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ottprim t1_jcmc78v wrote

Reply to comment by dust1990 in NYC Subway Fare over last 120 years adjusted for inflation by dust1990

The $0.05 was a political thing. Every mayor ran with the promise to keep that fare. It was the cause of the three systems going bankrupt leaving the running of the subway to the city.

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sutisuc t1_jcmx65e wrote

Weren’t all the subway lines privately run at that point?

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ottprim t1_jcmxywg wrote

Yes. The BMT, IRT, and IND were companies. Some had buses too, but the city legislated the fare the could charge.

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Sun_Devilish t1_jcnn80l wrote

> the city legislated the fare the could charge.

/facepalm

No wonder they went out of business.

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Past-Passenger9129 t1_jcowst0 wrote

To be fair, look at the crazy curve of the cost relative to today's dollar over that 40+ year span. The economy was anything but stable.

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sutisuc t1_jcmy84h wrote

Wow. Can’t even fathom the city trying to dictate what a private company could charge today. Thanks for sharing

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funforyourlife t1_jcn12bt wrote

Utility companies literally have their rates set by the government

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bayoublue t1_jcnruvj wrote

The city payed for the construction of the subway lines and owned them. The private operators had operating agreements to run them.

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Powerful-Attorney-26 t1_jcrtu3p wrote

The city had paid for the construction and let the private companies make the profits. The actual tracks and stations have always been owned by the city. Massive corporate welfare. And indeed the owners of the private companies make a fortune early in the subways' existence. First of all the seems were profitable themselves for about the first ten years, and the owners were able to engage in massive amounts of land speculation because they knew where the lines and stations were going to be put.

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IIAOPSW t1_jcnjfd2 wrote

This is almost true. It was a political thing, but mayors didn't run on it. Rather, the 5 cent fare was a stipulation in the dual contracts the city had with the IRT and BMT to build and operate the subway. These companies couldn't legally raise their fares.

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anonyuser415 t1_jcnodxi wrote

You have the arrangement right, but the person you're replying to had it right too. It was a massive issue after post-WWI inflation. Reading the wording of the contracts I don't really get it. The contracts say the fare will be a nickle until 1966. But there it is:

> Well before [the price increased to a dime in 1948] the issue of whether to increase the fare had challenged many mayors, become the subject of campaign promises and provoked fierce clashes with powerful interest groups.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/12/nyregion/mta-fare-hike.html

> Mayor John Hylan, who took office in 1918, made the nickel fare a linchpin of his administration and a cudgel he used against the IRT and BRT. The city’s insistence on retaining the nickel fare became a political hot potato that affected every mayor from Hylan to William O’Dwyer, who took office in 1946. During O’Dwyer’s first term, the historic nickel barrier was finally breached, but not before years of contentious, vociferous, and often bitter debates about the merits and problems of charging five cents for a ride that could be twenty miles long from Wakefield in the Bronx to East New York in Brooklyn.

https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780823261925-009/html

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