Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. held a press conference this morning to oppose the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) proposed public transit fare hikes and to call for a reorganization of the agency that gives control of local public transit back to New York City.
Borough President Diaz Jr. was joined by Council Member Rev. Ruben Diaz, Assembly Member Nathalia Fernandez and Assembly Member Victor Pichardo at the event, which took place in front of the 149 Street-Grand Concourse subway station. The elected officials distributed literature to commuters demanding that the MTA reconsider their proposed fare hike.
“The MTA is adding a bigger burden on New Yorkers, our working class residents, by hiking the fares on public transportation,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. “We are continuing to pay more and more for less and less service each year. The current system is just not working, and commuters are sick and tired of being asked to spend more money for deplorable, subpar service. We stand in unison, demanding that there be no new fare hike in the near future. Fix the service, fix the trains running on time, fix the buses and then, maybe, we can talk about a fare hike.”
Borough President Diaz added that it is time for control of New York City Transit to return to New York City, as it was before the creation of the MTA in the 1960’s, considering the amount of money the city currently pours into public transportation and the consideration of new proposals, such as congestion pricing, that would take more money from New York City residents.
“For too long we have seen a game of hot-potato between Albany and New York City in regards to our subways and bus system,” said Borough President Diaz. “It is time for the Big Apple to accept control of this hot-potato, and for Albany to step back and change the law to give New York City the requisite power to fix the problem and control its own public transportation system.”
The full press conference can be viewed at https://bit.ly/2SXMDRn.
CAPTION: Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. hosted a press conference on Wednesday, January 16, 2019, at the subway station at East 149th Street and the Grand Concourse to oppose the MTA’s proposed fare hikes and call for New York City to retake control of its public transportation system. Borough President Diaz was joined by (l to r) City Council Member Rev. Ruben Diaz, Assembly Member Nathalia Fernandez and Assembly Member Victor Pichardo. Download the photo at https://flic.kr/p/2efrFpF.
CAPTION: Bronx Borough Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. greets commuters at the East 149th Street and the Grand Concourse subway station on the morning of January 16, 2019, to hand out literature opposing the MTA’s proposed fare hikes. Download the photo at https://flic.kr/p/2cRDzTX.