The MTA's various fare hikes are starting to go into effect next month (aka tomorrow). Tomorrow, Long Island Railroad and Metro-North fares are going up. Bridge and tunnel tolls are going up on March 16. And the doozy will be the NYC Transit subway and bus fare hikes which go into effect on Sunday, March 2. Expect tons of confused riders and weary MTA workers on Monday and for the next few weeks.
The base fare of $2.00 will remain the same, but pay-per-ride and unlimited Metrocard costs will go up. Instead of a 20% bonus added to $10 pay-per-ride cars, there will be a 15% bonus for $7 pay-per-ride cards (4 rides for $7, averaging $1.74) and leaving unusual leftover amounts that will encourage people to hold onto their Metrocards. If you have a pay-per-ride card with money on it, you can still use it after the hike but it must have more than $7 to get the discount. The Daily News has this handy guide explaining the remainders.
As for the unlimited cards, the 1-Day Fun pass is now $7.50 (up from $7), the 7-day unlimited is $25 (up from $24), and the monthly is now $81 (up from $76); a new 14-day card will be introduced, at $47. And for those of you wondering what to do with your unlimited cards that won't expire until after March 2 - including those of you who are trying to stockpile pre-hike cards - the MTA is allowing a grace period (end date, TBD) as long as travel begins before March 10. Be warned: The MTA will be monitoring how many of these cards are in the system.
And the MTA has been putting up signs reminding everyone about the fare hike, but not on platforms - outside the turnstiles by token booths. If we ran the MTA, the sign would be a less subtle, like, "YO, THE FARE HIKE IS MARCH 2" in red, maybe with some arrows, exclamation points, a hazmat symbol, and, duh, an image of a Metrocard.
