February 29, 2008
Subway, Bus Fare Hikes in Effect on March 2 (Sunday!)
The MTA's various fare hikes are starting to go into effect next month (aka tomorrow). Tomorrow, Long Island Railroad and Metro-North fares are going up. Bridge and tunnel tolls are going up on March 16. And the doozy will be the NYC Transit subway and bus fare hikes which go into effect on Sunday, March 2. Expect tons of confused riders and weary MTA workers on Monday and for the next few weeks.
The base fare of $2.00 will remain the same, but pay-per-ride and unlimited Metrocard costs will go up. Instead of a 20% bonus added to $10 pay-per-ride cars, there will be a 15% bonus for $7 pay-per-ride cards (4 rides for $7, averaging $1.74) and leaving unusual leftover amounts that will encourage people to hold onto their Metrocards. If you have a pay-per-ride card with money on it, you can still use it after the hike but it must have more than $7 to get the discount. The Daily News has this handy guide explaining the remainders.
As for the unlimited cards, the 1-Day Fun pass is now $7.50 (up from $7), the 7-day unlimited is $25 (up from $24), and the monthly is now $81 (up from $76); a new 14-day card will be introduced, at $47. And for those of you wondering what to do with your unlimited cards that won't expire until after March 2 - including those of you who are trying to stockpile pre-hike cards - the MTA is allowing a grace period (end date, TBD) as long as travel begins before March 10. Be warned: The MTA will be monitoring how many of these cards are in the system.
And the MTA has been putting up signs reminding everyone about the fare hike, but not on platforms - outside the turnstiles by token booths. If we ran the MTA, the sign would be a less subtle, like, "YO, THE FARE HIKE IS MARCH 2" in red, maybe with some arrows, exclamation points, a hazmat symbol, and, duh, an image of a Metrocard.
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The MTA is a joke, run by idiots.
Why does the fare structure have to be so confusing and punative?
Why aren't they trying to promote mass transit ridership?
Why isn't there a peep about this on mta.info?
The MTA is a joke, run by idiots.
Why does the fare structure have to be so confusing and punative?
Why aren't they trying to promote mass transit ridership?
Why isn't there a peep about this on mta.info?
Actually, in a lot of places, I've seen them posting the signs inside the stations - not outside by the booths.
Those signs inside the turnstiles will be really helpful when all those customers are complaining at the Metrocard vending machines on Sunday.
it's hardly confusing. in fact the basic design of the sign is very informative easily navigateable.
can someone explain the best way to hoard metrocards? should I buy ten 20 dollar ride cards?
MTA is run by a bunch of crooks.
Another thing I should mention.
The media and our country is all about "green living" and taking public transportation, but why doesn't our government pour billions of dollars into public transportation instead of wasting tons of money on garbage research?
Example: The Tappan Zee Bridge. There has been one study after another studying about what kind of bridge should be built and this has going on for the past ten years.
How about building one less new stealth bomber and using the money to fund the entire Second Avenue subway line?
Steven - I know where the billions of dollars can come from: highways. For some reason it's ok to heavily subsidize roads but if a railroad can't turn a profit then it is SOL.
If anything the base fare should have gone up, since the majority of people don't pay it, but of course the base fare was kept at $2 so politicians can say, we didn't raise the fare even when they did for about 90% of people.
Now that it will be easier to get an uneven balance on a card, does anyone know if you can swipe 2 cards back to back and get through the turnstile? Like if one card had 50 cents on it, and another had $1.50 on it, could you swipe the 2 cards and get through? Hm, maybe it would just tell you "insufficient fare" and that would be the end of it.