Advocacy Group: MTA Fares Could Jump To $3.75 In A Decade
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- It is only a projection, but an advocacy group warned Tuesday that if the Metropolitan Transportation Authority goes on raising fares as it has the past two times, a single subway or bus ride could cost $3.75 in 10 years.
As 1010 WINS' Stan Brooks reported Tuesday, Gene Russianoff, staff attorney and chief spokesman for the Straphangers Campaign, said that figure is just too high.
Advocacy Group: MTA Fares Could Jump To $3.75 In A Decade
"We need our top elected officials to stand up and provide the funding to keep fares affordable," Russianoff said. "Right now, if you take a subway or bus in New York, you're paying much more of the cost of running the system than in Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia."
But a spokesman for the MTA said there is no certainty that fares will keep going up at the same rate.
Last week, MTA officials said MetroCard prices are expected to rise in 2015 and again in 2017. How much the bus and subway fares will go up was not revealed at the time.
Chief Financial Officer Robert Foran said in a presentation to the MTA's board that future fare and toll increases will depend on the authority's finances at the time. He said the authority had to cover health care, pension and other costs.
Bus and subway fares jumped in March to $2.50 from $2.25.
In addition, a 30-day unlimited MetroCard rose $8 to $112. A seven-day MetroCard went up a dollar from $29 to $30. A $1 surcharge was also instituted for those who buy a new MetroCard, rather than refilling an old one.
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