Earlier this morning, the MTA Board approved a series of measures designed to rollback their Doomsday plan. Service to the public will not be cut, and while the station agents may be slashed, the fare hikes have been rolled back as well. Instead of a 25-30 percent hike, fares will go up by around 10 percent. The new fares are scheduled to go into effect on June 28.
“Today we implemented a bittersweet solution that comes with additional pain for our customers, our employees and those who live and work in our region,” said H. Dale Hemmerdinger, Chairman of the MTA Board. “But it will – at least for the short term – prevent the Armageddon that loomed large when we last met.”
“The fare and toll increase passed today is not ideal, but it spares our customers from actions that would have been extraordinarily painful,” said Elliot G. Sander, MTA Executive Director and CEO. “Implementing severe fare increases and deep service cuts directly contradicts the MTA’s mission and my goals as CEO. It is a great relief to know we will be able to continue providing the service our customers expect at an affordable price.”
The fare structure is as follows:
| Fare Type | Current | New | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Fare | $2.00 | $2.25 | 12.5 % |
| Bonus and Buy-In | 15 % at $7.00 ($1.74) | 15 % at $8.00 ($1.96) | 12.5 % |
| 1-Day Pass | $7.50 | $8.25 | 10 % |
| 7-Day Pass | $25.00 | $27.00 | 8 % |
| 14-Day Pass | $47.00 | $51.50 | 9.6 % |
| 30-Day Pass | $81.00 | $89.00 | 9.9 % |
For more from the fare hike board meeting, you can replay my morning liveblog.
20 comments
thanks so much for the live blog – very informative. Saw some comments at the end I wanted to pick up on – which is how the major expansion projects (primarily SAS and ESA) get paid for in the next few years. THe $400mm from the latest revenue plan will allow the MTA to borrow about $5 or $6B – about $3B per year which as I see it doesnt allow for much (if any) expansion) – only upkeep of existing plant. For example, Re SAS in particular I’ve read numerous reports (and the MTA website) which list that the Feds are only covering about 25-30% of Phase 1 – about $1B of the $4B price tag. How is this going to be covered – Phase 1?
I don’t think those numbers are correct, Andy. The Feds have already contributed far more than just $1 billion. Do you have links to your sources? I can’t rebut them without reading them first.
I will comb thru the MTA site again now to pull this out – but for now pls see http://www.state.ny.us/governor/press/1119071.html
I’ll do some digging. Those numbers are nearly 18 months old though from that press release.
here is more – looks like that $1.3B is it?
http://maloney.house.gov/index.....;Itemid=61
Are you counting all of the money from the current capital plan going to SAS as well?
Looks like, as of Feb 2008, the project needed another $1.5B for the 2009 Capital Plan (see 2008-2013 Capital Plan here http://www.mta.info/mta/budget/) but it’s also not clear if this is reflects current costs expenditures etc.
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So, unless my spreadsheet skills are lousy, it looks like if you want to get an “even” number of rides out of a pay-per ride card, you’ll need to buy a $45 card. ($45 + 6.75 bonus = $51.75, 23 rides). $19.57 + 2.94 bonus = $22.51 (10 rides), but I’m not sure if they’ll round it to $2.94 or $2.93. A quick look didn’t turn up anything else nice and even, but I didn’t do a thorough examination. I’ll probably go the $45 route myself, unless someone comes up with a good way to remember 1957.
Your math is right. For me as a baseball fan, at least, 1957 is easy because it’s the last year the Giants and Dodgers both played in New York.
Will the machine allow you to put $19.57 on a card at a time, though? I thought the whole reason for making the new base fare $2.25 instead of $2.20 is that the machines can only handle 25 cent increments (can’t handle pennies, nickels, and dimes).
It’s also worth noting that so long as the bonus percentage doesn’t change and so long as the base fare remains a multiple of 25 cents, the number of rides necessary to achieve a multiple of 25 cents on the card will not change.
At 20%, the number was 6 (1/1.20 = 5/6; “buy 5 rides, get 6”)
For 15%, now it’s 23 (1/1.15 = 20/23)
For 12.5%, it would be 9 (1/1.125 = 9/10)
For 10%, it would be 11 (1/1.10 = 10/11)
…and you could calculate it for any rational number percentage.
Nope. Even with a credit card, you can only add money in 5-cent increments. I’ve tried.
Scott, is it 5-cent increments?
Or did you mean to say 25-cent increments?
¡Great information in few words! Thanks for your great blog.
Regards,
I am glad to see that the hikes won’t be as bad as predicted in the Doomsday scenario. However, I do wonder what cuts and layoffs that will be taking place. Any idea?
No service cuts in terms of train frequency or timing. Mostly the cuts will be employees. The station agents are going to be mostly eliminated throughout the system.
Great posts today Ben. I cribbed some of your post (with attribution of course) for the CGNA transportation report this evening.
[…] the MTA Board met yesterday to approve a reduced fare hike, the authority’s governing body also discussed, albeit briefly, the service cuts that made up […]
[…] a $2 base fare while upping the price on the rest of the MTA’s fare options. In 2009, the MTA raised fares by approximately 10 percent as part of the Albany funding […]