Idiot of the Week: Spitzer Rewards Stupidity
Congratulations to this week’s Idiot of the Week: New York Governor Eliot Spitzer! It’s the first time he has been bestowed with this honor, as he’s usually considered to be a keen politician and a man of the people. Today, he’s just as keen a politican, but he has become a man of the stupid people.
Yesterday, Spitzer swooped in and played hero to the masses of New York City Subway riders by announcing that he would keep the base fare at $2. The media framed him as the champion of the common man. After months of a potential subway fare hike hanging over our heads, Spitzer found the funds to keep a subway ride affordable.
But wait. I don’t pay $2 per ride right now. I pay for a 30-day pass, which costs $76. These passes, along with 7-day passes, account for over 85% of the subway ridership. Commuters almost always buy these passes, because they make sound financial sense.
Who pays $2 for a subway ride? Idiots, that’s who. People who are too stupid to figure out a Metrocard machine. People who don’t realize that putting less than $10 on a Metrocard at one time is a poor financial decision. People who don’t realize that the MTA offers about five different options to prevent you from paying $2 per subway ride. Oh, and tourists pay $2. Stupid, gullible tourists.
Guess who’s getting cut a break, thanks to Spitzer’s heroics? No, not the everyday riders who pay for those passes every month… the people who pay $2 a subway ride! So, Elliot Spitzer is rewarding stupidity by leveling off the fare that only idiots pay, while forcing deserving commuters to take a cut in their discounts. This isn’t heroics, but Spitzer wants you to think it is. He thinks he’s using his keen political skills to swoop in and save the day when even he knows he’s screwing almost every person who commutes on the subway. You think that the media will just keep screaming that ’SPITZER STOPPED THE FARE HIKE,’ and the regular guys will be fooled into believing they were saved - until they go to a Metrocard Vending Machine sometime this Spring and discover the cost of their monthly pass just jumped eight bucks.
Nice try. Hey, Eliot, guess what paying more for your subway fare is called? A FARE HIKE. You’re taking us all for idiots, and we will call you on it. We’re hardened New Yorkers. We’re not going to sit idly by and get rolled over while you try to use us for political advantage. We, as commuters, will not be the pawns you use to boost your pathetic approval rating.
So, congrats, Eliot Spitzer, for being this week’s Idiot of the Week… and getting it all wrong.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 21st, 2007 at 10:40 am and is filed under Subway Stupidity, Idiot of the Week. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:11 am
steve says:sounds like “stereotypical politician of the week” to me. make no mistake, spitzer is no idiot - he has always struck me as one of those with the remarkable ability to make himself look benevolent and pound people in ass at the same time. that’s how he got to where he is, and it looks like the strategy is still working.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:40 am
Ed says:Well, it would be interesting to know how the price for the 30-day pass has evolved over the past few years.
November 21st, 2007 at 11:52 am
Chris says:Ed: The same thing happened when the 30-day pass rose from $70 to $76 in 2005… the base fare remained flat, and commuters got screwed. It’s happening again.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Ed says:Got your point, thanks.
In fact that’s too easy to get money from commuters because they will not stop using public transportation because it is a bit more expensive from one year to the other. I mean it is still relatively cheap compared to other means of transportation.
I guess some specialists in economics could back this with some nice theory.
Point is commuters are getting screwed but they have no alternative.
November 21st, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Gwin says:Idiots and tourists aren’t the only ones who buy the non-monthly passes.
Since I ride my bike to work most of the time, I have a non-monthly Metrocard for those rare occasions when I can’t ride a bike (have to do something after work, it’s raining, etc.). Buying a monthly card simply doesn’t make sense for me.
You’re usually pretty on-the-ball about this kind of thing, Chris, so your harsh comment kinda suprised me.
November 21st, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Chris says:Gwin: That’s great that you’ve found a way to beat the MTA at their own game. If I had a place to park a bike - even at home, let alone at work - maybe I’d do the same thing. But for every one of you, there about 99 other New Yorkers who are using a weekly/monthly pass to ride the subway to work. You are an anomaly. By swooping in, Spitzer wasn’t trying to save face with one in 100 New Yorkers - he was trying to save face with all of them.
Also, you probably don’t pay $2, either. Do you put $10.00 or more on your Metrocard at one time? Those discounts work out to $1.67 per ride.
November 21st, 2007 at 4:06 pm
Ha Ha Sound says:I also usually only buy the Single Ride card, though I sometimes get the $10 one that gives you six rides. I only need to go to midtown a few times a month, so I usually walk everywhere.
But honestly, I think that Spitzer should focus on why the level of service from the MTA is so poor rather than a fare hike that may come next year.
And one question: are the “discounted passes” definitely going to go up in cost or is it just being proposed?
November 21st, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Dana says:Good point. While deep down I’m a little glad that somebody was able to stop the MTA steamroller from doing whatever it wants (even partially) — your point makes perfect sense.
I live out in the stix of brooklyn - with two trains and a bus to work every day. I’m all about my over priced monthly card. I couldnt get to work without it. I have to wonder though — now that the MTA can’t raise the base fare will they push they money they say the need onto the unlimited and make the proposed hikes for them even higher. I really hope not.
November 21st, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Todd says:I swipe my metrocard an average of 16 times a week. I’m pretty sure that would work out to $128 in two dollar fares. As long as my unlimited card stays below that cost, I’m a happy guy.
November 27th, 2007 at 1:10 am
Second Ave. Sagas | Blogging the NYC Subways » Blog Archive » With new plans unveiled, the fare hike honeymoon ends says:[…] Well, cancel those celebratory parties. As I noted, politicians shouldn’t play populist games with fare hikes when the MTA needs the money, and as Chris at East Village Idiot aptly noted, the fares for the Unlimited Ride MetroCards would increase such that those passengers who use them wind up shouldering much of the load for the fare hike. […]