What's Fare Is Fare

(Originally published 1/24/15)

So, the fare for a New York City bus or subway ride is going up to $2.75 this March. And it appears, too, that the going rate for another fare in these parts—a slice of pizza—is that very sum or close to it. For some inexplicable reason, these two decidedly unrelated fares—one a service and the other a favorite fast-food—have been inextricably linked for years.

Recently, I unearthed a newspaper article in my overflowing archives of miscellany. It was from the Riverdale Press, a local weekly, and dated 1992. I saved this slice of ephemera—a review of the area’s pizzerias—for a reason, probably because I was a pizza aficionado who had patronized each of the neighborhood shops but had a special affinity for one.

Naturally, I was surprised at my preferred pizzeria’s poor rating of just two slices (out of five maximum), although by the 1990s its quality was—I will concede—inconsistent. I was curious, nonetheless, to ascertain whether the cost of a transit ride corresponded with the going rate of slice of pizza that year. I wanted to know if this pizza connection had historical legs. Not too long ago, an individual on Facebook remembered when the price of a New York City slice of pizza was .15, which, coincidentally, was the cost of a bus or subway ride at the time. Now, I can recall pizza as low as .35 a slice—in the early to mid-1970s—that also corresponded to the day’s transit fare.

Anyway, this neighborhood newspaper pizza review noted the cost of a slice in the various places surveyed as anywhere between $1.30 and $1.40. The 1992 bus and subway fare was $1.25—close enough to establish the fare and fare conjoining timeline.

It should be noted that while New York City bus and subway service has gotten measurably better through the years—particularly the latter—the pizza slice has gotten slighter. That is, courtesy of the costs of cheese and tomato sauce—and every other foodstuff for that matter coupled with criminally high cost of doing business—the ubiquitous slice of pizza’s mass has suffered. The slice of pizza isn’t what it once was around here. And size matters.

When Luigi—who bore a striking resemblance to Lurch—of Luigi’s Pizzeria tossed his dough into the heavens, one got more for bang for the buck. And, when push came to shove, Luigi made more dough, too. It was the end of an era for sure—the 1990s—when Italian immigrants from Italy still owned a New York City pizzeria or two. But then, a Greek—who made a full-bodied and tasty pizza slice whose likes will never be sampled again—owned and operated my pizza parlor of record. The slice of the past: Rest in Pizza.

(Photos from the personal collection of Nicholas Nigro)