After EZ-Pass Limit, Say MTA Board Gets Free Ride on Makeup
By ARI PAUL
Despite the vote by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors to no longer give free E-Z Passes to former members and spouses June 25, a leading rider advocate said the debacle highlighted a diversity problem at the governing body.

GENE RUSSIANOFF: Board doesn't look like riders.

Gene Russianoff, the attorney for the Straphangers' Campaign, said the board did not reflect the ridership of the system along lines of gender, race and income.

'Make Them Use System'

"No wonder your customers and their elected officials howled when they heard that MTA Board members were exempted from feeling the impact of fare and toll hikes for life," he said in a statement. "Your appointing officials - the Governor, Mayor and suburban County Executives - must commit to more diversity in their nominees to the Board. And they must find ways to make sure that all Board members regularly use transit."

Former MTA Board Chairman Peter Kalikow had eight different E-Z Passes.

The second-highest user of the free pass last year, as reported by the Daily News, was Transport Workers Union Local 100 Secretary-Treasurer Ed Watt, who is a non-voting member of the MTA board. The union insisted that his pass was used strictly for business purposes.

Mr. Russianoff's call for diversity echoed the sentiment of one Local 100 member who is currently fighting New York City Transit over back pay.

'No Regular Guys on Board'

"They're all rich," Track Equipment Maintainer Dan Dermody said of the board's members. "Where is the regular guy from Long Island?"

Mr. Russianoff also called on the MTA to support the creation of a new body to oversee the authority.

"I would urge the board to embrace the benefits of an oversight board," he said. "Another step would be creating an easy way for the public to keep track of your contracts. The choice is yours: You can either chalk up the EZ-Pass furor as an unfair turn of the screw. Or you can act to make the MTA more diverse and accountable."

MTA Board Chairman H. Dale Hemmerdinger said last week in a statement: "No MTA Board member serves for a free pass - we are all here to serve the public good. We hope that this policy change will make that clear and allow us to return our focus to tackling the difficult challenges facing the transportation system."