{"id":1622,"date":"2019-05-26T19:57:54","date_gmt":"2019-05-26T19:57:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/?p=1622"},"modified":"2019-05-26T20:02:38","modified_gmt":"2019-05-26T20:02:38","slug":"baruch-student-takes-on-the-mta-with-befare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/2019\/05\/baruch-student-takes-on-the-mta-with-befare\/","title":{"rendered":"Baruch student takes on the MTA with #BeFare"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A student at Baruch is working to help CUNY students get a fare discount from the MTA, especially as fares continue to rise, staring what he named the #<\/span>BeFare<\/span>\u00a0campaign.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI saw a need in CUNY\u00a0<\/span>schools<\/span>\u00a0and it was not being adequately addressed,\u201d said Brandon Santiago,<\/span>\u00a0a senior majoring in public affairs<\/span>\u00a0who has been working with an initiative to help figure out a solution for the students of the CUNY system. As a student who commutes from Long Island<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0Santiago said<\/span>\u00a0the costs of commuting are a serious problem for students on a tight budget.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLong Island students have been suffering for a long time with unreasonable LIRR fares<\/span>,<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0Santiago said.<\/span>\u00a0However, he emphasizes that the initiative \u201caspires to benefit all CUNY students. We are working hard to ensure that students can catch a much<\/span>–<\/span>needed break.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Santiago<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>started the #<\/span>BeFare<\/span>\u00a0committee back in October2018<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>It now<\/span>\u00a0hosts meetings each month to provide an open forum for students to vocalize their opinions and express ideas as well as a space to inform students on projects and resolutions that the committee has been working on. The students involved in the committee have already made significant progress in only a few months.<\/span>\u00a0They have<\/span>\u00a0passed resolutions through\u00a0<\/span>the Baruch<\/span>\u00a0USG and GSA<\/span>, as well as the USS, which represents all CUNY schools and students, Santiago said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The committee\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>goals also<\/span>\u00a0involve pressuring lawmakers and\u00a0<\/span>MTA<\/span>\u00a0officials and\/or forming partnerships to help<\/span>\u00a0find a solution.<\/span>\u00a0In the past, the MTA has provided discounted fares for students\u00a0<\/span>at\u00a0<\/span>Stony Brook University, a SUNY campus on Long Island, so the committee is very hopeful that this could work for those of the CUNY system as well.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Santiago has already met with many officials of the MTA board<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0including Phillip\u00a0<\/span>Eng<\/span>, the president of the LIRR.\u00a0<\/span>And t<\/span>he #<\/span>BeFare<\/span>\u00a0committee currently has a petition set up that helps encapsulate students<\/span>\u2019<\/span>\u00a0opinions on the matter.\u00a0<\/span>S<\/span>tudents<\/span>\u00a0interested in getting involved<\/span>\u00a0can\u00a0<\/span>also\u00a0<\/span>find out more by emailing Brandon Santiago at\u00a0<\/span>Brandon.Santiago@USGBaruch.com<\/span><\/a>\u00a0or by heading to the committee website here.<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI genuinely believe this committee hits all corners<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>and strives to make it better for all students<\/span>,<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0said Santiago, who says the committee is in good hands even after he graduates.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u201cWith many current freshm<\/span>e<\/span>n in the committee and with USS support, we genuinely believe that our movement is tailored for the future and will be done.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brandon Santiago has started a campaign to get CUNY students get a fare discount from the MTA, especially as fares continue to rise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":1646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[127,128],"class_list":["post-1622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-befare","tag-baruch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1622"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1645,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1622\/revisions\/1645"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}