MTA Readies Fare Hike Plan If Albany Doesn't Act

They are spending 15.2 Billion to connect the LIRR to Grand Central Station. If they eliminate that completely unneeded program they can increase service and not cut it back.

Ruben

Each and every passing day I am starting to feel like James Franciscus in Beneath the Planet of the Apes. Every station I venture into is covered in filth with mutants milling about. The stations resemble the ruins of a once civilized nation. Attempts to speak to MTA employees is met with grunts and growls. No one speaks the same language as I do. High pitched screeching noises deafen me, the smell of human excrement fouls the air. For the life of me I cannot understand how anyone can justify raising the fares with conditions like this.

The station in BTPA actually looks nicer than most subway stations, but I know what you mean. I wouldn't be surprised to see a CHUD or two on the platform soon.

$103/month would really just encourage me to ride my bike more, so I guess it's good for me health-wise. In fact, if you pick two months of the year, such as May and June and refuse to take public transit, then your annual cost would stay the same.

The sad thing is that for people in the outer boroughs (further out such as in Brighton or Jamaica) who don't own cars but can park for free, this is really just more encouragement to buy a car. For a 10-15 year old used car, you can get insurance for 800-1200/year in NYC. Including gas and the odd repair, you could own a car for less than twice what it would cost to buy monthly cards every month. So, while it may be more, the increased freedom makes up for it.

Quick and dirty calculations:

Metrocard:

Monthly Unlimited: 12 x $103 = $1,236.00

Car:

Used car: $5,000.00 spread out to 10yrs of ownership = $500.00

Insurance: $1,000.00

Fuel @ $2.00/gal, 25mpg average, 125miles/week, 50weeks working = 5gal/wk x 50wks = 250gal/yr x $2.00 = $500.00

Basic Maintenance: Oil change $25.00/per 3k miles, 125miles/week, 50weeks = 50wks x 125miles/wk = 6,250miles/yr = $50.00

Parking Garage: $11.00/day "early bird/commuter special, use 50% of year @ 125days = $1,375.00

Misc Costs (parking meters, repairs, tickets, etc.): $400.00

Total Cost/yr: $3,825.00

I think those figures are quite generous ($2/gal gasoline, 25mpg average) and I didn't even include any toll costs.

Even if you don't count the cost of buying the car, then somehow avoid all garage costs by magically finding free street parking in Manhattan daily, never receive a ticket and never have to repair the car ever while never getting an oil change, and never drive anywhere on the weekends and vacation days, you would still be paying $1,500.00 purely on insurance and gasoline.

No matter how you slice the pie the math doesn't add up.

Every 3 years I've bought a used car on Craigslist for $400-600. My annual insurance is around $800, I probably drive it 20-40 miles per week, so usually go a month on a single tank, I've never paid to park in a garage, and I've never gotten a parking ticket (I am patient). My annual costs have yet to hit two grand. If the car needs a lot of work, I dump it and get another used one.

I really don't drive it often - I probably commute into Manhattan once a week, but when the F is broken, it's nice to have.

If it were more expensive, I'd dump it, but if I were living in Westchester or LI and had to pay Metro North/LIRR + subway, I might drive in every day.

You're not comparing daily commuting costs between owning a metrocard and owning a car. Your situation is atypical of the average outer-borough worker that commutes via mass transit 5 days a week. The economically prudent choice, obviously, is to have an unlimited metrocard

Driving in everyday from Westchester or LI or NJ is a losing proposition. There's a reason hundreds of thousands of people commute via the LIRR and Metronorth and charter buses instead of driving.

BTW, I've owned two POS $500-1000 cars in my life and both times they cost me plenty of money to maintain over the 2.5yrs I had them. In my experience the hassles are completely not worth any benefits from the initial cost. I would never, ever cycle through cheap used cars again.

Fair enough. I think we can agree, though, that mass transit is the desired method of commuting, but we're all tired of feeling like we're getting screwed. I guess the best option is to have a lot of money and buy an apartment next to your job.

Absolutely. When the MTA rolled out their "Holiday Gift" giveback in the form of lowered fares during one December (2004?) due to a *ahem* surplus, I knew something was very very wrong. It was painfully obvious we were all getting royally screwed what with the dozens of stations (especially in the outer boroughs) that were in complete disrepair.

Here's a thought though: the MTA is too big to fail.

LIRR and Metro-North are both part of the MTA and those train fees will rise as well.

While I can't stand the idea of more rising fees (cell phone, cable, food, transportation, gas/electric, oil) with no salary bump and the possibility of losing my job in the coming months/weeks/days, I do know that most city transit systems are much more expensive than ours (and they're not as accommodating or up-to-date). We essentially pay for 1/2 of what other cities pay and ours is one of the oldest and most expansive system on earth.

What is wrong with a $103 monthly pass? Some people have to pay over $300 a month in transit fees to get to work from other areas.

yes they do. and they ride on LIRR, NJTransit and MetroNorth. which have expansive networks and heavier rail trains. and cover thousands of miles, all told. so that pretty much makes sense.

The MTA is opaque, our leaders are oblique, and my neighbors are obtuse. $103 Metrocard here we come.

Jester isnt from NY, guarantee.

Trains that you sometimes have to wait 2 or 3 to get on i.e. Fulton uptown 4/5 or 96th 2/3 downtown during am...trains that are dirty and smell, break down, signal problems, construction (No 7 service manhattan bound, no A/C in brooklyn, D on the A, G on the F, etc etc etc).

