Ridership plummeted more than 90 percent on subways during the height of the pandemic, and riders have only slowly begun to return in recent months. A FARE INCREASE OF 4 PERCENT Transit officials said fare and toll increases of 4 percent are in store, and will not be as large as the rate of inflation.
Warns of Fare Increases and Service Cuts as Budget Crisis Looms.
Now, ridership is down 75 percent from pre-pandemic levels.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-yorks-mta-urged-to-spare-regular-transit-commuters-from-fare-raises-11603831166.
Our new Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Mr. Cuomo has urged state lawmakers to pay for that plan by approving congestion pricing, a proposal to toll drivers entering the busiest parts of Manhattan. At the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge — already one of the country’s most expensive crossings — where tolls are collected only when entering Staten Island, the E-ZPass toll could rise to $12.44, up from $11.52, and the toll via mail could increase to $19, up from $17.
Changes to service will mean straphangers will have to wait eight minutes for subway trains at peak hours, and buses will come every 15 minutes.
“We don’t want to go down this route,” Mr. Byford said.
At the same time, tolls on M.T.A.
Log in for unlimited access. If board members accept the proposals, the authority will hold public hearings across the city pending a board vote on any fare and toll increases early next year. The authority’s board is considering two options for fare increases of about 4 percent in March: The first would keep the base fare at $2.75, but end the bonus for buying a pay-per-ride MetroCard; the second would increase the base fare to $3 and double the bonus to 10 percent. The projected fare and toll increases would raise $145 million in 2021 and rise to $650 million by 2024, according to the report. The MTA received $4 billion from the federal government earlier this year but has asked for an additional $12 billion.
The board will vote in January about whether to raise fares and tolls in March and by how much.
Projections for passenger revenue have dropped by $485 million through 2022, he said. In 2019, the authority raised tolls by 6.3%. What to Know.
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“Any projections are problematic at this point,” DiNapoli said, referring to mass transit ridership.
This is in addition to the layoffs employees will be hit with.
The MTA was set to increase fares by 4% in 2021 and 2023 but may boost that to a 5% hike. The revelation over potential fare increases came the same week that Amazon was promised nearly $2 billion in incentives from the state to locate a headquarters in Long Island City, Queens. Which is why itâs in the national interest for the federal government to provide the $12 billion in funding, and itâs only the federal government that has the solvency and capacity to bail out the MTA,â Foye said on "Mornings On 1.". MTA staff are expected to present their proposals to the board in November.
Overall, the MTA proposes a 40 percent drop in service should it not get federal assistance.
NBC New York's Katherine Creag reports. “The original understanding was he would just help out for a period and then do his substantial work that he’s doing in the private sector,” Mr. Cuomo said.
Increased cleaning and disinfecting of the subway, rail and bus systems — which has included the rare step of closing subways overnight — is costing the MTA about $1 billion in unplanned expenses, DiNapoli said. “It’s anathema to me.”, M.T.A.
The plan paints a bleak picture for riders: Wait times would increase by eight minutes on the subway and 15 minutes on buses; Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North trains would run at 60- …
Average weekday ridership on the MTA’s biggest fare-revenue generator, the New York City subway, is around 1.8 million passengers, down about 70% compared with October 2019. Should it not get the help it needs, New Yorkers will see service reductions, fare hikes and increases in tolls. It’s not special because this fare increase proposal is ... in dire fiscal straits even with the planned fare hikes next year and in 2021. Officials blamed the drop on competition from Uber and other ride-hail apps, and on night and weekend closings for construction work that are needed to fix the system.
The MTA’s nine toll bridges and tunnels have been one of the few bright spots for the MTA. Traffic at toll bridges and tunnels also dropped steeply. They are urging Mr. Cuomo to instead pass a comprehensive transit funding plan in Albany with congestion pricing at its core.
Without new revenue or significant service cuts, fares might have to rise by an additional 15 percent in the coming years to address the agency’s growing deficits. The state-controlled Metropolitan Transportation Authority began a process of biennially raising fares and tolls a decade ago. The transit agency, which is still struggling to fix New York’s sputtering subway, needs an influx of new funding to avoid serious consequences for subway and bus riders, officials said. Mr. Schwartz, an ally of Gov. The agency needs $12 billion in funding to get through the remainder of 2020 and 2021. The changes will come quickly. And that’s obviously a big ‘if.’ A lot is still to be determined.”, Even if normal ridership returns by 2023, the MTA still projects budget deficits totaling more than $19 billion through 2024, according to DiNapoli’s report. The previous fare and toll increase, in 2019, aimed to raise an additional $300 million annually, often by increasing prices for regular riders.
