Got a blog tip? Contact us

« An SUV experiment | Main | Negativland in NYC this Thursday »

No Fare Hike? Thank Mickey Mouse.

One MTA board member suggested a new way to avoid a fare hike last week -- plaster the Times Square subway station with Mickey Mouse and friends. The Times' Cityroom quotes the boardmember, a Mr. Norman Seabrook:

I would rather try to sell 42nd Street’s subway system underground to Disney for $60 million a year and have them paint it any way that they want to paint it. They spend $100 million for one minute to be on the Super Bowl on a Sunday. I think that they would spend X amount of dollars in rent for that terminal. I think 34th Street would do it. I think other businesses around the state and the city would do it. That would lessen the burden on the public.

I already nearly close my eyes for the two-minute shuttle ride from Grand Central to Times Square when the interior of the cars are completely coated in ads for Delta Air or HBO. I suppose I'd grin and bear it if that meant my daily rides stayed $2 each. But the MTA needs billions, not millions, to accomplish its huge capital improvements -- 2nd Avenue subway anyone? And I don't think even Disney could bail the city out of that one...