, school system, or federal government must provide free transportation for each and every child. Parents and children can also start picking up discarded metrocards off the stations and check to see if they have value, take them to the station agents to combine and then they’ll have a metrocard in case they need to use it in the future. Be ready and be prepared.
ReplyDude I like your style I sure do! ok kids yeah sure mom has to pay for it but I still think that old people should get a free ride – they have low pensions and what not
Reply@Alex Engel: Very true…the SCHOOL SYSTEM.
The down side of that is the cost gets passed to the tax payer…but you are correct. The MTA’s burdened budget should not be footing the bill.
Reply@The SUBWAYblogger:
Yes. So could you please clarify your post to mean that the SCHOOL SYSTEM should pay for their transport to school; NOT the parents or children themselves? It’s pretty simple.
@Jeff:
The reason the system was taken over by the government was because it was bankrupt after being run by private entities. An argument can be made for privatizing the subway system IF all the roads are privatized as well. (You can’t have one be private and the other public and have both function well). It’s lost on a lot of people that roads are not “free” – they are paid for by tax dollars. The same should be (and is in some places and to some degree) of other transportation systems. In fact, it’s actually cheaper for the same number of people.
Replywell I do hate having to pay taxes and then that money going to support lazy bumps
Reply@Alex Engel:
Alex, you have it completely backwards. It wasn’t the private companies that made the subway go broke, it was the city. By law the city kept the fare at 5 cents. This ensured that the private companies would fail. When service started to suffer the city blamed it on the private companies saying only it could do a better job. After the city snuffed out the private companies and consolidated the system they of course raised the rates to 10 cents and then to 15…
Additionally, I think private roads can and should be privatized.
ReplyI don’t live at the same area with you guys, but I can feel the emotions and controversy here. The subject is interesting, but I don’t like some of your wording.
ReplyCall the wahmbulance. I 1000% agree with SubwayBlogger. The haters need to get over it. Kids cost money. If you can’t afford to have a child then do everyone a favor and DON’T HAVE ANY. I grew up in your average middle income family and 28 years later I constantly question my parent’s judgement to have 3 kids. Maybe everyone should make up an excuse to ride the subway for free. “I lost my job, I shouldn’t have to pay to take the subway to midtown for a job interview, wah” wahwahwah
ReplyYou better watch that mouth. It might get you into trouble sblogger. Someonbe might “bump” into you while that 1 train ofyours is pulling into the station. Watch ur back ass.
ReplyAmen, SUBWAYblogger! So glad to find someone in NYC who believes in individual responsibility instead of expectant collectivism. SUBSCRIBE, baby!!
ReplyI somehow agree with subway blogger, there are so many people effected by recession and some crapy polcies of the government taken afterwards that they start thinking in this direction!
This was my view on the blog.
To the people who have commented, there should be a decorum, why the hell do you forget that, you should express your ideas but not in abusive way!!
ReplyBy the way, english dictionary has lot of words to present your strong and hard feelings which are ‘ass’, ’shitty ass’ n bla bla
ReplySorry I forgot to put a ‘not’ in my comment last time:
Replyenglish dictionary has lot of words to present your strong and hard feelings, so do not use ‘ass’, ’shitty ass’ n bla bla
Love how the second somebody suggests personal responsibility over waiting for the gov’t to rain money/services on them its automatically “BECK! LIMBAUGH! IM OUTTA HERE!”
ReplyHey! I liked your post. It is brutal but that’s how the truth is usually. I think people should start to think before they leap, meaning think about what you are doing, especially when it come giving birth to a new soul on this planet. You can’t just “produce” simply because you like it and when you actually realize that you can’t afford it to think someone else is responsible for it. You are responsible. Of course, having kids is nice, but when you are actually are ready both mentally and materially to have them, not when it just “happens”.
ReplyDo kids pay anywhere else. In the rest of the world they get on a big yellow bus. Part of the schools budget. Why is this an MTA problem.
Replywow, there are people here who actually agree with this disgusting, clearly hateful attitude? i’m wondering how many of you have ever really had to face life without a safety net. we are talking about train passes for students to go to school, which is a legal mandate. if i want to think on your abstract, ayn rand level, as school attendance is mandated by law, not providing passes would qualify as an additional form of taxation. there, theorize with peoples’ lives with that idea. i’m wondering how many of you even grew up in new york. i’m willing to bet most of you angry haters haven’t. you clearly don’t live in the real world and lack any sort of human compassion. i’ll bet you all think you were self-made people but most of you are probably not if i knew all the facts of your background. you would reproduce poverty and ignorance of our youth and reduce the chances for the poor as if it was nothing. let them eat cake. absolutely disgusting.
