The other day I left class in a hurry to get

home, only to find my subway route had been cut off…for hours. Who knows what happened, and I

certainly was not going to stand on a stationary train until it was up again. Plus, I had already

paid my $2.25 fare….so, like many of my other subterranean peers, I joined the huddle around the

subway map to figure out a new route home.

I had to take 4 (5?) trains to get to where I

wanted to be that day. I even made a mistake at one point, and had to jump back a stop on the same

line. How much did all of this cost? $2.25. The same price as if I would have taken my normal 1

train. In New York, subway transfers cost nothing. And that’s probably a mistake for the

MTA.

Why? Well, it parallels the same type of argument that fat people should pay more for

flying on planes. The ride on a common carrier should reflect the true cost of the ride. Riding 4

subways to get home costs more than $2.25. If that was my daily, admittedly complicated, way to get

home everyday….shouldn’t I pay more than 1-stop-Sally? Of course I should, because my free-riding

(literally) costs the system, and therefore everyone, more money.

This would be terribly

unpopular, but to incite your outrage, imagine this extreme example: A savvy New Yorker figures that

his Bagel-delivery service can use the subway for ALL of its transportation needs. In fact, the

delivery guy figures out a way to have other people meet him at terminals to hand-off bagels at one

station, and receive them at others (assume this guy has lots of employees all over the City). He

only pays $2.25 to transport his bagels all over the city (think Bronx to Canarsie…) ALL DAY. He

does this at everyone else’s expense.

I don’t think that number of stops should be factored

into the charge, as administrative costs would probably get out of control and eat up savings, but

charging for transferring trains would be easier to do, limit abuse by bagel-couriers, and move

toward the economic holy grail of “full cost accounting.”