An Occupy Wall Street-affiliated group called “No Fare Hikes” is calling on unlimited ride MetroCard users to give away their swipes when they reach their final destination to protest looming subway fare increases.
The plan — which organizers dubbed “Swipe Back” — requires users to offer swipes to straphangers who pay per ride, thus depriving the MTA of revenue, according to the group’s website.
Activist and Occupy Wall Street protester J.A. Myerson is featured in a video on the group's website explaining why the MTA should not hike fares. It’s not illegal to give your swipe away.
Selling it, however, is.
In a flier calling for the protest, organizers said that they are trying to stop the hikes and call on the city to increase transit funding.
However, the state funds the MTA, not the city.
“If you use your unlimited card to swipe someone else in, then you’re effectively helping them boycott the fare hike, sort of like boycotting it forward,” reads a flier that the group is spreading.
MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg said, “If anyone thinks the best way to balance the MTA’s budget is to reduce the amount of money we collect from customers, then their math is as bad as their logic.”
jennifer.fermino@nypost.com
Swipe Back Flyer by
'Occupy' group urging straphangers to give away MetroCards in MTA protest
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'Occupy' group urging straphangers to give away MetroCards in MTA protest
