MTA revises proposed fare hikes, following public feedback
Credit: Marc A. Hermann / MTA on Flickr
The MTA is scaling back part of its planned fare hikes in response to feedback from riders, transit advocates, and elected officials. On Saturday, the agency announced that after a six-week public outreach period that collected nearly 1,400 comments, the fare cap for seven days of unlimited travel on subways and buses will go up by $1, to $35, instead of the originally planned $36. After 12 trips in any seven-day period, customers get unlimited free rides the rest of the week. The cost of a single ride, however, is still expected to increase from $2.90 to $3.
The MTA has also changed the expiration policy for Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North tickets. Instead of the previously planned four-hour window, all one-way mobile and paper commuter rail tickets will now expire at 4 a.m. the following day.
Additionally, the MTA is expanding the “family fare” program, which allows up to four children to ride commuter rail lines for $1 each with a fare-paying adult. The program will now cover children 17 and under, up from the previous limit of 11, and will be valid at any time of day, seven days a week.
A planned 4.4 percent fare hike for the Metro-North’s West of Hudson service, including the Pascack Valley and Port Jervis lines, has also been canceled.
The MTA announced its latest fare hikes in July, which were originally slated to go into effect in August but were delayed until January to allow for a required public comment. According to the agency, this outreach period saw 1,378 comments from customers, gathered through in-person and online sessions.
The delay also better aligns with the final phase-out of the MetroCard and the full transition to the OMNY tap-and-go system. The MTA plans to stop selling MetroCards by December 31, with retail partners such as bodegas and drugstores ending sales this fall. Riders will still be able to use MetroCards through 2026, as 6sqft previously reported.
Additional comment sessions were held at 22 locations across the MTA system, including subway and commuter rail stations, as well as mobile sales vans. Feedback was also collected through an online portal, phone hotline, email, and the postal service.
According to the MTA, the agency received four times as many public comments following its July fare hike announcement as it did during its last fare increase in August 2023, when the base fare rose five percent, from $2.75 to $2.90.
The MTA board is scheduled to vote on the revised fare changes on Tuesday.
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