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1991: Shut down a salt water taffee stand in the Coney Island subway station? Close the Transit Museum? Not so fast, say groups working with the Straphangers Campaign to fight transit plans. The stand stayed in business until 2002, when transit officials began a complete overhaul of the Coney Island Stillwell Avenue station. The Museum has grown and prospered. Not so the luncheonette at Times Square, pictured here as Straphangers staff celebrate the release of an annual report card.
Line Rate?
1991, 1995 “A Fare Hike is a Tax Hike” say riders and thousands of subway posters during fights to keep fares affordable. In 1995, the Straphangers Campaign joined with New York Urban League President Dennis Walcott, pictured here with campaign staff attorney Gene Russianoff announcing a civil rights lawsuit against a discriminatory fare hike.
1996: Students from Prospect Heights High School rally to save the Franklin Avenue Shuttle, a line serving central Brooklyn. Their efforts—with local elected officials like State Assembly Member Al Vann and City Council Member Mary Pinkett—forced a $74 million overhaul of the long-neglected line, which reopened in October 1999.
1997-1998 “Even Cleveland has a discount transit pass.” Since its start, a key goal of the Straphangers Campaign has been to win unlimited-ride transit passes and free transfers between subways and buses. Those dreams were realized in 1997 and 1998, with the start-up of 1-day, 7-day and 30-day unlimited-ride passes.
2000: Because of the new fare discounts, ridership exploded, but service lagged badly. These ads — co-sponsored with the Regional Plan Association -- urged riders to demand more service and greater repairs. MTA officials tried to censor the ad, but relented after the New York Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in federal court. In 2000, the campaign also launched its website — www.straphangers.org — attracting tens of thousands of subscribers.
2000: The Straphangers Campaign and Transportation Alternatives give out the first-ever "Pokey Awards" for the slowest bus routes in the city, urging traffic and transit officials to give buses more priority on city streets.
2003: The Straphangers Campaign wins a lower court decision ordering a fare rollback, but is reversed on appeal. The suit — coupled with revelations that the MTA had not told the full story about its finances — increases calls for this powerful public authority to be more open, transparent and accountable. The Campaign did help win major improvements to fare discounts, including a program to replace lost or stolen 30-day unlimited-ride MetroCards and a bonus on pay-per-ride cards that is more accessible to lower-income riders.
