NYC’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted to raise subway fares today.
From the New York Times:
The base subway and bus fare will remain $2, but an overwhelming majority of riders — who use unlimited-ride MetroCards or get a discount for buying multiple rides at once — will have to pay more, starting on March 2. The costs of unlimited-ride cards will rise to $81 from $76 for the 30-day card and to $25 from $24 for the 7-day card; a new 14-day card will be sold for $47.
The bonus for regular pay-per-ride cards will be reduced to 15 percent from 20 percent, but the threshold for receiving the bonus will also be reduced, to $7 from $10. With the bonuses in place, the average cost of a bonus ride will rise to $1.74 from $1.67. The express bus fare ($5) and the cost of a 7-day express bus pass ($41) remain unchanged.
The MTA says the fare increase is necessary because they’re facing a billion-dollar deficit.
Board Approves Subway and Bus Fare Increase [NYT]
(Photo:Maulleigh)
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Um, hey, yeah the Metro board here in D.C. voted to do that a week ago, where was Consumerist?
I’m peeved at the government for upping fares AND parking for commuters.
it’s amazing that the price keeps going up and the service keeps going down. If only there was something we could do about it.
OK??? I dont understad why consumerist poste this one. Why should I care? Bus fares increased in Orange County CA, but it wasnt posted on the consumerist.
the unlimited card is now more expensive for weekly commuters than the pay if you go option. $81 unlimited is 40.5 rides pay as you go, however with the 15% for pay as you go, $81 = 46.5 rides. average commuted takes the train 40 times in a month.
shouldnt monthly commuting cards be less than the pay as you go option? an incentive to buy the monthly?
When you look at the sheer size of the NYC system it’s actually amazing they don’t charge more. I have paid more in other cities for a much smaller and less convenient system. They are very liberal with the transfer rules and you can basically go extremely far for $2.
I can’t imagine the upkeep costs for the system. Especially when you consider how old it is.
Because this blog is ran from NY. So that is why that is on here and not the other states. Idk just a guess..
Yeah, I don’t really mind the fare increase – it’s 5 bucks per month extra for UNLIMITED use (pre-tax through TransitChek). As BNET41 points out, the thought that you can basically ride from one end of Brooklyn to the other end of the Bronx for $2.00 is ridiculously cheap (yes, I know most people don’t take the train that far, but the point is that flat pricing is a bit odd). I’d just be happy if they figured out a way to help sick passengers without bringing the entire subway line to a complete halt for 10 minutes.
@CaffeinatedSquint: AGREE!!! Our Metro fares are now $4.50 one way for the long trips (i.e., MD/VA suburbs into DC). I’ll start caring about NYC’s fares when they reach HALF of DC Metro’s rates!
NYCs regular base rate fare remains unchanged. “With the bonuses in place, the average cost of a bonus ride will rise to $1.74 from $1.67.” Are you kidding me? Consumerist is posting about a $0.07 increase?!?! Where’s the justice!?
I don’t know,…….. it impacts millions of people, maybe THAT’S why it’s here? Could be.
@snazz:
This really isn’t anything new – monthly has always only made sense if you ride the subway more than just for work. NYT ran an analysis, basically came out that you should keep buying what you were buying (for any given usage pattern, the same option, monthly or pay by the ride) still worked out to be cheaper.
Want lowe fares? Do away with the unions.
That’s a bargain, I wouldn’t be complaining at that price. For unlimited usage, its still a hell of a lot cheaper then owning a car. Things have to go up in price at some point, that’s reality.
@pda_tech_guy: you realize this happened in New York City, NY right? If it happens in NYC everyone cares. That’s just how it is. Remember a few years ago when ConEd took over a week to restore power to parts of Queens? That was a major national story. I hear some poor slobs in flyover states are still without power from some storm they had last week. That isn’t news though since it happened in places that don’t matter. In short, if something impacts consumers in places that matter Consumerist is there.
As for the current fare hike…didn’t the MTA have a multi-billion dollar surplus a few years ago? What happened to that? The MTA needs to be more accountable if they are going to come with their hands out every couple of years.
