MTA Hearings On Fare, Toll Hike Begin Tuesday In Lower Manhattan

GRAMERCY, NY — The MTA will host the first of eight public hearings Tuesday for commuter feedback on two proposals to hike fares and tolls by 4 percent in 2019.

One option would keep MetroCard fares at $2.75 but axe the cash bonus. Seven-day MetroCards would rise from $32 to $33 and thirty-day cards would go up from $121 to $127, according to the MTA.

An alternative would boost the base MetroCard fare to $3 and hike cash bonuses from 5 percent from a $5.50 purchase to a 10 percent bonus with a $6 purchase. Weekly MetroCards would still rise to $33 but monthly cards would see a slightly smaller jump to $126.25, said the MTA.

Either scenario would reach a 4 percent fare and toll hike over the next two years and draw in $308 million in new annual revenue. A raise to bridge tolls either by 4 or 8 percent is also on the table, according to the MTA.

The increases will take effect in March 2019 — the sixth such hike for fares and tolls since 2009.

But the beleaguered transit agency is in the middle of a budget crisis and will still face a nearly $1 billion deficit in 2022 if hikes in 2019 and 2021 go through — a figure that could skyrocket to $1.6 billion if the increases don't happen, according to transit officials.

The agency's financial future has only grown bleaker as its projected income from fares, tolls and taxes has grown slimmer and service cuts loom.

MTA officials committed to fare hikes every two years in 2009. The last increases came in 2017, when the authority kept the base MetroCard rate but raised prices for weekly and monthly MetroCards, commuter railroads and tolls on bridges and tunnels.

The authority's board will have the final say on the hikes and is expected to vote on the increases in December.

Tuesday's public hearing at Baruch College in Gramercy is the first of eight to gather customer feedback in each of the five boroughs, Long Island and in Westchester and Rockland counties.

To register to speak or to view the full lineup of hearings visit the MTA's website.

Manhattan fare and toll hike hearing on Tuesday, Nov. 27

Baruch College, Mason Hall, at 17 Lexington Avenue. Enter on 23rd Street.

Hearing begins at 5 p.m. Registration period from 4-8 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Spencer Platt/Getty Images