In Shift, Fare for the Subway Will Stay at $2

NEW YORK, NY — Gov. Eliot Spitzer abruptly announced yesterday that he was shelving a plan to raise the base subway fare, saying that an unexpected increase in ridership and other revenues have made it unnecessary.

Increases in the price of unlimited ride MetroCards, commuter rail tickets and bridge and tunnel tolls are still likely, the governor said. But he said that the increases over all would be much smaller than those proposed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which had sought a total increase of 6.5 percent from fare and toll revenue.

“We are trying to maintain a fare that is affordable, especially today when there is concern about our economic future and the impact of raising the fare would be very real,” Mr. Spitzer said at a morning news conference.

The announcement means that the base subway and bus fare will remain $2 through the end of 2009. The authority had proposed raising the rate to $2.25.

The announcement comes as polls show Mr. Spitzer’s popularity at an all-time low, primarily because of his now-abandoned plan to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. The governor had remained mostly silent about the fare plan since it was released in September, while the authority’s board faced angry crowds at hearings that drew hundreds of people.

Mr. Spitzer said that the timing of the announcement was unrelated to his political problems and that transit officials had received new revenue data in the past several days suggesting that the fare increases could be softened.

The decision was made Monday night, and the governor’s staff quickly arranged for a press conference yesterday morning.

“The $2 is staying constant, which we think is the benchmark that people look at and understand as the defining price,” Mr. Spitzer said.

Elliot G. Sander, the authority’s executive director, also hinted that one of the more unusual ideas proposed in September — charging subway and bus riders a lower fare to travel during non-rush hour periods — might be abandoned because of negative public reaction.

The authority will release a new fare plan in the next two weeks, detailing the revised increases. The authority board will vote on the plan on Dec. 19. If it approves the increases, they will take effect early next year.

The most recent budget forecasts indicate that the authority will finish this year with $220 million more than projected. That includes savings from lower-than-expected debt payments and other reductions in expenses, as well as slightly higher revenue because of an uptick in ridership and income from real estate taxes, officials said.

If the governor was hoping for an immediate political boost from his announcement, it may not materialize, at least based on initial interviews with riders.

That may be in part because most people do not pay the base fare; according to data collected by the authority, only about 14 percent of subway and bus trips are paid at the $2 rate. Nearly 50 percent of rides are paid for with either weekly or monthly unlimited ride MetroCards.

Thirty-six percent are paid for with pay-per-ride MetroCards, which give riders a bonus of one extra ride for every five rides purchased. It was not clear yesterday whether that 20 percent bonus would be changed.

“If they’re not hiking the $2 rates, there’s some way it will come out of our pocket,” said Ellene Wundrok, a real estate broker from Flushing, Queens. “The tourists might benefit. They’re the ones that buy the $2 fares, not people who live in the city.”

Some riders suggested that Mr. Spitzer’s poor political standing had driven his decision.

“It’s been rough for him since he’s been governor,” said Joseph Rivera, 20, a graphic design student from Brooklyn. “He hasn’t had too much positive publicity lately. This might have been an attempt to step into a positive spotlight.”

But Mr. Rivera said that riders might react angrily once the authority announces what the increases in other types of fares will be. “This has the potential to backlash on him,” he said.

The authority declined to say how much it expected the average increase in fares and tolls to be under its revamped plan. But an analysis of its data suggests that the increase, in total, would be about 4 percent.

The authority’s original plan envisioned a range of possible increases. Most commuter rail fares were expected to increase no more than 8 percent, for example. Under one version of the plan, the cost of a 30-day MetroCard would have risen to $79, from $76.

Yesterday’s development also received a measured response from state lawmakers and transit advocates who have opposed the fare increase. Many of them have called on the authority to postpone any increases until next April, to give the state government a chance to come up with the money to prevent the increases.

“It’s a big step in the right direction, but it’s not the end of the debate by a long shot,” said Richard Brodsky, a Democratic state assemblyman from Westchester County, who has argued that the state should pick up a larger share of transit costs, rather than asking riders to pay more.

Also yesterday, Mr. Spitzer publicly promised, for the first time, to substantially increase state subsidies to the authority’s operating budget in the future. The authority’s financial plan calls for the state and local governments to contribute an additional $600 million a year to finance operating expenses, beginning in 2010.

“We are talking about a 2010 commitment of $600 million, shared with the city,” Mr. Spitzer said. “That is an enormous commitment that we have made, that I have made, and we will be good for.”