@PeteyNice: They gave LIRR and MetroNorth customers that buy monthly tickets free metrocards… the further out on in CT or Long Island you live, the richer you are, the more expensive your ticket, the more free stuff you got.
@pda_tech_guy: You just don’t understand that New York City is actually the center of the universe! Am I right, Ben and Meg?
I honestly think the MTA should switch from a flat fee to a structured fee based on how far you are traveling.
Many many many other countries/subway systems use a similar method quite successfully and efficiently.
You swipe your card on the way in, swipe it on the way out, and it automatically deducts the value from the card.
In Hong Kong we have a similar system as described, but we have a thing called an Octopus Card (wiki it..), which basically uses RFID (i believe). So you don’t have a card you need to swipe, you just hold your wallet, purse, or now watch, next to the sensor pad for about .5 second, and thats it. You can use the same card on the subway, on buses, ferries, trams, at 7-elven and circle K, starbucks and other coffee shops, vending machines, supermarkets, mcdonalds and similar fast food places, and soon in taxis/cabs as well.
When a system is so wide spread, the general population will soon catch on. All you need then is a tourist card (3 days, 5 days), and then nearly everyone has a card like that, and you don’t have lines at machines.
(To refill value you can do that at any of the above mentioned places as well)
@PeteyNice: So by that thinking, Consumerist should’ve posted about the D.C. fare hike because not only is D.C. the nation’s capital, a major city, it also has commuters from Maryland and Virginia.
@Stan LS: Wha? Are you implying that the unions are responsible for the “absurdly high price” of public transit in NYC? Because, uh, it just ain’t that expensive, bub. As several people have pointed out, it costs a lot more in many other places.
The city has a huge vested interest in keeping fares low: it’s public transportation, so it needs to be affordable for commuters who may not make a lot of money in the first place. Also, they’ll do just about anything that helps reduce car traffic.
IIRC, there isn’t a public transportation system in any metropolitan area that actually runs a substantial profit (although no, I don’t have a source to back that up at the moment). Given the costs needed to operate the system, any price that would result in a profit would be too high for users to accept. Thus, it gets subsidized by the government, and ultimately by the taxpayers.
Um, hey, yeah the Metro board here in D.C. voted to do that a week ago,
What I hate about DC metro is the parking lots that require the $10 card but don’t (or didn’t last year) have signage stating so clearly.
And the latest government a$$rape? In Dallas, they are planning on charging for the use of the HOV lanes. Doesn’t that defeat the f-ing purpose?
Yes, we are about to undergo a fare increase here in the DC Metro area. Of note, though:
“The Metrobus fares will remain at $1.25 per trip if riders pay with
a SmarTrip card. However, if bus riders pay with cash, the fare will
increase by 10 cents from $1.25 to $1.35.”
[tinyurl.com]
@Beerad: Expensive or not, it’s more expensive that it should be. The guy whose job it is to look left and right before the door closes gets paid $50k – $60k and has ridiculous benefits and early retirement (half salary after 20 years). I am not even sure if a GED is required to do what he does.
Heck, they get paid more then NYPD!
The best $2 I spend everyday is on my subway ride to and from work. Keep up the good work
Here’s a little tip to people who are somehow upset by the editor’s choice of topics: IF YOU AREN’T INTERESTED IN THE SUBJECT OF A POST, AS INDICATED BY THE HEADLINE, DON’T READ IT.
I don’t understand why you would actually spend extra time whining that you don’t like the article writing up a bitchy comment rather than spending the .2 seconds of mental power to say “Huh, New York, not interesting to me… next article!”
Then again, I just spent a minute of my time feeding the trolls, so hey, who am I to criticize.
If you’re truly being hosed and miffed that your situation isn’t garnering appropriate coverage, try that handy tips link up on the side of the page. No guarantees, but at least you’ll have tried. I doubt Meg is reading local media from Orange County or DC about their respective fare hikes.
@gorckat: Yes, that’s the tourist tax. Another great coup for DC Metro: piss off the city’s tourists! Bonus: parking only costs $4 or so (not sure what it is now), so the tourists that are forced to buy the $10 card are invariably left with a useless card that still has unused credit on it. Brilliant!!!
