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This morning, the MTA board met and passed Albany's proposed fare hikes and toll increases. Commuter rail fares will begin to increase on June 17; fares on subways and buses will change on June 28; bridge and tunnel tolls will increase on July 12. Fares are rising an average of 10%.
MTA Chairman Dale Hemmerdinger said, "Today we implemented a bittersweet solution that comes with additional pain for our customers, our employees and those who live and work in our region. But it will - at least for the short term - prevent the Armageddon that loomed large when we last met." And departing MTA CEO Lee Sander said, "The fare and toll increase passed today is not ideal, but it spares our customers from actions that would have been extraordinarily painful. Implementing severe fare increases and deep service cuts directly contradicts the MTA’s mission and my goals as CEO. It is a great relief to know we will be able to continue providing the service our customers expect at an affordable price."
Here are the new subway and bus fares:
Additionally, the Daily News reports, "About 600 token booth clerks and customer assistant positions are still on track to be eliminated through attrition, a move that was criticized by transit advocates and union officials." One booth clerk tells the News that "she has contacted police and paramedics for ill or injured riders," adding, "I've meant the difference between them living and dying because I was there. What in the hell [is the MTA] thinking?"
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"Customer assistant" positions? What are those? The people hanging around central hub stations that give rush hour commuters pointless surveys to fill out once every few years? Seriously, who are you, MTA customer service people?
I don't want anyone to lose their jobs, but I've never once experienced "customer service" from an MTA employee in 15 years of using the system since high school.
Whoops sorry, a token booth clerk once told me (behind her glass cube) that I'd have to wait anywhere from 1-6 hours until someone could help retrieve my wallet that was accidentally dropped on the tracks.
Customer Assistant Reps are those useless people who a shrill public forced the MTA to provide because we are too scared to be in an empty subway station. Fat lot of good they do.
they're usually useless, and we could all just use a working customer assistance phone line for the same purposes - but when i dropped my cell on the tracks about five years ago, they were extremely helpful and got people there to retrieve my phone within 20-30 minutes
Let's summarize. Regularly Tardy. Urine soaked. Rat infested. Premium rates. What a deal.
By my calculations, there is no savings in buying a monthly pass unless you take more trips than just to and from work each workday, so that kinda sucks.
I've noticed that too. There doesn't seem to be an incentive to buy a monthly unless your company participates in one of the plans where you can buy pre-tax, like TransitChek.
At one point, MTA had suggested a yearly unlimited. I don't know why they haven't gone through with that because it means cash up front for them. Maybe they didn't think people wanted to shell out $900 upfront.
You save $1 if you buy a monthly ride versus single rides. And only go to and from work. How does Transitchek work? Mine gives me a discount beyond what the MTA offers.
"How does Transitchek work?"
I believe that if your company uses Transitchek, they take it out of your paycheck and the price of the card you buy is not considered taxable income.
Is that worth it? Would it work if they pay for part of my monthly?
I have to pay for a monthly LIRR and subway combo ticket and if the cap is $110 would they pay up to that and the rest i pay?
Thanks!
Joe: The Federal stimulus bill raised the monthly cap to $230 per month.
See: http://www.transitcenter.com/AboutUs/PressRelease.aspx?id=1914
transit checks was one of the best perks my former employer gave. even though I didn't need it since I walk to work. getting 10 tripper taken out bi-weekly did not feel like a big hit on the paycheck.
Transit checks used to be good, back when the MTA actually accepted them. Now only random bodegas accept them and usually they only sell monthly not $10, $20 or $40 cards.
I'd much rather pay tax on the $90 a month than run around the city trying to find a place that accepts Transit checks. Yet another good thing killed by the MTA.
@ Rodney:
I don't think many people use the paper vouchers anymore. I know two people who use TransitChek; one gets a prepaid debit card (valid in the Metrocard machines and for his non-MTA commuter bus), the other gets a Metrocard with his paystub (the Metrocard has "TransitChek" stamped across the back).
You save $1.00. Whoopee!!!
Premium rates???
Where other subway system can you go from one end to the other for $2.25?
Ok...$2.25 end to end. Great. But $2.25 for 1 stop. Not so sure that's such a great deal.
yeah this is a real sweeet deal we have here. Yeah it's a steal!
stop whining like some entitled little children, it's a fucking quarter.
whaaa one stop! walk.
whaaa $2.25! ride a bike.
i'll bet these are the same type of people who will spend $6 on a mocha frappa crappacino or $300 on an iPhone.
good point - my only problem is what a cesspool the subway is and how it'll only get worse. sure, it gets you there, but its just so damned unpleasant. the prices will keep going up, and the quality will keep going down.. within 10 years we'll be paying $5 for a single ride and people won't even blink an eye when a rat runs across their toes (do people even now?)
I don't have an IPhone or pay $6 for a cup of coffee and think the fare increase is bullshit. Take a quarter and shove it up your ass-that's how much the MTA thinks of you..
thats for Real ! Stop the Starbucks Brain wash
its Sad. Their Rich Your Not
hate the MTA, they are incompetent and seem to be accountable to no one. NYC can do better than this, no?
I am so relieved they will continue to deliver the service customers expect for more money....
Remember help is half an hour away if your getting raped, that is if the clerk sees you.
When are they going to tell us the new bridge toll rates for bridges & tunnels? We got a summer home for under a grand but, it sounds like it's gonna cost us double that just to enjoy it on the weekends.
As far as MTA, especially if they are implementing additional payroll taxes along with the fare hikes, Make it mandatory that every company paying this tax that has employees commuting to implement Transit Check to protect employees and possibly help them make this somewhat bearable
By "under a grand" do you mean under a thousand pennies? Because a few bucks in bridge & tunnel toll increases surely shouldn't DOUBLE what you pay for your summer home.
If you can afford a summer home you should be able to afford the new tolls prices.
We got it before all this was happening... right before gas went through the roof, my fiance lost his job, etc, so every little penny counts it just amazes me how much the verazzano costs and how it just keeps going up up up
Remember the saying when the bridge is paid up the tolls go away? I know it's cost tons of money to maintain a lot, but it sure seems like the money is floating in all different directions. How much of the bridge and tunnel money goes towards the subways, buses, railroads anyway or how much public transportation money goes to the bridges?
This IS the same fare increase they were proposing with the doomsday budget. The ONLY difference is that they are getting some of the money from raising payroll taxes, taxicab fares, driver registrations, rental car taxes, etc. Just because some of the increase is hidden from view doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.
The wasteful MTA is getting every dime it wanted, and can even avoiding laying off people. The only people winning here is the union and the inefficient MTA.
remember the fare is really $1.96 unless u just get single rides or top up less than $8 each time. So you need to make 46 rides a month for you to benefit from the month pass. Thats 3 extra round-trips a month, not counting your work commute. If you live and work in the city that means the month pass is still probably worth it unless u refuse to travel at all during weekends.
I think i did that right.
PS im not quite sure about this, but theres a little known fact that u can do a subway to subway transfer under 2 hr transfer if the 2nd subway entrance u go through is either 59th and lex or 63rd and lex.
Maybe they just announced the Doomsday Hike so they could pass this one and we wouldn't riot. Hooray for 10%!
"One booth clerk tells the News that "she has contacted police and paramedics for ill or injured riders," adding, "I've meant the difference between them living and dying because I was there. What in the hell [is the MTA] thinking?"
Any passenger can dial 911 asshole!!!!