Elsie - one last thing... sure there were warnings... but guess what it would have taken to take pro-active measures to help mitigate some of the damage??? BILLIONS OF DOLLARS!! Where do you think that money would have come from??? I guarantee you a $.25 fare hike won't be able to make any of those changes. This is not a dream world.

Elsie - and btw - the Freedom Tower and WTC is under the auspices of the Port Authority... not the MTA... but what does it matter right?? According to you I don't know much.

Elsie you've never lived in a third world country... my family is from one... and I can tell you stories of ppl being killed just because of disorganization and/or faulty equipment. You are one of the spoiled ones. I NEVER said the MTA was perfect... I'm talking about the fares. The FACT is the biggest reason for fare increases are the contracts of the workers. In the country my family comes from - fares are cheap and so are wages... and nobody can make ends meet. That's why - as much as we love it - we live here in NY. Give me a break. Go to London or Tokyo... which actually do have better transport and see how much more they pay. You are "talking loud and not saying anything".

To AG who obviously has never ridden a subway outside of NYC, I'd like you to know that the NYC subway is run like a Third World country. In fact, any Third World country with a subway has better (and cheaper) service than what NYers face here.

The MTA management is filled with ridiculous cronyism and corruption - do you remember the whole double books scandal ten years ago? Apparently not. Then there's the fact that any time the MTA makes a bad deal (like the one with Bruce Ratner for part of the Atlantic Yards), the public gets another fare hike to pay for MTA's horrible business sense. And what about the ugly "Freedom Tower" that we are all having to pay for? Not to mention the public subsidies that we are paying to wealthy companies to rent space from that building which is sure to drain public coffers for generations to come.

But many NYers are just blind to how poorly things are run here - it's a combination of arrogance and ignorance (many NYers have never actually lived anywhere other than NY). NY had been warned several times that flooding was a distinct possibility for the subway system and each time the reports were ignored (it's much more glamorous to spend the public's money on unnecessarily fancy and expensive stations in the downtown area (because tourists like that sort of thing). To say that the MTA handled the crisis well is to be in complete denial.

Although I'm happy that Liota will be out of the MTA (how long did he last - not even two years), I think he's out of his mind if he thinks he's going to be NYC's next mayor. But let him run......and then let him move to the suburbs when he loses. We certainly don't need any Guiliani hack leading this city.

Well Joan, it's not a stereotype if they actually did it. However, if they did not - then you're 100% CORRECT.

Did anyone ask the President of the City Council (of Thieves) whether the voters have forgotten her self-confessed embezzlement scheme (aided and abetted by the City Council, with the silence of "Bermuda" Mike and a pusillanimous press) of taxpayer funds to pay political supporters and their own legal expenses?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOqecrHyzko

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2008/04/melting_the_cit.php

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/nyregion/11council.html?pagewanted=1;%20new%20york%20city%20council%20slush%20fund&sq=Dianne%20Cardwell&st=nyt&scp=9&_r=0

Lhota's willingness to call-out this culture of corruption will determine how seriously his candidacy is seen as an alternative.

Well said AG, NOT to mention that unlimited trips are now an afterthought, compared to the token years, when you joined the gym next your job - to avoid paying for extra trips, or those two fare zones?

That being said, the MTA is chronically under-funded by Albany - fare hikes are just another tax on the back end from cowardly politicians.

Isn't Lohta's claim of getting lymphoma from 911 contradicted by the latest 911 cancer study?

Good going Ms. Bernstein. La famiglia, the Godfather... glad to see that there is still one group that we can safely stereotype.

Andrea ??
Really this is 2012 they SHOULD give us the news in real time !!
What smoke signals ??

Some of the reports of Joe Lhota's announcement of his candidacy played clips of his very juvenile exchange with a City Council member (I think) during a hearing. It really made me want to tell them both, "Grow up!" It certainly didn't make me think I'd want Mr. Lhota to be mayor of NYC.

Another hack...and does anyone remember the Rudy years.
If you have a different point of view,the little dictator
will have you arrested.

The NYC run for mayor will be a snake pit with no good choices.

Fare hike an issue? NY'ers are spoiled. Nobody wants to pay more for anything... but we live in the real world. Go to any region in the world that has a "better" public transport and they either pay much higher fares or pay much higher taxes - and they usually don't run 24 hours. $114 for a month... or $2.50 one way that can take you from Wakefield in the Bronx out to the Rockaways in Queens? Try that anywhere else....or in any other mode of transport.

Please unpack the political void Lohta can exploit, if any.

Any chance Lhota would run largely on an infrastructure platform? (Doubtful for a republican, I know, but a girl can dream, right?)

Just because the media portrayed him as a hero during the storm, doesn't mean I am not pissed off about the fare hike. Just because the subway was up and running fairly quickly in some areas, doesn't mean that this means that he has mayoral capability.

No one is going to remember. The onerous regulations and taxes that the NYC City Council are far worse than any fare increase....

Wow, thanks for the fare hike summary BL staff!

The hike is a damn shame, but Quinn's camp comes off as cheap shooters.

hjs11211 - you think you could have managed better??? no one in the world outside the MTA (or the mayor) thought the transportation network would get back and running so soon. I guess you don't understand what the storm did...?

does anyone else think the mta did a bad job during sandy?
long lines in the morning and CHAOS/lord of the flies for the PM rush. there were nights I thought I’d never make it home.
not sure how this guy became a hero

I'd love if Janette Sadik-Khan would be the new MTA chief. I'd bet we'd have more bike lanes, and she'd transform some of the transit deserts (i.e staten island, red hook) and bring back the street-cars!