@Stan LS: Proof please. I highly doubt that with comparable seniority and experience an MTA subway conductor and an NYPD officer earn the same amount.
And besides, are you really complaining that $2.00 (less, with pay-per-ride discount) is too much for fast (usually) service from nearly any point in NYC to any other point, regardless of how many miles actually traveled? Those subway car upgrades don’t pay for themselves, you know.
@ErnieMcCracken: I third this. Effing metro — yes, it makes so much sense to raise the fares ridiculously high on car commuters from the burbs — that’ll increase use of public transit!
Really, if I lived way out in MD or VA, I’d just drive, because most parking is like $10/day in the district, and you gotta figure with parking being almost $5 and the metro being almost $5, screw metro!
@gorckat: Smartrip is only $5, but I know your pain.
@chaitea: I love this, because I hate getting on the bus after 10 people paying cash — hopefully it’ll encourage some people to buy a Smartrip, now, and save us all time. Wouldn’t it be great if we got a discount on the metro, too?
@Beerad: Why should we expect public transit to make a profit when we don’t expect our roads to do the same?
@Beerad: Can’t speak for others, but my overall point is that NYC’s fare hike is really small (or even nonexistent) especially when compared to the rest of the world. I really don’t care whether Consumerist posts about DC’s fare hikes–our local news covers that just fine. I’m just giving some “color” to the forum so others understand that this is not just a NYC situation, and NYC residents are not getting that raw of a deal comparatively speaking.
Of course, if Albany had agreed to congestion pricing earlier this year, the Federal Gov’t would have given the MTA $500 million, and they could have kept fares exactly where they were. It’s fair though, those guys driving their BMW’s in from Greenwich, CT need it more than those of us who can’t afford cars, what with gas prices soaring so high.
Did that sound bitter? It tasted bitter…
@kimsama: I’ve done the calculations. Compared to the metro parking and fares: driving and parking in downtown DC including gas, insurance, depreciation on the car, etc. comes out just about even. A slight benefit goes to Metro if you miss one day of work but pay for a monthly parking pass. That “slight benefit,” however, is essentially nullified by Metro’s awful service, slow single tracked trains, overcrowding, and inconvenient locations (unlike NY, subway stops are often MILES apart in the DC area). What did DC rank in traffic congestion this year? Was it third worst in the country? This place is a joke. I’d give my right arm to have the NY subway system superimposed here.
@pda_tech_guy:
Wait, Orange County has buses?
@Beerad: Who’s complaining about car upgrades??? Look at these salaries TWU:
Bus or Subway Operator US$63,000
Subway Conductor US$54,000
Station Agent US$51,000
Cleaner US$40,000
$54k? Retirement after 20 years? 20 days vacation? All that sounds reasonable to you for a guy to look left, right, close the doors and announce stations?
shit I wish we had a system like that in Atlanta, MARTA (atlanta’s version of a metro system) worst. system. ever.
As a point of comparison, a two-hour all-zone (gets you out to the suburbs) ticket on Portland, OR’s transit system (valid on buses, light rail, downtown streetcar, but not the boondoggle aerial tram) costs $2.05. We’ve got a good transit system for a city this size, but it’s nowhere NEAR as complex and far-reaching as NYC’s. So, dollar for dollar, y’all are still getting a bitchin deal.
If the point is that they’re disproportionately charging heavy users more, well, duh. Heavy users are more likely to have little or no other transportation option. They’re captive consumers, so of course they’re going to charge them more.
@Beerad: $54k in NYC considering the cost of living, transporting hundreds of thousands daily…safely, not to mention dealing with bums who deficate on the train. $54k is underpaid in my book. You actually think all they do is look left, right and close the doors and announce stations?
@ptkdude: I don’t expect public transit to make a profit at all. I’m one of those “crazy liberals” that thinks paying taxes that are used to fund public goods and programs is a good idea.
