For all our muttered complaints, New York City's public transportation system is still one of the oldest and most extensive in the world. Dating back to 1910, the subway is today one of four in the U.S. to at least partially serve 24/7, 365 days a year, and is ranked fourth in the world for annual ridership, just under Tokyo, Moscow, and Seoul. But as in all other walks of life, though size matters, so does price. Following the horrifying news last month that the MTA greenlit a 7.5 percent fare hike for January, riders have been in an uproar.
The NY Post notes that despite the raised prices, "even cost-conscious straphangers will see that laying out the big bucks will be worth it." Each of the 90 rides on the proposed $99 capped monthly MetroCard will come out to $1.10, less than half of the planned $2.50 single ride. This isn't exactly comforting: Under the old scheme, unlimited monthly card buyers could ride from the top of the Bronx to the outer rings of Brooklyn for less than a dollar!
Curious if the rest of the nation's riders had to deal with similar nonsense, we drew up a chart to compare our much adored MTA to other metropolitan transit agencies around the U.S. Click through the gallery to see how New York matches up against LA, DC, Chicago, Boston, and Philly.
