A bit of a surprise from the MTA Board. They were expected to approve a fare hike of up to three dollars. Then they decided to scrap that plan and keep the base fare for a subway or bus ride the same. But riders will still end up paying more. Ida Siegal explains.
What to Know
- The base MetroCard fare will stay at $2.75
- The bonus riders get when making purchases of $5.50 or more will go down to 5 percent
- Monthly and weekly MetroCards will go up in price, to $121 and $32, respectively
The MTA board has voted against raising the base MetroCard fare from $2.75 to $3, but the prices of weekly and monthly cards will go up -- and riders will get less of a bonus when they fill up their cards.
Under the option chosen at Wednesday's board meeting, monthly MetroCards will go up to $121 from $116.50, while weeklies will increase by $1 to $32. Bonuses on purchases of $5.50 or more will go from 11 percent to 5 percent.
The board had widely been expected to vote in favor of the base fare hike. But at Wednesday's meeting, MTA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Prendergast said the agency recommended not increasing the base fare. The statement was met with applause.
An alternate proposal would have raised base MetroCard fares to $3 while increasing the 11-percent bonus for purchases of $5.50 or more.
Had the board voted to hike base fare, it would have been the agency's fifth such increase since 2009. The last round of hikes took effect in March 2015.
Local
Upper East Side resident Rober Joseph buys a monthly MetroCard pass. He said he's not too upset that his fare will go up, but understands why other people will be.
"It will be $5 extra per a month," Joseph said. "For me that doesn't make a big difference, but for people who live week to week, where they do pay for individual rides, I think that could make a huge difference."
Last fall, Prendergast said "our belt tightening days are far from over," adding the agency would exceed $1.6 billion in cost savings through administrative cuts.
The MTA Board voted on Plan A Wednesday. Here are the other options, as presented last November:
|
Fare Type |
Current |
Plan A |
Plan B |
|
Base MetroCard Fare/ Local Bus Cash Fare |
$2.75 |
$2.75 |
$3.00 |
|
Bonus |
11% with $5.50 purchase |
5% with $5.50 purchase |
16% with $6.00 purchase |
|
Effective Fare with Bonus |
$2.48 |
$2.62 |
$2.59 |
|
Single Ride Ticket (base MetroCard/Cash Fare plus 25 cents) |
$3.00 |
$3.00 |
$3.25 |
|
Express Bus Fare Cash MetroCard with Bonus |
$6.50 $5.86 |
$6.50 $6.19 |
$7.00 $6.03 |
|
30-Day MetroCard |
$116.50 |
$121.00 |
$121.00 |
|
7-Day MetroCard |
$31.00 |
$32.00 |
$32.00 |
|
7-Day Express Bus Plus MetroCard |
$57.25 |
$59.50 |
$59.50 |
|
Access-a-Ride Fare |
$2.75 |
$2.75 |
$3.00 |
