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The MTA on Thursday, under a grim financial forecast, proposed two new options for fare and toll increases in 2019.
One option would keep base MetroCard fares at $ 2.75 and eliminate the purchasing bonus. Thirty-day MetroCards would increase from $ 121 to $ 127 and seven-day MetroCards would increase from $ 32 to $ 33.
A second option would increase the MetroCard fare to $ 3 and increase purchasing bonuses from a 5 percent bonus with a $ 5.50 purchase to a 10 percent bonus with a $ 6 purchase. Monthly MetroCards would have a slightly smaller increase to $ 126.25 while weekly MetroCards would still increase to $ 33.
Each option will achieve a 4 percent increase over the next two years, which translates to $ 308 million in new revenue annually, according to the MTA.
The beleaguered transit authority also provided the opportunity to increase the rate of payment by 4 percent or 8 percent, with the additional revenue from an eight percent increase going to funding capital projects to modernize mass transit service.
The MTA Board will vote in December on whether the authority should be in place, and then, if approved, decide on one of the two options in January. The increases would take effect in March, marking the MTA's sixth fare and increase increase since 2009.
The options to be quoted $ 1 billion by 2022 – even if fare and toll are carried out in 2019 and 2022. MTA could be forced to carry out staffing service cuts during a healthy economic climate as the city 's population continues to grow.
The prospect of slashing a spiral at the MTA. The authority is projecting a $ 485 million loss in revenue due to 2022 due to declining ridership. MTA board member Norman Brown warned.
In total, the MTA is expected to lose $ 819 million over the next four years. Despite the daunting financial challenges at the MTA, the advocacy groups and some of the elected officials of the MTA headquarters on Wednesday. They argued that fares – currently at $ 2.75 for a subway swipe – are getting too much costly for everyday riders, and that state lawmakers should enact congestion pricing, to balance MTA books.
"John Raskin, executive director of the Riders Alliance, at the rally said," We're asking for the annual meeting.
The financial crisis outlined Thursday after the abrupt exit of MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota. Before he announced his departure last Friday, he warned of the "bleak and" abysmal "outlook at the MTA and said it would be the best bet to help the authority's financial footing.
"Our best option is securing new and additional revenue sources from our partners in government," he said.
Wine has been covering transportation at AmNewYork since 2016. He first landed on the beat at his hometown newspaper, the Staten Island Advance, in 2014.
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