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The MTA is dangling an option for commuters to (strap)hang onto fares closer to what they pay now: switch over to MetroCards or pay more. Yesterday they laid out four potential proposals for fare hikes come June: a pair of options if the state adopts the Ravitch Commission suggestions and enacts a payroll tax that would only force a slight increase and another pair of alternatives that includes the Doomsday showdown of a $3 base fare (for one-way trips) versus the $103 unlimited monthly.
What do the two pairs have in common? The MTA is proposing options where using cash (specifically coins while riding buses) for one-way rides would be a costlier option than purchasing a MetroCard, thus creating an EZ Pass-like system where riders are rewarded for prepaying for their commutes. This would mark the first time using a MetroCard meant saving on base fare since the MetroCard Gold was introduced in 1997, offering riders who use both the bus and subway on their commute a long-desired free transfer.
The more Metrocard-friendly proposals also share something else in common--they would eliminate the $1.05 bonus received when buying a $7 MetroCard, meaning those who buy $7 cards could stop dreaming that their nickel bonuses will someday add up to a whole two dollar fare only to misplace that card four cycles in and lose the bonus as they start over on a new one. (You can see the different proposals in the 2nd image above.)
And how realistic is a "state bailout" of the MTA, where new legislation of a payroll tax could keep the fare hike minimal--and actually rescue the $2 fare? Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver tells the Post, "I think we're in a position to enact the payroll tax. I think it's doable on a legislative basis." Governor Paterson's office is expected to submit a bill on Ravitch's proposals early in the next legislative session.
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If you have a bank account with Citi or Chase, they reward you too for every $100 or $150 spent. Not too bad.
So the tourists will spend more money on metro cards? I mean, who uses the subway on a regular basis and doesn't buy a metrocard? This seems like a totally reasonable concession to me.
Oh god yes - I'm all in favor of hammering those assholes who use coins on the bus.
Payroll tax remains a stupid idea though; shameful pandering to the vocal minority who commute by car.
If I have to pre-pay, I better get a discount!
The most business unfriendly state makes itself more unfriendly!
I am all for hitting up tourists for as much money as possible. But what about poor people? It would be a very regressive pricing system, hitting the poor the hardest.
"I am all for hitting up tourists for as much money as possible. But what about poor people? It would be a very regressive pricing system, hitting the poor the hardest."
As long as no other changes in how the machines work are made, it wouldn't hurt poor people. Just stupid people or lazy people.
Seriously, buy a metrocard once. Or pick one up that someone has tossed away. After that, you can add any amount of money to it. If you only have $2, add $2 -- you don't have to buy a paper single ride ticket.
Disproportionately affect poor people? Not necessarily. I suppose it could disproportionately affect people who never ride the subway and only ride buses, because without the occasional trip to a subway station, where to get a Metrocard? But other than some correlation between poor people and lack of subway access (true in some areas, not at all in other areas), I don't see the connection to the poor.