The Wages of Generosity

It's a question we've asked a few times before: Why does anybody-anybody at all-take MTA whining about "budget woes" seriously anymore?

Just a few weeks back, MTA administrators were at it again, claiming they were losing bucketloads of money every quarter because, dammit, straphangers were just taking advantage of their generosity. So many people were buying unlimited-ride MetroCards, and the discounts on those cards (offered out of sheer kindness, mind you) were just so good, that the agency was in terrible financial shape as a result. All because they were just trying to be nice to us!

They'd lost so much money as a result of being kind, in fact, that now there was no way they were going to be able to pay for things like general subway maintenance. (The clear hint was that those overly generous MetroCard discounts would soon be a thing of the past.)

Then a funny thing happened. Last Friday it was reported that the agency had in fact made an estimated $55 million over the past three years solely as a result of people tossing out MetroCards before they'd been completely used up. Any money put on a card and then not used, of course, goes straight into the agency coffers.

Apparently New Yorkers are subconsciously so very deeply ashamed of taking advantage of the MTA that they're trying to hand all that money they've been saving right back.

No matter. Next week the MTA will find a new way to cry poverty, and a week after that it'll be revealed as a fraud. And the week after that...