Many New Yorkers have been feeling the blues this past week and the latest announcement from the Metropolitan Transit Authority might add to it.
This Wednesday, the MTA announced another fare hike of 4 percent over the next two years starting in March 2017. The plan would increase the price of a monthly MetroCard to $121 (it’s currently $116.50) and the price of a weekly MetroCard to $32 (it’s currently $31). The cost of a single ride would go up 25 cents from $2.75 to $3.
“The MTA continues to keep its promise to make sure that fare and toll increases, while necessary to keep our system running, remain as low and possible and that they are done in as equitable a way as possible,” said MTA Chairman and CEO Thomas F. Prendergast in a statement. “Fare and toll revenue cover just 51 percent of the operating budget, which is why this modest increase is needed to ensure that subway, rail, bus and paratransit services continue to operate safely and reliably and to fuel the region’s economic and financial growth.”
According to MTA officials, just over half of their $15.6 billion annual operating budget comes from fares and tolls. They said they’re able to hold increases to a minimum every year because of planned cost-cutting measures. They also said the MTA has achieved almost $1.8 billion in 2016 annual savings.
None of this news is sitting well with advocates over at the Community Service Society and the Riders Alliance. Both groups renewed their call for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to implement half-priced MetroCards for low-income straphangers. This change is something that the groups initially proposed last month.
“Making the city a more equitable place to live and work starts with ensuring that our vast public transportation system is both affordable and accessible to all New Yorkers, and not just the economically better-off,” said CSS President and CEO David R. Jones in a statement. “Higher bus and subway fares will have a disproportionate impact on low income residents and the working poor whose incomes have not kept pace with the rising costs of bus and subway fares. That’s why we are calling on the mayor to step in and address this inequity by funding a discounted transit fare for the city’s lowest-income residents.”
A recent report from CSS states that approximately 800,000 New Yorkers would be eligible for reduced fares under their half-priced MetroCard proposal.
“Fare hikes are a burden on everyone, but are especially hard for low-income New Yorkers,” added Riders Alliance Campaign Manager Rebecca Bailin in her own statement. “While we push for greater investment from Albany to keep our subways and buses running, our Mayor has a unique opportunity to help hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who are currently locked out of job opportunities, affordable housing and community life in New York City. Other cities around the country are doing it—New York City should too.”
According to a 2016 report from New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, between 2007 and 2015, bus and subway fares rose by 45 percent. DiNapoli’s report stated that the increase in that period was six times faster than the increase in the average salary of a New York City resident.