Transit officials in New York should avoid raising prices on regular subway, bus or rail riders as they consider fare increases over the coming months, according to a … In 2010, the price of a monthly MetroCard jumped by 17 percent to $104 a month. Transit ridership plummeted after the pandemic hit the region in March. Mr. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio courted Amazon and have celebrated the decision, but the incentives have been widely criticized by local leaders. NYU Survey: 1 in 4 Transit Workers Contracted COVID-19, Iconic NYC Subway Map Now Appearing Live On a Smartphone Near You, Copyright © 2020 NBCUniversal Media, LLC.
Write to Paul Berger at Paul.Berger@wsj.com, Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. âIâm concerned that if the MTA doesnât get the funding, and the state and the city donât get the funding, that we are going to be on the precipice of another great depression.
Included in that is a projected $6.3 billion deficit in 2021, which would be more than 50 percent of total revenues. The specifics of the proposed increases weren't immediately available and won't be … The MTA on Wednesday said it plans to increase fares by 4 percent each in 2019 and 2021. A monthly pass could increase to $127, up from $121. According to a report on Bloomberg.com, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) will run out of money in August if the U.S. Senate does not approve the economic stimulus measure that would provide about $3.9 billion to the agency, Chairman Patrick Foye said.
Most monthly passes on the Long Island and Metro-North railroads rose by 3.9%.
The authority expects growing deficits of $510 million in 2020, $816 million in 2021 and $991 million in 2022, Robert E. Foran, the agency’s chief financial officer, said Thursday.
[What you need to know to start your day: Get New York Today in your inbox]. Mr. Cuomo announced Mr. Lhota’s departure last week, even though last month Mr. Lhota had responded to questions about whether he was leaving by saying that his term ended in 2021.
Without another stimulus effort from Washington, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is prepared to decide on "draconian" service cuts and layoffs after sounding the alarm for months of a multi-billion dollar shortfall brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are considering all options while we undertake a thorough analysis of equity impacts of proposed policies so they do not disproportionately impact any one community,” an MTA spokeswoman said Tuesday. "No one at the MTA wants to do this, and it's in the interest, frankly, of the New York City regional economy, but also the national economy that we get this funding since the New York economy accounts for about 10 percent of economic activity across the county," Foye said.
At the same time, the agency’s debt is expected to reach more than $42 billion by 2022. bridges and tunnels could increase by 8 percent for E-ZPass users. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8, Appeared in the October 28, 2020, print edition as 'Official Backs Sparing Regular Riders a Fare Boost.
Facing budget shortfalls after the 2008 recession, major fare increases and service cuts were approved. “It reminds me — I have to include something very special in his stocking for the holidays,” Mr. Ferrer said.
We canât lose $200 million a week indefinitely," said MTA Chairman Pat Foye in an exclusive interview with NY1. It has returned slowly as many office workers continue to work remotely and as the city’s tourism and entertainment sectors continue to operate at a fraction of their capacity. It is uncertain whether additional money for transit assistance will be included in future COVID-19 stimulus bills. The agency has raised fares every two years at a relatively modest rate as part of an agreement with the State Legislature. Asked why Mr. Lhota resigned so quickly — just before the debate over fares — the authority’s acting chairman, Fernando Ferrer, joked that Mr. Lhota had left him in a difficult situation.
"Our estimate, if we had to make the service cuts that we described a couple of months ago, up to 50 percent on Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North, up to 40 percent on subways and buses, laying off about 8,000 people," Foye told WCBS 880's Steve Scott.
MTA commissioners will face tough choices in the coming months between competing aims to raise revenues and to coax anxious riders back onto the transit system during a pandemic.
The authority appears to be in its worst financial shape in a decade. On Thursday, Mr. Byford said he would continue to press state and city leaders for new funding and wanted to avoid severe cuts to subway and bus service.