First off "18", if it was up to the New Yorkers, we would pay what is the FAIR price of what the MTA service is.....speaking for my commute that would be 15 cents!
But then again if you know anything about politics, you should know that while they hold these "public meetings" (mainly to give the "perception" that the politicians and board directors are "listening") the politicians are going to do whatever they are going to do anyway without us having any say in it! That has NOTHING to do with guts.
If New York City was an easily driveable city where parking was readily available EVERYWHERE, more people would do so. But it isn't. Add to the fact that there are also people in NYC that DO NOT have cars, the subways and buses are the lifeline here. And if you don't believe that, just go back to the strike of December 2005 (which actually happened 2 years to this day) when temperatures were subfreezing and people had few choices on trying to get around since unless you had 4 people in a car, you couldn't drive into Manhattan below a certain point.
A boycott in this case would serve NO purpose. Even if people DID a boycott, the MTA would only use it as an excuse to FURTHER raise fares figuring since less people are using mass transit, they have to make up the money somehow.
The only solution is come the next gubernatorial election where we can finally DUMP Eliot Spitzer since the state is the one that controls the MTA and the members of the board.