Results tagged “mtafarehike”

Grab some quarters if you're crossing the East River today. The crossings run by the MTA—the RFK, Whitestone, Throgs Neck Bridges plus the Midtown and Battery Tunnels all go up 50 cents to $5.50 today. The toll hike is the last phase of the revenue being raised by the MTA in the face of their budget crisis. Of course at one point the plan involved tolls being introduced to the East River crossings, but that dream proposed by now (sort of) Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch was shot down by everyone's favorite state senators. Other tolls going up today include the Henry Hudson, Marine Bay, Cross Bay and Verrazano Bridges—the last of which is now up to a whopping eleven dollars. One Upper West Sider told WCBS 2, "I don't understand how you can get away with it, I mean it is better than the doomsday scenario. It was poorly advertised and a lot of people are going to be caught off guard."

Keep those quarters handy. Starting at midnight Sunday, the base fare on New York City subways and buses is going up for the first time since 2003—from $2.00 to $2.25. Unlimiteds are also rising in price across the board, with monthly Metrocards going from $81 to $89. If you're on a weekly card or have a longer one about to expire, you might want to make a trip to your nearest subway station this evening to pick a card up the old rates. But don't think about stockpiling them—the grace period to use start using cards purchased at the old rate is Monday July 6th. Funny that the fare hikes have fallen so close to Independence Day without using the holiday for the changeover. Fourth of July was the date that both the free transfer from subways to buses (and vice-versa) debuted and unlimited Metrocards were introduced, in 1997 and 1998 respectively. Signs of this most recent change have been appearing underground this week—sometimes as seen here in as many as five languages at once.

The MTA's non-doomsday fare hikes start today, with higher fares on the Long Island Rail Road (fare table here) and Metro-North (table here). WCBS 2's Lou Young spoke to commuters at Grand Central and Penn Station. One woman, who travels from Yonkers into the city, said, "It's a big deal considering nobody has any money. Money is very scarce right now"; she faces an increase of $1.50 per roundtrip—about $30/month (and she rarely has the cash available to buy a monthly). A pair of brothers who commute from Babylon into Manhattan will have to pay another $21/month each on their monthly passes. Another commuter from White Plains was resigned, "It adds up. It adds up, especially when the fares go up all the time. They got a deficit. Wadda ya gonna do?"