MTA Taking Toll on Commuters

The MTA has voted to approve across the board increases in tolls and fares for subways, buses, and bridge tolls and has ordered cutting several local bus routes. The MTA claims that this is necessary to close a $1.1 billion hole.

Under the proposal, the price of a monthly MetroCard would rise by $22 to $103, and a weekly unlimited-ride MetroCard would jump by $6 to $31.

The full MTA board will vote on the fare increases Wednesday following Monday's vote by the finance committee. The fare hikes and service cuts would take effect June 1.

The MTA adopted a budget in December designed to close a $1.1 billion gap in its operating budget by raising fare and toll revenues by 23 percent. The board also approved sweeping service cuts, including eliminating 21 local bus routes.

Gov. David Paterson and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver support a bailout for the MTA in which transit riders, motorists and businesses would share the pain.

Under that plan, crafted by a state commission headed by former MTA Chairman Richard Ravitch, fares would rise 8 percent on average, drivers would pay to use the free East and Harlem River bridges and businesses in the MTA's 12-county region would be charged a payroll tax.

This is all part of a negotiating strategy to force the state to increase funding for the MTA. The MTA figures that politicians will clamor to find funds to avoid ticking off straphangers and politicians know that the MTA will take a beating from straphangers so they're avoiding the issue as well. There's also the not insignificant fact that the state and city are out of money themselves and just don't have the revenues to cover additional funding for transit operations along with all the other pet projects that they fund.

At a time when people are trying to save every dollar they can, the MTA is looking to demand serious increases for tolls and fares. This hurts the daily commuters harder, although the MTA will claim that most regular commuters take advantage of the unlimited ride Metrocards and that the actual fare paid per trip for those people are far below the single ride rates, especially when factoring in the free transfers.

I'm concerned that the MTA isn't doing nearly enough to contain costs, particularly on its capital projects and pension costs, which affect the bottom line to maintain safe and timely operations.