Monthly Fare for Transit to Rise 6.6% in Proposal
By WILLIAM NEUMAN, Published: December 10, 2007
Subway and bus riders who use monthly unlimited-ride MetroCards would be hit the hardest under a revised proposal to increase transit fares, which is to be announced today by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The cost of the monthly pass would rise to $81 from $76, a 6.6 percent increase, according to a memo sent to the authoritys board members yesterday.
Bonus pay-per-ride MetroCards would also face increases under the new proposal. Also, an earlier proposal to offer discounts during off-peak hours is no longer being recommended, according to the memo.
The authority pledged to revise its fare increase proposal after Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced last month that its finances were in better shape than previously estimated and that as a result, the base subway and bus fare would be frozen at $2.
Mr. Spitzer said then that other aspects of the fare would still increase, but not as much as under an earlier plan, which had called for an overall increase of 6.5 percent in fare revenue. In its revised proposal, the authority said that it would seek an overall increase of 3.85 percent instead.
The unlimited-ride monthly pass is used to pay for about 30 percent of subway and bus trips.
The authoritys board will vote on the fare proposal on Dec. 19. It will also vote on proposals to increase revenues from commuter rail fares and bridge and tunnel tolls. If the proposals are approved, they will take effect early next year.
The proposed increases, the first since 2005, have been opposed by transit advocates and a growing number of elected officials.
The authority has worked closely with the governors office in developing its revised proposal, according to people familiar with the process.
But Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who controls four votes on the authoritys 14-vote board, has so far declined to say whether he will support the fare increase.
Opponents of a fare increase held a rally in front of City Hall yesterday. The rally included Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker, who is a close ally of the mayor.
In the end, this is about whether theres going to be more state aid for the M.T.A., Richard L. Brodsky, a Democratic assemblyman from Westchester County, said in a telephone interview yesterday. Mr. Brodsky, who has spearheaded opposition to the fare increase, called on Governor Spitzer to include funds in the state budget next year to make a fare increase unnecessary. We want to work with the governor to find the money, he said, referring to his colleagues in the Legislature.
In determining new transit fares, the choices of officials at the authority were dictated partly by the decision to freeze the base fare, which accounts for 14 percent of all subway and bus trips. Officials had originally planned to increase it to $2.25 per ride. But holding the line on the base fare meant that the necessary increase in revenue would have to be derived from other slices of the fare pie.
Under the new proposal, the weekly unlimited-ride MetroCard would increase to $25, from $24, a 4.2 percent increase. Also, a 14-day MetroCard would be created, with a cost of $47.
As part of the changes, the bonus on pay-per-ride MetroCards would fall to 15 percent, from 20 percent. But the amount of money needed to qualify for the bonus will also drop, to $7, from $10, the memo said.
That means that when someone puts $7 on a pay-per-ride MetroCard, the card would show an additional 15 percent, or $1.05, for a total of $8.05.
As a result, many riders MetroCards would show uneven amounts as they gradually accrue enough bonus money for an additional fare. The current 20 percent bonus allows for simpler math, with straphangers who buy pay-per-ride MetroCards receiving an additional ride for every five rides they buy. Under the 15 percent bonus system, a rider would have to buy seven rides before earning a full additional ride.
When Governor Spitzer said the base fare would remain unchanged, he said that he wanted to keep the fare affordable.
Officials said that reducing the so-called buy-in for the pay-per-ride bonus and keeping the percentage increase for the bonus fare lower than for the monthly pass were also intended to address concerns of affordability.
The authoritys chief executive, Elliot G. Sander, has said that the authority must raise the fare now even though it expects to end the year with a cash surplus of more than $500 million. He has said the measure is necessary to prepare financially for large deficits projected to begin in 2009. Those deficits are expected because of increased debt service and the rising cost of employees health care, among other reasons.
In July, he proposed fare increases averaging 6.5 percent. But after it became clear that the budget surplus would be larger than initially expected, the authority agreed to seek smaller increases.
The authority will also propose a revised set of increases for tolls on the bridges and tunnels that it controls, including the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and the Triborough Bridge. On most crossings, drivers who use E-ZPass would pay a one-way toll of about $4.15. Drivers who pay cash would pay as much as $5.
Most commuter rail fares would increase 3.76 to 4.25 percent, the memo said.
