MTA Finance Committee Approves Fare Hike

NEW YORK, NY [NY1] — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority finance committee voted today to approve higher fares for subway, buses and commuter trains, two days ahead of the full board’s vote.

The agency has threatened that unless Albany lawmakers come up with a bailout plan by Wednesday, the fare hikes and service cuts will take effect.

The full MTA board will take a final vote Wednesday, with the service cuts and fare hikes taking effect June 1st.

Governor David Paterson says the agency should not delay any action.

“This was a deadline that was set and was known to all parties and delaying action to me would just ring too true of what’s going on in Albany too many times,” said Paterson. “Obviously, at some point, if we could work something out, it could perhaps prevail on the actions that are going to be taken, but I’m not in favor of delaying any action that was scheduled.”

The vote comes as the MTA announces it is scaling back an unpopular plan to raise fares on van service for disabled riders.

The agency is no longer considering hiking Access-a-Ride fares from $2 to $5.

Transit officials say the new plan would raise the fare from $2 to $2.50 – the same as the proposed one-way fare hike on buses and subways.