10 years ago? Try five. The $63 metrocard was around in 2003. In 8 years of working/living in NY things have only gotten worse, ask anyone.

70K for token booth clerks who fall asleep in said booth and pay $0 towards healthcare???

Suck it up? How about Suck My Ass

To the jerk (read: Rolltide23) who implied that I'm not from New York City, you lose. I'm a New Yorker born and raised, I'm a product of the New York City public school system, and I take the subway every working day (and on weekend). I just happen to whine about the subway a little less than others.

any way you look at it we are paying for it whether its a bailout or a fare hike. I wonder if anyone over at the MTA got Bonuses?

The $63 monthly was around as recently as 2003.

P.S. i remember when a monthly metro card was 63 Dollars to put in perspective 10 yrs ago a 7-Day pass was $17, 30-Day Unlimited Ride $63 and 1 day fun passes were $4 know everything is almost double

$63 dollars is not that long ago. If that's as far back as you can remember, then you either have a short memory or haven't been here that long.

I remember when there were no metrocards, and I remember hating the transition; I still find random tokens here and there, but I have friends who remember when tokens were $1, and others who remember when they were $0.75, and so on. I even have family friends who remember when tokens were 25 cents and the trains weren't air-conditioned. I have an uncle who talks about the elevated trains in Yorkville and still refers to everything as the BMT or IND or whatever.

It's easy to get nostalgic about the train system, but everyone I know agrees that the system always has been poorly run and costs more than it should.

I think the comparisons to other cities' transit system ARE appropriate - including those in other countries - as a way to realize that as New Yorkers, we take the public transit system for granted. Sure we complain about spotty bus and train service, but just remember that we have the most extensive subway/bus system in the United States and it still only costs $2 to get from one end of Brooklyn all the way to the northern tip of the Bronx.

Tons of other cities also shut down subway service around midnight, yet the New York City subway keeps running 24 hours a day.

Price increases stink, but seriously, just suck it up.

but why suck it up when there are other legitimate budget alternatives that don't involve 25% fare hikes?

i'm all for zoned fares, only the infastructure rebuild would take 15 years at the MTA's usual leisurely pace and cost god knows how much. but my 5 stop ride should cost less than the 25 stop jaunt in from coney island.

The problem with zoned fares is that the people that live further out in poorer neighborhoods will end up paying more. The person who commutes from the Bronx to Lower Manhattan will pay significantly more than the person who commutes from anywhere in Manhattan or Downtown Brooklyn. That is why it is good that we all pay the same per ride. The people with shorter commutes, who for the most part can afford to live closer to work because they make more money, help pay for those who have to live further away because cost of living is significantly cheaper.

eh, whatever. all my MTA rants are flawed. while i'm impressed by the expansiveness and relative timeliness of the system, it's gotten more inconsistent in service and maintenence in recent years, dirtier since it's high point in the early 2000s and more expensive at a faster pace. so when you added those things up, you get frustrated straphangers.

I agree; I think people who live furthest away from the city center are the ones who will feel fare increases the most, especially if fares were based on zones/distance traveled. But in my mind that's yet another reason why the NY transit system is not as horrible as people seem to be claiming.

The subways/transit systems in other cities that shut down for the night are a pain, I completely agree.

I would counter though that while our system is technically open the trains running are very few and very far in between during the late hours (2-5AM). On top of that, there is usually track work being done during those times so trains end up running on different routes, some are completely out of service, and some just end up sitting around at a station for half an hour for no apparent reason.

This is why I ride a bike when I know it'll be a late night. Going 7 miles in the subways late night might take 3 hours. That would only take me 30 minutes on a bike pedaling at an easy pace.

I would counter that "slow service" at night is better than being in Boston where the last trains run an hour before the bars close and then you're stuck with cabbies who don't run on a meter and can pretty much charge you what they feel like.

It's $5/week. Forgo the coffee and you'll survive.

Funny - no mention of cutting the fat in the MTA administration. And there is lots of it.

This is a chinese fire drill - designed to panic the public and minimize the questions.

They're going to have to take down those "Believe it or not" ads reminding us how inflation works.

Maybe they should fire they train operator that laughs at me every morning for just missing the doors...

Maybe they should fire they train operator that laughs at me every morning for just missing the doors...

That's the conductor, not the train operator.

eh, and plenty of cities have nicer systems while charging less. moscow: huge system, gorgeous stations, three-minute waits for trains, and a fare that's about 78 cents depending on the exchange. ride the rails there, come back here, and you'll wonder which country used to be run by communists.

i used to be pretty good at giving the MTA the benefit of the doubt and was patient with train waits until visiting moscow. the systems is just amazingly efficient. 2-minute-or-less waits, fast escalators (almost always operational) and one-way staircases. that trip made me realize what a sorry piece of infrastructure the subway here is. people like to romanticize how amazing it is, but it's really quite poor.

Many systems around the world have zoned fairs and rely on riders' honor to buy a ticket. (of course there are the armed guards ready to fine you 500 bucks)

here's a staggering fact. Toronto, which has a transit system so shitty it defies description, charges even more per ride, per weekly and per monthly pass than the HIKED fares at NYCT.

But we don't live in Toronto, or even in Canada for that matter. It's apples and oranges.

No, but the point is that we pay close to nothing for some of the commutes we have. We don't have a distance based fare and it's killing revenues.