A three-day town hall let New Yorkers sound off about the latest increase in subway fare—and crack jokes about the M.T.A. (“More Tolls Ahead,” “Money Thrown Away,” “Missing Trains’ A.C.,” “Motherfucking Transit Authority.”)
In October, 1904, a middle-aged woman from Brooklyn, as one story goes, bought the first subway ticket in New York City. The train ran from City Hall to Harlem—nine miles, twenty-eight stations. The green paper pass cost five cents, just a penny less than a can of Campbell’s tomato soup. Ticket prices didn’t increase until after the Second World War, in 1948, when the cost of a one-way trip rose to a dime, which was the going rate for most things around town, including soup.
Down the hall, in a huge room adorned with American flags and CCTV cameras, a couple of regular town-hall attendees cracked jokes about the M.T.A. A few cops, who were there to make sure that nothing got out of hand, stood around, shifting their weight from one leg to the other. Sitting next to Birnbaum, in the front row, was a wispy, gray-haired man wearing yellow wooden clogs and a charcoal suit.
Near the restrooms, on the twentieth floor, someone asked Richard Davey, who oversees subways and buses for the M.T.A., what he thought about the complaints. He responded like a politician: “The Legislature and the governor gave us the resources to keep the cost below three dollars, and we’re grateful to do that.” Of the subway fare, he said, “It’s still a bargain!”
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