{"value"=>"<p>This subseries documents Campaign activism regarding the financing of the New York City subway and bus systems. It contains press releases, public hearing testimony, flyers, posters, banners, and correspondence with city and state officials and with news media. The two largest portions of the series are devoted to Capital Funding Plans and Fares.</p> <p>The state and city began funding a series of five-year Capital Plans starting in the early-1980s to repair and rebuild the crumbling transit system. Historically, a major portion of the activity of the Straphangers Campaign has been devoted to the Capital Plans because they were the primary engine behind revitalizing the system. Each plan cycle (1982-1986, 1987-1991, 1992-1996, etc.) brought renewed debate, lobbying and Campaign organizing activity focused on the dollar amounts and spending priorities of the plans, which had to be approved by the state government.</p> <p>Issues around transit fares constitute the other major portion of this series. The Campaign pushed for many years for the MTA to adopt automatic fare collection and discount transit passes, and their implementation in the 1990s was seen by Staff Attorney Gene Russianoff as one of the Campaign's greatest achievements. This series documents the decades-long fight for both. Anti-fare hike campaigns have been a semi-regular activity for the Campaign, and these are documented as well. Two of the bigger campaigns were in 1991 and 1994-1995, when both Governor Pataki and Mayor Giuliani proposed steep budget cuts which included the elimination of city-sponsored student transit passes. The Campaign spearheaded a successful effort to have the funding for those passes restored, even as the rest of the budget cuts and a fare increase went forward.</p> <p>Other funding issues discussed in this series include the MTA annual Operating Budgets (which are distinct from the Capital Funding Plans); federal funding (primarily the Intermodal Surface Transportation Act of 1991, or ISTEA); the State Transportation Bond Acts of 1988, 2000 and 2005, which the Campaign fought hard for in each case, not always successfully; the MTA Audit of 2002-2003; and the Campaign's role in The City Project's Alterbudget, a progressive effort to promote responsible city budgeting.</p>"}