@Stan LS: I’m sorry, that’s not proof. You could have pulled those numbers out of thin air. Please reference a document that shows how much a subway operator with 20 years experience makes, and one that shows how much a police officer with 20 years experience makes. And, to answer your question, I think it’s crazy at all that the guy in charge of making sure people don’t get crushed to death because the subway takes off while they’re stuck in the door, and does that for 8 hours a day for 20 years makes $54,000 dollars in New York City.
@kimsama:
Oh, yes. I find myself getting more and more impatient with delays
caused by people who fumble with correct change, and fare machines that
stubbornly spit out perfectly legal tender over and over again.
I’m also fundamentally incapable of keeping track of transfers, and my SmarTrip card does all the heavy lifting for me.
@LynchMob1232: Hey, I’m on your side. Don’t get me confused with Mr. “we should be paying people in charge of subway safety minimum wage.”
@LynchMob1232: Train operators deliver them, janitors clean up, there are cops in the subway who deal with bums. You are making it sound like its a one man show. Tell me what else they do, then. I ride the subway every day. All they do is, look left, look right, close the doors – and if you are lucky they’ll announce the station. Its not a high skill professional. Screw the union, let the market dictate teh salary.
1.For all those nonNYCers, $81 might not seem a lot for a monthly card, until you consider that it was $63 not five years ago–so, it’s a huge increase in a relatively short amount of time.
2.Also, New York receives, per person/rider, WAY less federal and state money for public transportation than anywhere else in the country.
3. Consumerist is probably covering this because, um, you know New York is the largest city in the country.
4. Last but not least, service has become worse and worse and worse, and the people who run the MTA more corrupt. So we are rewarded with less service, dirtier trains, incompetent employees, more crime in the system, and a not-small increase in what we pay for all that.
Rant done!
@Beerad: Argh, proofreading for the win. That’s supposed to be not crazy in that last windy sentence there.
@Beerad: Okay. Here ya go:
[www.nytimes.com]
“According to the authority, the average subway or bus operator earns nearly $63,000 per year. The average subway conductor earns about $54,000. The average station agent earns about $51,000. A subway cleaner earns about $40,000.”
Here’s some perspective -
[www.nysun.com]
“The starting salary for a NYC Transit train operator is $52,644 a year, before overtime. In the new contracts that the city’s municipal unions negotiated this year, the starting salary for a New York Police Department officer will be $25,100 a year, which goes up to $32,700 after six months. A New York City firefighter’s starting salary will be $25,100 and sanitation workers will get $26,000 to start.”
“I think it’s crazy at all that the guy in charge of making sure people don’t get crushed to death because the subway takes off while they’re stuck in the door”
Blah, blah, blah… Let’s give janitors six figure salaries, after all ,they are responsible for the platforms not being slippery and people not breaking their legs or falling onto the tracks. Face it, its a slow skill job. Let the market determine the salary.
@Stan LS: Totally. During the strike, when all those numbers were bandied about, I was like, “They make what to do what and they can retire with a pension at how many years? No college degree neccessary? I’m in the wrong business!”
One last thought, can’t they make up the shortfall through proceeds from “Operation Lucky Bag?”
[consumerist.com]
Wow those guys get paid a lot.
San Francisco fares go up every year too.. Sucks considering a lot of their buses smell like urine.
I can’t complain because my company partially subsidizes my metrocard and the rest is taken out of my check before taxes, so really a $5 hike is like, maybe $3 more per month.
And $54,000 in New York City is considered Lower Middle Class, at best.
@ediebeale: Agreed!
I’m already pissed that the unlimited cards are so expensive! And the subways never got better, it got worse! And the smells, my god the smells! The city gives them so much money and the freakin’ MTA claims they are making the system better by introduction new trains full of pork. I don’t want a train that has announcements and LED displays, I just want a train that actually works and is clean. I envy those other countries’ metro systems, at least they try to make public transportation an un-nauseating experience.
If I wanted corruption and pork, I would look to the government for that. It would be great if the MTA was controlled by a government body, rather than some “board of directors.”
@Electroqueen: If nothing else, I wish that the MTA board was appointed by the City, not a bunch of hillbillies in Albany (Spitzer notwithstanding).