To hike the fares or not to hike the fares? That is the question, and MTA CEO Elliot “Lee” Sander is coming down on the side of hiking the fares.
Last week, I speculated that the MTA’s unexpected tax windfalls could stave off an announced 2008 fare hike. But not so fast, said Sander. Metro, on of the city’s free dailies, has more:
Sander said this year’s surplus wouldn’t ward off a fare hike.
“Nothing on that has changed,” he said.
That’s because the MTA has to pay back massive debts incurred to pay for capital projects, to fix infrastructure and to buy new trains and buses. Ballooning deficits have been predicted to reach $1.9 billion by 2010.
In other efforts to reduce this debt, Mayor Bloomberg announced that the city would contribute $200 million a year to the MTA. The last time the City gave so much to the MTA was during the Koch Administration.
“There is a direct connection between the withdrawal of that support by the city and the large operating deficits that we face in ’08, ’09 and ’10, so we really appreciate [Bloomberg’s] focus,” Sander said. “The contribution to the capital program significantly diminished after 1994, and that certainly had a role in the amount of borrowing that the MTA had to do.”
Interestingly enough, the Unlimited Ride Metrocards could be the biggest victims of the fare hike. In fact, I believe the only hikes will affect those who use Unlimited Ride Metrocards. On Monday, SUBWAYblogger directed my attention to an article in The Post noting that we riders save close to $1 billion using Unlimited Ride Metrocards.
Since the average cost of an Unlimited Ride averages out to about $1.31 per ride and only 12 percent of all subway riders pay the full $2 fare with no discount, the MTA will look to recoup some of the money it gives up by offering these discounted MetroCards. It’s bad for those of us who rely on the subways to commute, but the MTA needs the money. Hopefully, they’ll use the funds to offer us better service and more trains.
We’ll know for sure in July when Sander makes his final announcement on the fare hike. So stay tuned until the dog days of summer when our wallets may get just a little thinner each night.
4 comments
Maybe the MTA should consider keeping the unlimited cards which definitely benefit the commuters and eliminate the bonus ride given for every $10 purchased. Has anyone figured out how much that costs the MTA?
According to the article in The Post, “Another 40 percent [of all riders] pay $1.67 per ride by buying five rides at once, getting the sixth free.” So they would earn a lot by eliminating that pay-per-ride discount. I’m in favor of eliminating that discount.
The fairest way to do this is to keep the discount for purchases of five or more rides at a time. That is the most democratic way to give a discount to frequent subway users as opposed to occasional users.
I’d be willing to pay additional on all fares if it meant better service, but that won’t happen. I’ve said all this before…