MAY 30, 2008--- A New York City subway ride cost just $.50 when Paula Thigpen, 53, moved to New York City 32 years ago. Now, a Subway ride costs $2—and with the price of gas exploding, the threat of higher fares is growing.
“I think it’s too much because the services don’t get any better with the raising of prices,” Thigpen, Assistant Director of Student Services at The King's College, said. But New Yorkers depend upon the Subway system, she said. “There’s no other way to get around Manhattan."
Many residents of the city feel the same way.
“I love the subway. It's my favorite thing to do,” Alyssa Wesner, a New York based writer and photographer, said. She likes people watching and does so on the subway while taking notes, which becomes an inspiration for her writing when she returns home.
The change in the economy has not affected her mass transit riding, but the state of the dollar and oil prices might be causing more New Yorkers to reconsider their preferences.
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Consumer Price Index, which tracks the dollar against other major world currencies, the month of April saw the lowest level of the index since May 1995.
The dollar fell 11.3 percent from April 2007 to April 2008 against the European sub index, which tracks the Euro, the Swiss franc and the United Kingdom pound.
Over the past year, the dollar lost purchasing power in the global economy, which is affecting the price of goods and services in the American economy.
When it comes to transportation, as the value of the dollar is going down, the cost of crude oil is rising. The commodity closed at $126.41 per barrel on May 29, compared to $96.00 on Dec. 28, 2007 and $64.01 on May 31, 2007. These statistics, from the International Herald Tribune, show a 99.10 percent increase in oil prices in one year.
Because of the increase oil prices, gasoline prices are rising as well. The average price of gas per gallon in New York City on May 29 was $4.20, according to NewYorkGasPrices.com, compared to $3.82 one month ago and $3.31 last year. The New York City Transit Authorities have a contract that fixes prices on gas for city buses, allowing them to avoid these cost jumps (at least temporarily)
As the cost of gas and other means of transportation continue to rise, New Yorkers and Americans are weighing in on the most economical means for transportation. Crowds of financially exhausted New Yorkers are squeezing their way into subway stations to avoid pumping themselves into debt.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's New York City Transit performance indicators show 16.23 million more riders using subways and buses in the first two months of 2008 compared to the same time frame in 2007.
"We provide service according to the level of ridership. We adjust service accordingly," said James Anyansi, spokesman for New York City Transit authorities. This means new routes for buses and subways as the number of commuters increases.
"[The subway] is cheap, it goes almost everywhere," he said.
Thigpen doesn't think the thrifty cost is worth the quality of mass transit. She commutes to work each day from Queens and complains of the subway's non-working elevators and escalators and minimal subway security.
“I don’t mind paying higher prices as long as the quality goes up with the profit."
Though prices may be rising in the transit for the city, Henry's homeland is currently facing more pressing economical stresses: gas costs in Europe have recently topped $9 a gallon in U.S. currency, sparking industry-wide boycotts of fuel.
"Go to Europe and tell me what you think about the [gas] prices," Henry said to Americans. "People don't realize they get cheap gas here."
