New York City Mayor Eric Adams is down a representative on the MTA board, giving him one fewer voice to protest the transit agency’s proposed fare hike.
Meera Joshi resigned in June from her post as one of the city’s four MTA board members, quitting after the state legislative session in Albany concluded. State senators must confirm new appointees and have no plans to return to the capital until next year.
Adams has bashed the fare hike as “offensive to hard-working New Yorkers.” But the odds of him making any changes to the fare hike through the city’s representatives on the MTA board are even worse without Joshi’s successor in place.
“Mayor Adams had four months to replace Joshi on the MTA board and get a nominee confirmed by the senate,” said John Kaehny, executive director of the good government group Reinvent Albany. “Maybe he didn’t really care or his administration is dysfunctional. Both could be true.”
Joshi had already resigned from her position as deputy mayor in February, along with several other deputy mayors, after the U.S. Department of Justice moved to drop its corruption charges against Adams. But she stayed on as an MTA board member for another four months.
The transit agency will hold a series of public hearings starting Tuesday on the fare hike that will bring a single subway and bus trip up to $3. The MTA is also planning to end the 30-day unlimited MetroCards as OMNY becomes the only option to pay for rides.
Even if Joshi’s successor had been in place, Adams would have faced long odds in blocking the fare hire. The MTA board has 23 members, four of whom are recommended by the mayor. Gov. Kathy Hochul has six appointees.
“At a time when the Adams administration is dedicated to doing everything in our power to make New York City more affordable, Mayor Adams is urging all board appointees to vote ‘no’ on the MTA’s unreasonable fare hike that is offensive to working-class New Yorkers,” Adams spokesperson Sophia Askari said in a statement. “We are hopeful that other board members will do the same for the people of this city.”
The MTA board approved the annual MTA budget, which includes the 4% fare hike, last December. Joshi was among the board members who voted in favor of it.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
