Proposed Fare Hike Would Add to Overall Rise in Living Costs

NEW YORK, NY — No wonder straphangers feel like they can’t get a break.

The MTA says its proposed fare and toll hikes are the equivalent of modest cost-of-living increases.

But rising costs for everything from MetroCards to milk show why riders are upset with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s proposed fare hikes.

At $24, the price of a weekly unlimited-ride MetroCard is 41% higher than 2002. One MTA proposal would add $2.

Five years ago, a New York homeowner on average shelled out about $960 for oil through the winter. This winter’s tab is about $1,800 – a 90% jump, Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) office said.

A gallon of milk was $2.99 five years ago. Now, it’s about $4 – a 33% rise.

Annual tuition at CUNY was about $3,200 five years ago. It’s now about $4,000

“Clearly, the typical New Yorker is being squeezed like never before by living costs that are rising far faster than wages,” said James Parrott, deputy director and chief economist at the Fiscal Policy Institute.

The median family income and consumer price index have risen about 18.5% in the city over the last five years, he said – and that doesn’t include expenses like out-of-pocket health care costs.

Service workers have seen wages drop when adjusted for inflation, said Matt Nerzig, spokesman for the Services Employees International Union Local 32BJ, representing cleaners, doormen and porters.

“The fare hike is unfair because it disproportionately hurts low-wage workers who count on mass transit to get to work,” Nerzig said.
MTA spokesman Jeremy Soffin said the bus and subway system is a bargain.

“Thanks to MetroCard discounts, the average fare … is actually lower than in 1995,” he said.

Gov. Spitzer, who appointed MTA CEO Elliot Sander and Chairman Dale Hemmerdinger, said his goal is to make sure the system runs well, provides quality service, expands as needed and “that we do so at a price that people can afford.”