Bring Back the Cash!

AUGUST 10 — TWU Local 100’s campaign to resume cash transactions at subway booths received a big public boost Tuesday from an impressive contingent of elected officials and advocates.

State Senator Julia Salazar, Assemblymember Catalina Cruz – and eight other members of the State Legislature – demonstrated their support by holding a well-attended press conference Tuesday with Local 100 President Tony Utano, Stations Vice President Robert Kelley, and other union leaders. Advocates from the Straphangers Campaign and the Brooklyn Center for the Independence of the Disabled also came and voiced their support at the event outside the Broadway Junction subway-bus hub in Brooklyn.

Failing to resume cash transactions “will have a devastating impact in our low-income communities throughout the city” because about 11% of city households don’t have bank accounts or credit cards, Salazar said. “There is an urgent need for the MTA to bring the acceptance of cash back to our booths, and it is evident that there is overwhelming support for the MTA to reverse their policy.” 

 
Jessica De La Rosa, systems advocate for the Brooklyn Center, said: "Cash is still king for many New Yorkers, including many disabled New Yorkers. What the MTA forgets is that not everyone has a bank card or can use MetroCard Vending Machines easily, or at all, when they go out of service." De La Rosa also noted the importance of having staffed booths so disabled riders can find help quickly without roaming a station looking for assistance. 
 
President Utano blasted the MTA's differing standards of customer service for subway riders and suburban commuters riding the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North. The MTA resumed cash transactions for its suburban customers but not for subway users in the city. He also called on members of the United States Congress, which provided the MTA billions of dollars in Covid-relief, to join the fight. “I’m sure the (federal government) didn’t send the money here to replace human beings with machines,” Utano said. “We need Congress, we need the Senate, we need the people to step up and tell the MTA to put cash back in the booths. Give the citizens of New York City the customer service they need.”
 
The other elected members of the State Legislature standing up for our Station Agents at the press conference were: Senator John Liu, Sen. Jabari Brisport, Sen. Robert Jackson, Sen. Brian Kavanagh, Sen. John Liu, Sen. Zellnor Myrie, Sen. Gustavo Rivera, Sen. James Sanders, and Assemblymember Kenny Burgos.