By WILLIAM NEUMAN, Published: December 10, 2007
Subway and bus riders who use monthly unlimited-ride MetroCards would be hit the hardest under a revised proposal to increase transit fares, which is to be announced today by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The cost of the monthly pass would rise to $81 from $76, a 6.6 percent increase, according to a memo sent to the authoritys board members yesterday.
Bonus pay-per-ride MetroCards would also face increases under the new proposal. Also, an earlier proposal to offer discounts during off-peak hours is no longer being recommended, according to the memo.
The authority pledged to revise its fare increase proposal after Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced last month that its finances were in better shape than previously estimated and that as a result, the base subway and bus fare would be frozen at $2.
Mr. Spitzer said then that other aspects of the fare would still increase, but not as much as under an earlier plan, which had called for an overall increase of 6.5 percent in fare revenue. In its revised proposal, the authority said that it would seek an overall increase of 3.85 percent instead.
The unlimited-ride monthly pass is used to pay for about 30 percent of subway and bus trips.
The authoritys board will vote on the fare proposal on Dec. 19. It will also vote on proposals to increase revenues from commuter rail fares and bridge and tunnel tolls. If the proposals are approved, they will take effect early next year.
The proposed increases, the first since 2005, have been opposed by transit advocates and a growing number of elected officials.
The authority has worked closely with the governors office in developing its revised proposal, according to people familiar with the process.
But Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who controls four votes on the authoritys 14-vote board, has so far declined to say whether he will support the fare increase.
Opponents of a fare increase held a rally in front of City Hall yesterday. The rally included Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker, who is a close ally of the mayor.
In the end, this is about whether theres going to be more state aid for the M.T.A., Richard L. Brodsky, a Democratic assemblyman from Westchester County, said in a telephone interview yesterday. Mr. Brodsky, who has spearheaded opposition to the fare increase, called on Governor Spitzer to include funds in the state budget next year to make a fare increase unnecessary. We want to work with the governor to find the money, he said, referring to his colleagues in the Legislature.
In determining new transit fares, the choices of officials at the authority were dictated partly by the decision to freeze the base fare, which accounts for 14 percent of all subway and bus trips. Officials had originally planned to increase it to $2.25 per ride. But holding the line on the base fare meant that the necessary increase in revenue would have to be derived from other slices of the fare pie.
Under the new proposal, the weekly unlimited-ride MetroCard would increase to $25, from $24, a 4.2 percent increase. Also, a 14-day MetroCard would be created, with a cost of $47.
As part of the changes, the bonus on pay-per-ride MetroCards would fall to 15 percent, from 20 percent. But the amount of money needed to qualify for the bonus will also drop, to $7, from $10, the memo said.
That means that when someone puts $7 on a pay-per-ride MetroCard, the card would show an additional 15 percent, or $1.05, for a total of $8.05.
As a result, many riders MetroCards would show uneven amounts as they gradually accrue enough bonus money for an additional fare. The current 20 percent bonus allows for simpler math, with straphangers who buy pay-per-ride MetroCards receiving an additional ride for every five rides they buy. Under the 15 percent bonus system, a rider would have to buy seven rides before earning a full additional ride.
When Governor Spitzer said the base fare would remain unchanged, he said that he wanted to keep the fare affordable.
Officials said that reducing the so-called buy-in for the pay-per-ride bonus and keeping the percentage increase for the bonus fare lower than for the monthly pass were also intended to address concerns of affordability.
The authoritys chief executive, Elliot G. Sander, has said that the authority must raise the fare now even though it expects to end the year with a cash surplus of more than $500 million. He has said the measure is necessary to prepare financially for large deficits projected to begin in 2009. Those deficits are expected because of increased debt service and the rising cost of employees health care, among other reasons.
In July, he proposed fare increases averaging 6.5 percent. But after it became clear that the budget surplus would be larger than initially expected, the authority agreed to seek smaller increases.
The authority will also propose a revised set of increases for tolls on the bridges and tunnels that it controls, including the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and the Triborough Bridge. On most crossings, drivers who use E-ZPass would pay a one-way toll of about $4.15. Drivers who pay cash would pay as much as $5.
Most commuter rail fares would increase 3.76 to 4.25 percent, the memo said.
