A New York Daily News Exclusive
By Kerry Burke, Laura Dimon, Emilie Ruscoe and Dan Rivoli
The cost of commuting is too much for many New Yorkers who need to get past the turnstile.
But somehow, they do.
“There are herds of people every night at the A and C Ralph Ave.
station asking for swipes,” home health aide Danna Dennis, 33, said of
her stop. “Sometimes, I’m one of these people.”
Dennis, who lives with her retired 61-year-old father in Crown Heights, budgets her life to the dime.
Working for $10 an hour without benefits and living with Type 2
diabetes, she needs to make sure she has $45 a month for her medication,
$75 every two months for doctor visits, $300 a month for food and money
for her prepaid cell phone.
For transit, she’ll put $20 on her MetroCard at a time, adding more money as it comes in.
She tries to scrimp and save enough for the luxury of a $31 weekly
MetroCard — an unlimited pass that can cut the cost of each ride. As a
bonus, the weekly pass allows her to pay it forward with other
struggling commuters.
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