"Someone needs to take an accounting class.
The MTA and the assemblyman who oversees the agency have a $214 million disagreement over how much it costs the system to transport 500,000 students for free every school day.
The dispute was set off by the MTA's plan to eliminate free student MetroCards starting in September.
The agency says the city and state have not increased their contributions to the program as costs went up.
But Assemblyman Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester) charged in a letter yesterday that it barely costs the MTA a dime to transport the students.
'They're using these kids as pawns,' Brodsky charged, saying MTA officials told him they would still run the same number of buses and subways with or without the free fares.
MTA officials said it would rake in an additional $214 million a year by charging the kids.
Meanwhile, students and teachers rallied yesterday in lower Manhattan to keep the free fares.
If Valerie Bynaar, a Philip Randolph HS student, had to pay the full amount, 'that would be another $1,000 a year for my mother -- it means I won't get new clothes for the new school year,' she said."
The MTA and the assemblyman who oversees the agency have a $214 million disagreement over how much it costs the system to transport 500,000 students for free every school day.
The dispute was set off by the MTA's plan to eliminate free student MetroCards starting in September.
The agency says the city and state have not increased their contributions to the program as costs went up.
But Assemblyman Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester) charged in a letter yesterday that it barely costs the MTA a dime to transport the students.
'They're using these kids as pawns,' Brodsky charged, saying MTA officials told him they would still run the same number of buses and subways with or without the free fares.
MTA officials said it would rake in an additional $214 million a year by charging the kids.
Meanwhile, students and teachers rallied yesterday in lower Manhattan to keep the free fares.
If Valerie Bynaar, a Philip Randolph HS student, had to pay the full amount, 'that would be another $1,000 a year for my mother -- it means I won't get new clothes for the new school year,' she said."