ReplyI think in england if you are younger than 16 you don’t have to pay for anything, not sure tho…
ReplyFirst of all it doesn’t cost the MTA nothing to give passes to school children.This is a tactic of posturing and also to have the union appear to be greedy(thats one of the ways to break a union by making them unpopular).Most school children are good kids but there are those that cause disruptions in the system and on buses and there was a time when kicking out glass throwing seat covers off the train into the tracks or off the structure,fights are common place.
ReplySo the MTA probably feels if they can threaten or even make them pay to get on the trains and buses they will behave more civilized(hopefully).
Reading some post I would like to make a couple of observations.
Number one,people are not always logical.Some make decisions based on their emotions like having children they can’t afford and then complain about cost later.Maybey people aren’t educated or maybey some feel the cost is worth the stress.Some of the older people here may by observation come to believe that kids nowadays are lazy or bratty.Some of us didn’t get free passes to ride public transportation.We all know the inactivity of todays youth,but I’m not entirely blaming them.The truth is that in the poorer hoods services are being stresses without the tax base and this has a domino effect.Personally I can’t understand why poor people have so many kids.A very dear friend of mine has three and he’s a year younger than I am.My friend lives in a smaller apartment than mine with his wife although they lease a vehicle that is useful for vacations and that kind of thing.I also make more than he does(his wife don’t work).I love him but I shake my head and wonder why would anyone want to raise children in this screwed-up city under these political conditions.Make no mistake about it having children should be a very very serious decision!
I’m sure if the vast majority of children in the city were awsome student this whole thing wouldn’t even be a topic,tax dollars are wasted on children that just are not serious about an education.I’m sorry if some of you are squeezed by the economy and you feel the need to blame mistakes on the recession.The problem is recessions are totally normal and you don’t have to go to no fancy school to learn that fact.So in the process of decision making we will need to factor in.
Secondly;kids would rather combine resources cut school and smoke a blunt,thats the attitude they think they have the world figured out at the ripe old age of 16,big big mistake.Making school children pay will have a drastic negative domino effect.I’m sure I dont need to give any more examples.The problems we have are the result of decades of bad policies,bad politics and mis-education.
Your wrong,It was the lawyers for the original owners that drafted the 5 fare to law(so the city couldn’t lower it).The private companies backed by people like Belmont and heavily invested by the Rothschild’s.The privates changed their mind and wanted to raise the 5 cent fair but the city won in court.All along the private companies and their investers were reaping in millions of dollars a year.Once ridership peaked the privates bailed.The thing is it was planned from the very beginning,people of great finance don’t make such mistakes without giving themselves a way out.@Jeff:
ReplyThey have school systems that pay for school buses with resident tax dollars. Idiot.
ReplyYou had me at:
"First of all it doesn't cost the MTA nothing…"
Moron.
ReplyJust have the school system pay the shit and get it over with. This has taken way too long it's about time that someone fixes this shit, really. I think that it is the schools responsibility to pay, but the city hasn't seemed to make any efforts in that happening. Really.
ReplyStudents have it hard enough as is but some compromise should be made. Perhaps those who have it free should have it reduced.
Replyof course they should pay!
ReplyStudents have to skimp and save I don't think we should be charging them any extra for travel
ReplyI am a student and defo not, I barely make ends meet as it is
ReplyThis is a truly terrible idea
ReplyWhy is this MTA a problem. In the rest of the world they get on a big yellow bus. Part of the schools budget.
ReplyI dont consider having a child a mistake, its a blessing. If you have kids, then it is our responsibilities as parents to do everything we can to support their needs.Work hard, that's what we should do as parents.
ReplyEvery one need cheap its true, but specially while leaving student life at least need affordable rates, because student life is full of expenditure and cost so need to think about their costly study.
Reply[...] and the Free Market tweetmeme_url = 'http://treygivens.com/?p=857';tweetmeme_source = 'TreyPeden';Subway Blogger is debating whether or not the MTA should start charging for children and eliminating…. See, the MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority) is the entity that, among other things, runs the [...]
[...] already so we can go on with our lives realizing that this is not the end of the world. This is a followup to SUBWAYblogger’s recent post on this subject that became quite the source of [...]