Cost to Ride Metro-North Goes Up For Most, Not All Of The HV

There's one thing Hudson Valley residents love to commiserate and complain about: how much it costs to ride the train. Well, the complaints will be divided east and west of the Hudson River.

The MTA board approved fare hikes at a meeting Wednesday morning, and riders on the Harlem, Hudson and New Haven lines will take the hit.

However, riders on the Pascack Valley and Port Jervis lines will not have rate hikes. That's nice, because it's been a bad year for commuters from Orange and Rockland counties.

As part of their Positive Train Control work, NJ TRANSIT eliminated two of the four Metro-North express trains on the Pascack Valley Line in June 2018, along with a third train on Pascack Valley and four trains on the Main/Bergen (Port Jervis) line.

Plus, service on both lines has been plagued by equipment failures and shortages, staff shortages and other issues that have negatively impacted service over the past several years.

"I am pleased that the MTA Board has acknowledged the plight of our commuters by agreeing to not raise fares in Rockland and Orange Counties," said Rockland County Executive Ed Day. "I thank Metro-North President Catherine Rinaldi for entertaining my request for the fare waiver, and am grateful to those MTA Board members who advocated for us. Now there is more work to be done, and the first priority must be NJ TRANSIT's restoration of the trains they eliminated nine months ago."

Riders on Metro-North will see a 3.85 percent increase in prices for weekly and monthly tickets, to a maximum of $15 on monthly tickets and $5.75 on weekly tickets. Other commuter rail fares will increase a maximum of 6 percent or 50 cents per ticket, whichever is greater.

In New York City, there is no change in the basic MetroCard fare, but a 5 percent increase in the 30-day pass. A 7-day pass goes up 3.1 percent.

Bridge and tunnel toll increases vary, but typically amount to about 36 cents per crossing.

Board member Neal Zuckerman said Metro-North should do more for riders from Putnam and Dutchess counties, whose NYC commutes are at the top of the price scale, Westfair reported. “In the business world, those who spend the most are the best customers,” he said.

MetroCard bonuses will also disappear next month under the fare hike plan. The plan keeps the base subway and bus fare at $2.75 but will eliminate the 5 percent bonus for buying at least two rides.

The prices of unlimited MetroCards will rise next month from $32 to $33 for seven days and from $121 to $127 for 30 days.

The board approved the plan after taking an extra month to review alternatives to the fare and toll hikes it has imposed every two years since 2009. That delay cost the beleaguered MTA $30 million that it will never make up, Acting MTA Chairman Fernando Ferrer said.

The plan is "painful in some areas, but it is fair and it keeps us afloat financially, and that's an important thing," Ferrer said.

Also, MTA bridge and tunnel toll increases go into effect March 31.

The increases were necessary to stave off financial trouble for the MTA, officials argued. The agency would face a $1.6 billion budget deficit if the planned hikes were not implemented this year and in 2021, Chief Financial Officer Robert Foran said in November.

The approval came after Gov. Andrew Cuomo — who controls the MTA — and Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled a joint plan to boost the agency's revenue by more than $1.4 billion a year through congestion pricing and taxes on marijuana and internet sales.

With reporting by Noah Manskar