NEW YORK (WABC) — The MTA has approved its financial plan that includes fare and toll hikes that could take effect next August.
The agency declined to say how much the fares and tolls would increase but it is expected the approx 4% increase will raise the base fare to $3.
Drivers will already increases in the cost of commute in the coming year with the implementation of congestion pricing on January 5, 2025.
“Transit is one of the very few things that makes New York affordable. We love the fact that you can go from the Rockaways to the north Bronx on one fare, and it’s a reasonable fare. We are trying to keep it that way,” Janno Lieber, MTA Chairman, said.
The MTA has consistently raised fares every other year, by roughly 4 percent, since 2009. An exception happened in 2021 when Gov. Kathy Hochel froze fares after the pandemic eroded ridership. Fare increases were back on schedule in 2023, rising from $2.75 to $2.90. A new hike is no surprise, says the MTA’s Rider Advisory Group.
“We know it’s coming every couple of years and we know it’s going to be four percent as opposed to NJ transit which imposed on its riders this summer a 15 percent fare increase, out of the blue,” Lisa Daglian of Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to MTA said.
Riders who talked to Eyewitness News have mixed reactions. The MTA says it’s mainly going to people.
“80 percent of our costs are people and pensions and health benefits, so there are small increases to our work force, we have to deal with that,” Lieber said.
Also discussed and agreed upon – a congestion pricing detail effecting the two percent of drivers who don’t use E-Z Pass. They will be charged $13.50 instead of $9.
The fare increase still has to be officially approved at an MTA board meeting in March and by Albany – and if Governor Hochul offers an alternate stream of funding, the fare increase could still be nixed.
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