Transit workers keep NYC moving if you can afford to ride

John Samuelsen.Subway track worker by trade and international president of the Transport Workers Union of America — the biggest airline union in the US with 165,000 transport workers.Samuelsen: “I oversee 100 coast-to-coast unions, including the Caribbean, plus our big transit cities — like 30,000 workers at American Airlines, 34,000 at Southwest Air.

Plus NYC, Philadelphia and San Francisco cable cars.“My first time on a subway was Avenue U and East 16th Street.I was about 8.

Nazareth High School in East Flatbush.A working-class Irish neighborhood in southern Brooklyn.

I still live there.Right where my father grew up.

Same address.Then, in ’93, I found that I was a good organizer.”Why is it so expensive? I mean, when we had George Washington as president was when I first took the subway, and it was a nickel.“Well, time marches on, and it’s relatively not at all expensive compared to the rest of the transit systems across the country.

And look at what the cost of these systems are in some of the cities in Europe.Look even at the Long Island Rail Road or Metro-North or New Jersey Transit.“Just think, you can get on the system in Coney Island and take it up to Yankee Stadium for a flat fee, $3.

It’s not that much money.What can you do for three bucks? You can’t get a slice of pizza for three bucks in the city anymore.” Subscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter! Please provide a valid email.

By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.Never miss a story.

What do people misunderstand about the subway? Everybody complains about it.“The problem’s the internet, Twitter, Instagram, cellphones, everything instantly available.Systems are under scrutiny that they weren’t years ago.

Five transit workers a week get assaulted on average in NYC.If five schoolteachers were assaulted each week, there’d be massive societal steps to end that plague.”So what�...