MTA HQ Press Release: MTA Board Approves Reduced Fare and Toll Increase

[Press Release]

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Board today approved the 10 percent fare and toll increase called for in the new funding legislation passed by the New York State Legislature last week. Commuter rail fares will begin to increase on June 17; fares on subways and buses will change on June 28; bridge and tunnel tolls will increase on July 12. The fare proposal is designed to increase fares on average by 10% and to achieve as close to a 10% increase as practicable across all fare instruments.

"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."

Subway and Bus Fares

• This fare proposal represents a relatively even application of the increase across all current fare instruments; most go up by 10%, with the single ride ticket and the bonus MetroCard having a slightly larger increase (12.5%).

Fare TypeCurrentNewChange from Current Cash/Single Ride/Base MetroCard Fare$2.00$2.2512.5% Bonus and Buy-in Threshold15% with $7 purchase ($1.74 per ride fare)15% with $8 purchase ($1.96 per ride fare)12.5% 1-Day$7.50$8.2510.0% 7-Day$25.00$27.008.0% 14-Day$47.00$51.509.6% 30-Day$81.00$89.009.9% Express Bus
Cash/Single Ride
Base MC Fare
Bonus Fare
7-Day Pass
$5.00
$5.00
$4.35
$41.00
$5.50
$5.50
$4.78
$45.00
10.0%
10.0%
9.9%
9.8% MTA Bus Specific Changes

The proposal continues changes to policy previously recommended to make bus fare policy consistent between MTA Bus express service and New York City Transit express service, including

• Eliminating student reduced fare on all MTA Bus express service.
• Changing MTA Bus off-peak eligibility period for discounted fares for seniors and disabled customers on Northeast Bronx express routes to begin at 10 a.m. (instead of 9 a.m.) on weekdays.

Long Island Bus

• LI Bus fare is consistent with NYC Transit.
• The formula for calculating the LI Bus Able Ride (paratransit) fare increases it to $3.75 from $3.50.
• Implements step-up charge for transfer to LI Bus from another transit service in an amount up to the fare differential (this applies to a few non-MTA services).
• Aligns age for senior discount with standard age 65 eligibility used by NYC transit services.

Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and Metro-North Railroad (MNR)

• The vast majority of commuter rail tickets will increase between 9.75% and 10.75%.
• The average fare increase for both railroads to/from Manhattan is 10%.
• This proposal continues the proposed policy to reduce the Mail&Ride fare discount on the joint monthly railroad / unlimited ride MetroCard to 4% from 5%.
• Both railroads increase the on-board fare differential by $1.00.
• The proposal increases City Ticket by 25 cents (to $3.50 from $3.25).
• Proportionate changes are proposed to various other fares for connecting services (one way and UniTicket).
• The family fare does not increase.
• Intermediate full fares for LIRR and MNR East of Hudson service will increase from 7.1% to 20%; however, any increase of more than 11.75% is no more than 75 cents per ride.
• Metro-North specific:
  • West of Hudson intermediate fares increase by as much as 33% to prevent the purchase of an intermediate MNR ticket that, when combined with a separate NJ Transit ticket, is less than the MNR fare. These intermediate services are not heavily used.
  • Connecticut rates are under review by the State of Connecticut. As a result, some increases of New Haven Line stations in NY may have to increase in two stages.

Bridges and Tunnels

• Cash and EZ-Pass tolls on the major and minor facilities increase by about 10%.
• Truck cash and EZ-Pass tolls increase by axle between 9.4% to 12.5%, except additional axles above 7 increase by 16.7%.
• The proposal continues the elimination of the E-Z Pass discount for non-NY Customer Service Center tag holders.

Cash CurrentCash NewChangeE-Z Pass CurrentE-Z Pass NewChange Cars Major$5.00$5.5010.0%$4.15$4.5710.1% Cars Minor$2.50$2.7510.0%$1.55$1.7110.3% HHB$2.75$3.009.1%$1.90$2.0910.0%

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