NYC Money

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

2009-05-20T15:00:00.002-04:00

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.

4 Tips to save money on NYC Public Transit

2009-04-07T11:55:00.004-04:00

Given that the recent "Doomsday Budget" has been passed by the MTA board, we are now facing a fare increase from $81 to $103 for the 30 day unlimited pass. For those that end up buying a pass every month, your annual spending just went up from $972 to $1236 - an increase of $264! (There is still time to undo this - call your state senator!)

Luckily, there are still some techniques that one can use to help themselves save money on public transit. These tips are catered mostly towards commuters and not tourists, and they revolve around the subway and the bus systems, but could be applicable to Metro North, LIRR, PATH, and taxis also.

Here are a few of my favorites (in no particular order):

1) Be aware of any credit card / bank promotions that may be going on. Bank of America recently had a promotion going on where you would get $10 back for every $100 spent. Chase is currently offering $10 back for every $150 spent on an enrolled card (hurry, ends 4/30/09). This ends up being a 6.6% to 10% discount!

2) This is a follow up to the credit card promotions. Know and have any credit cards that give you bonus cash back or points for transit purchases. For example, the Citi PremierPass Elite card gives you 2% back in points + 2% matching flight points for a total of 4% back in points.

3) This method works only a few times, but could potentially save you a lot of money. It applies only when you have paid for a 30 day metro card, but will end up being out of town for a period of time (1-2 weeks) during the middle of a 30 day card period. For example, I purchased a 30 day metrocard and used it for 15 days, but I will be out of town for the remaining 15 days. One could decide to instead go pay as you go, or buy a 14 day unlimited for the first 15 days, but with this method, you can still use the 30 day metrocard and there by have the lowest cost.

The way to do this is with the Metrocard Balance Protection Program. This program will automatically prorate and refund any unused portion of your unlimited metrocard when you call in and report your card "lost or stolen". By doing this, you have essentially custom created a personal xx-day metrocard at the 30 day unlimited metrocard rate! Note, you can ony do this once a calendar year for free, the 2nd time will cost you an extra $5. You can also use multiple credit cards to get around this.

4) Lastly, commuters on MetroNorth or LIRR should know that they can get a 5% discount by purchasing their tickets and passes online at mta.info. MTA will then mail the tickets to you for free!

5) Oh and one more thing, if the fare hikes do happen, you can normally stock up on a few 30 day unlimited metrocards at the old price and still have them work! I will update this as more information is available.

I hope this helps. If you have any tips to share, please feel free to leave them in the comments!

MTA Doomsday Plan passed! Call your senator today.

2009-03-24T11:00:00.002-04:00

As you may or may not know, the MTA is proposing a massive 23% fare hike to deal with their budget shortfall.

To prevent this, the state government in Albany needs to pass the Ravitch/Silver plan - which asks all sectors to contribute to keep our city on the move – but a handful of senators are holding out against it.

Call your State Senator TODAY (deadline is Wednesday) and tell them:

To prevent 23% fare hikes and drastic service cuts, support the Ravitch/Silver plans!

I live on the west side of Manhattan and my Senator is Duane at (518) 455-2451.

In a future post, I will post about how to save money on the MTA - including best credit cards to use, pre-tax options, and other tricks!

Free Peanut Butter Anyone?

2009-03-05T15:11:00.002-05:00

AMERICA'S PEANUT FARMERS TRAVEL TO NEW YORK CITY TO MEET CONSUMERS, WORK TO REBUILD TRUST IN ALL THINGS PEANUT.

Yes, this is actually happening. In fact, Midtownlunch has a report on it, with a reader saying :

“I got a free apple, free small container of peanut butter to dip pre-cut apples in (which I also got). Other items include peanut energy bars, peanut brittle bars, small packages of peanut M&Ms, and as many spoonful samples of Peanut Butter & Co. peanut butter as you can get away with.”

If you're in the area, or just love free peanut butter products. You have until 7:30pm today!

Wed., March 4 and Thurs., March 5

8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Vanderbilt Hall, Grand Central Terminal

Sorry this is a little late...

Freshdirect - Free Delivery thru March 31st with $10 dairy purchase

2009-02-26T18:42:00.004-05:00

To kick things off, here's a freshdirect code for free delivery:

Now through March 31, keep saving with FREE DELIVERY whenever you buy $10 or more of our delicious Dairy.

Enter the code MOO each time you check out.

Fine print: Offer expires 3/31/09. Order must contain at least $10 from our Dairy department. Unlimited DeliveryPass members receive one bonus week on their membership. May not be combined with any other offer. Limit: one per customer/household. All standard customer terms and conditions apply. Offer is nontransferable. Void where prohibited.

Relaunching NYC Money as a blog to help you save money in NYC.

2009-02-25T11:57:00.003-05:00

I'm going to be relaunching NYC money as a site to help you save money in NYC. Given what's going on in the economy and job market here, who doesnt want to save an extra dime on the stuff you already do and purchase?

Stay tuned as I get my new site off the ground!