MTA fare raises less than feared, despite Alabany's "help"

It looks like the fare raises will be less than originally feared (as in the "Doomsday" scenario).

Albany has passed a rescue bill that will provide the MTA with additional sources of revenue. While this is good news, the bill doesn't go far enough to sustain the MTA and their capital budget (the budget to continue to improve and expand the system). What we really need is congestion pricing and make drivers pay their fair share, but that's a dicussion for another day.

Relevent to this blog will be the lesser fare hikes. My earlier post about how to save money on NYC Transit still applies.

Key points of the fare hike and rescue package are summarized below:

Base fare will rise $0.25 to $2.25

30 day metrocard will rise $8 to $89

Taxi fare will have an additional $0.50 surcharge

Metro North and LIRR fares will rise by a little less than 10%

Full details are in this NY times article and on the MTA website.