“Today’s announcement begins a period of public discussion,” MTA Jay Chairman Walder said. “We look forward to hearing from the public and reviewing the public comments as we continue to evaluate this proposal before we adopt the final budget by the end of the year.”
What the Chairman meant to say was that starting this September there will be a whole bunch of public hearings where you and I can complain about the proposed increases and then in December 2010, the MTA will formally adopt the budget and finacial plan anyway and the increases will go into effect in 2011.
The MTA claims that it costs 15 cents to collect every dollar the MTA collects in fare revenue. The MTA budget proposes two changes to help reduce this expense.
The MTA pays $13 million annually to print MetroCards, many of which wind up as litter. To encourage customers to refill existing MetroCards instead of purchasing new ones, the MTA is proposing a charge of $1 to purchase a new MetroCard. Not surprisingly, the MTA, always politically correct, refers to this new charge as a "green initiative"!
This is a charge that any customer can avoid. It would not apply to those who refill an expired MetroCard by obtaining a new one, those who hold Reduced Fare passes, or to MetroCards sold at out-of-system retailers.
Similarly, the MTA is proposing to institute a 25¢ charge for purchasing a paper single-ride ticket.
The base fare would remain unchanged at $2.25.
The bonus discount offered on pay-per-ride MetroCards would fall to 7%, from the current 15%.
Customers would need to put at least $10 on a MetroCard to receive the bonus, up from $8 currently.
The effective fare paid by users of the pay-per-ride bonus discount MetroCard would rise to $2.10, from the current $1.96.
The effective fare paid by express bus riders would rise to $5.14, up from $4.78 currently.
For users of the 30-day unlimited-ride MetroCard, the MTA proposes to adopt one of two options:
A 30-day MetroCard offering up to 90 rides for $99.
A 30-day unlimited-ride MetroCard for $104.
Users of the 30-day unlimited card tend to have the highest incomes of all New York City Transit customers, and would continue to benefit from significant discounts on a per-ride basis as compared with pay-per-ride users. (A rider taking 90 rides in a month would pay $1.10 per ride under the $99 option, or $1.16 per ride under the $104 option.)
The median household income for users of the 30-day MetroCard is $63,000; for the 7-day card it is $38,000.
For 7-day unlimited-ride MetroCards, the MTA proposes to adopt one of two options:
A 7-day card offering up to 22 rides for $28.
A 7-day unlimited-ride card for $29.
In order to simplify options and retire ineffective discounts, the less popular one-day and 14-day MetroCards would be phased out.
For those of you out there who still hope against hope that the MTA will reverse it's newly modified Cross Bay Bridge Resident Rebate Program you should know that the agency's budget contains a "Bridge and Tunnel Holdback" initiative wherein the Financial Plan proposes that "a portion of the 7.5% toll increases for 2011 and 2013 (equivalent to 2.5% in each year) will be used to fund new B&T capital projects through pay-as-you-go funding and additional debt." What this means is that the MTA has already targeted and spent the additional revenue from the revenue now being generated by Broad Channel and Rockaway residents who are now paying the toll to cross the bridge!
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