MTA to Bump Subway and Bus Fares to $2.90 by Late August
By Mark Hallum July 19, 2023 3:53 pm
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What’s fare is fair?
New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority adopted a fare and toll hike for the first time since 2015 on Wednesday, with commuters having to shell out an extra 15 cents by late August.
MTA board members voted in favor of charging commuters $2.90 to ride subways and buses starting Aug. 20. The fare increase was approved in the interest of closing funding gaps left over from the agency’s long-standing fiscal crises as well as the pandemic.
Janno Lieber, chair of the MTA, said he believes commuters will be the beneficiaries of the fare increase, since the agency estimates it will generate $117 million in operating funds in 2023 alone. The extra cash will be used to increase service, especially on nights and weekends, Lieber said.
“The big picture is that we avoided something really terrible — something New Yorkers couldn’t have put up with — which is a lot less service and a much, much higher price,” Lieber said in a press conference following the MTA’s monthly meeting. “We avoided that today and celebrated a balanced budget for the next five years.”
Seven-day unlimited MetroCards will rise a single dollar to $34, and 30-day unlimited MetroCards will rise to $132 from the current $127. For OMNY users, this translates to being charged the regular fare until they have spent $34 over the course of seven days.
Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad commuters will see fares for the $5 CityTicket during off-peak hours go to $7, while prices for the West-of-Hudson service, the Pascack Valley Line and Port Jervis Line will remain the same.
Tolls for motorists crossing MTA bridges and tunnels who use E-ZPass will pay $6.94, as opposed to the current $6.55, while costs for people paying tolls by mail will go from $10.17 to $11.19.
Express bus prices will increase from $6.75 to $7.
Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.
