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Public Transportation is one of the most important and vital elements in a thriving metropolis such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, or any other major city with a large mass-transit system. Without the bus, many people could not get to work, travel to the bank, get to the market, or even just get around the city. However, for this mass-transit system to be truly effective it needs to grow and, most importantly, it needs to exist. Without funding from both the city and public fees, it cannot operate.

However, the fees and charges need to be drastically over-hauled. The MTA in Los Angeles is raising its fees, which will make it incredibly difficult for the low-income families to get to their most-vital jobs. It will make it hard starving students to get to their state colleges, and it will generally make the MTA itself not worth the amount it is going to charge.
In New York, where the congestion is terrible, and the city is laid out in a tight grid, the reasons for using the subway are numerous, and it is mainly because the speed and ease. In Contrast in a city as large and expansive as LA, it is faster to drive than to take the bus, in many cases. So the benefit is mainly that it is cheaper than purchasing a car and refueling.
Currently, an all-day pass in LA is 3 dollars. If the plan the MTA is proposing passes, that daily pass will go up to 5 dollars, and then 8 dollars by 2009. This is unacceptable and cannot be allowed.
That being said, public transport needs to be supported by users' fees. The fees need to be re-calibrated however. There should be a food-stamp system or a government-subsidized program for the impoverished, and lower costs for monthly passes. Without this, the LA MTA will be less-frequented and begin to falter worse than is already is.

Learn more about this author, Zach Seemayer.
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