State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has prevailed upon the MTA to abolish its policy of giving free MetroCards and EZ-Passes to MTA board members.
Big whoop!
We will concede that giving the passes to former board members may have been bad policy if the MTA and its critics will concede that the change will not make buses run faster or make the subways less crowded.
Most of all, it will not make the next fare hike less likely.
In fact, we were moved by a former board member, now 79, who asked, “How can you take away something you gave to somebody?” He has a point.
So does MTA Chairman Dale Hemmerdinger, who blamed the press for the furor. “You have made an issue of whether people get a free ride or not and that took the focus off of the other issues facing the MTA, which are how we're going to fund mega projects and how we're going to continue funding service for 8.5 million New Yorkers.”
Former board members' free rides are nothing more than distractions.
