New Bill Proposes $3 Surcharge for Online Deliveries to Bail out MTA

 In what is certainly an example of creative thinking, one new bill in New York City aims to both get the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) out of debt and also get New Yorkers to prioritize shopping at their local neighborhood stores, instead of relying on online shopping.

   Assemblyman Robert C. Carroll, who represents District 44, proposed a bill that would require New York City residents to pay an extra $3 on every package, with the exceptions of food and medicine, delivered from online retailers.

   Given New Yorkers’ increased reliance on online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic, Assemblyman Carroll said that the $3 surcharge on every package could easily raise the $1.4 billion a year the MTA needs to get out of debt "to fund the operating costs of buses and subways in the city of New York."

   After budget constraints caused the MTA to threaten cutting subway service in half and eliminate 9,000 MTA jobs, the Transport Workers Union proposed that instead of making cuts that would leave many New Yorkers without transportation and employment, MTA should consider exploring new sources of revenue.

     Mayor Bill de Blasio told a BoroPark24 reporter that only a federal bailout could cover the MTA’s massive shortfall, which was caused by decreased ridership during the pandemic, and some say, mismanagement.

   John Samuelsen, the International President of the Transport Workers Union, however, said the MTA cannot merely wait for a federal bailout.

    Samuelsen and Carroll have argued that the $3 surcharge would motivate New Yorkers to forgo easy and convenient online shopping, and instead walk down to the street to buy needed items at small local businesses.

   "A delivery surcharge will also undoubtedly encourage consumers, and the Amazons of the world, to more regularly consolidate multiple items into a single package for delivery," Samuelsen and Carroll wrote.

 

Photos: MTA New York City Transit