It’s crowded, dirty and delayed — but it gets you there, and soon it might cost more.
The MTA board is set to vote Thursday on the first fare and toll hike since a state of emergency was called for the MTA in 2017.
There are two options formally before the board, and some of its members believe a third one may be offered.
The first keeps the base fare at $2.75 and eliminates the 5% bonus on pay-per-ride MetroCards. Under this plan, the seven-day unlimited pass would rise $1, to $33, and the 30-day pass goes up $6, to $127.
The second option raises the fare to $3 and increases the bonus to 10% for every round trip on a MetroCard — making the actual fare $2.73 per swipe. Access-A-Ride commuters will have to pay a full $3 fare if this option passes. As in the first proposal, a seven-day pass would cost $33. But the price hike for a 30-day pass would be a bit less, $5.25, to $126.25.
Gov. Cuomo — who appoints a plurality of the MTA board’s voting members — “believes there should be no fare hikes. Period,” said spokesman Patrick Muncie.
But it’s not clear whether the agency’s dire finances will trump Cuomo’s aversion to boosting fares — which the MTA has done every two years since 2009.
Without fare and toll hikes, bean counters say, the MTA will find itself $244 million in the hole this year.
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The proposed increases — which would take effect in March and are expected to bring in about $316 million — should balance the MTA budget this year. But the agency is still expected to be $510 million in the red in 2020.
MTA board member Larry Schwartz, a former Cuomo aide, is pressing his colleagues to link any fare hike to performance goals on subways, buses and the commuter rails. If the MTA falls short, it could lose money from the second year of the fare hike, according to officials who heard the plan.
Other public officials agree with Schwartz that if fares go up, riders expect better service.
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. spent a morning last week handing out anti-fare hike flyers at the 149th St.-Grand Concourse station. Riders gave him an earful about the subways’ condition.
“They say there’s too many delays, there’s too much overcrowding,” Diaz said. “You don’t know when the next train is coming. Buses are slower than walking.”
Diaz suggests the city should be in charge of NYC Transit, the MTA division that handles bus and subway service. The idea is gaining traction among city elected officials.
Riders across the subway aren’t in love with either fare hike option.
“Frankly, I’d rather have neither,” said Shanell Edwards, 21. “I can’t afford the weekly pass, and the 10% bonus works for me.” She likes Schwartz’s proposal — “If they raise the fare, it should be tied to performance.”
“If the fare goes up, I’d have to walk or ride my bike,” said Lana Rosaf, a 33-year-old CUNY student from the Bronx. “I prefer the $2.75 basic fare option because that’s what it is right now. They don’t take care of the infrastructure anyway, so why pay more money?”
Advocates for disabled riders — who rely on Access-A-Ride — are unhappy that the second fare option would eliminate their access to the 10% fare bonus offered to non-disabled subway and bus users.
“It’s particularly unfair to say you want to preserve a bonus, but this part of our ridership should pay more and can’t even take advantage of that bonus,” said Joe Rappaport, executive director of the Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled.
Despite the bad news for commuters’ wallets, the MTA is hoping they’ll appreciate some good news about service getting better.
Train delays were down 26 percent in December 2018 compared to December 2017, the MTA says.
And better scheduling has helped more trains run on time, the agency claims — 72.6% of weekday trains make it to their last stops on time, up nearly 10% from December 2017.
Still, major disruptions gum the subway — the agency counted 52 in December, two more than in December 2017.
Meanwhile, the average speed of buses in the city saw only a marginal improvement in 2018, clocking average speeds of 8.1 mph in December 2018 compared to 8 mph in the same month of 2017.
NYC Transit president Andy Byford made speeding up buses one of his top priorities when he took office a year ago.
Whether or not service improves, riders seem resigned to a fare increase.