Bus and subway riders, brace yourselves: your pockets may take another hit next June when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority implements a double whammy of fare and toll hikes along with extensive service reductions.
The cuts, announced at an executive board meeting Thursday, will eliminate the entire downtown W and Z subway lines and portion of the M line, as well as a portion of the G line in Brooklyn and Queens. On lettered lines, the frequency of service between the morning and evening rush hours will decrease from every eight to every 10 minutes, and service between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. on all lines, including the 1, will decrease from every 20 to every 30 minutes.
Riders can expect more crowded trains, longer waits, and extra transfers to reach their destinations. Subways will be cleaned less often, many station booths will be closed, and more than 2,000 jobs will be eliminated.
The details of the fare hike have not yet been announced, and may not be until February, MTA spokesperson Aaron Donovan said. The MTA will increase its fare and toll revenues by 23 percent this year—and by an additional 5 percent in January 2011—but no details are available on how the hike will be distributed. The new fares will take effect in June.
“Nobody wants either—nobody, including the MTA,” said Wiley Norvell, communications director for the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, when asked about the fare hike and service cuts. “The fare hikes are coming at the worst of all times. Transit is what people lean on in thin times, and adding to expense and cutting service at the same time is a real doomsday scenario.”
The last fare hike took effect in March, and the latest hike would be only the second time in MTA history that fares have increased in consecutive years.
The size of the latest hike means that a base fare increase is likely, and the Daily News, based on interviews with anonymous MTA officials, speculated that the base fare will rise to at least $2.50, and potentially even $3.
“I find it outrageous that they aren’t able to coordinate one catastrophe with another,” Roland Smith, CC ’11, said of the combined fare hikes and service cuts. “It’s sloppy planning.”
Donovan called it “an unfortunate necessity,” and that given the MTA’s financial state, it would be impossible to continue with current fares and service levels.
“This isn’t the sort of thing that can be fixed with a one-time cash infusion,” Norvell added. “This is a result of a structural financial problem.”
The MTA is required by law to balance its budget annually, and has called on the state and federal governments to provide additional funding to alleviate the need for the drastic measures proposed this week. This month, the projected MTA deficit increased to $1.2 billion.
“A generation ago, we cobbled together money for the MTA based on the idea that everyone who benefits from transit pays for it,” Norvell said, citing that drivers benefit from less congestion and property owners benefit from increased real-estate values in the city. “Riders are going to have to pay more, unfortunately, but they shouldn’t be the only ones paying more.”