Expect a howl-fest royale next week when the MTA board meets to hike bus and subway fares, effective come March.
Truth is, riders will be getting a bargain.
Obviously, no one (least of all New Yorkers) likes paying more . . . for anything.
But mass transit isn’t free. It needs a considerable, steady cash flow — or it will slip into long, slow decay, a la the ’70s, and may drag the city down with it.
Planned years ago, March’s fare hikes — hate ’em or not — are reasonable. Indeed, MTA boss Joe Lhota has clearly minimized the pain.
Reports suggest that the board is likely to boost the base fare by a quarter, to $2.50.
The 7 percent MetroCard bonus would be trimmed to 5 percent, but the now-$10 minimum needed to get it would drop to $5.
Meanwhile, the weekly MetroCard price would rise a buck (to $30); for 30-day cards, $8 (to $112). Overall, revenues rise by about 7.5 percent, in line with 2009 plans.
Why are fare hikes necessary?
Well, for starters, prices of everything always go up. (Remember that old hobgoblin, “inflation”?) When MTA costs jump, money’s got to come from somewhere.
In this case, fare and toll hikes will cover just 38 percent of the projected $4.6 billion in extra MTA costs in coming years.
The lion’s share of that bill, by the way, is for debt-service payments and for perks for employees — like pensions, set to soar 7 percent through 2015, and health care, heading up almost 10 percent.
If straphangers want to direct their anger at anyone, they might consider the labor bosses at the Transport Workers Union, who demand the juicy perks.
In any case, the agency’s choices for the hikes are sound: Rather than keep the base fare at $2.25 and raise everything else drastically, MTA brass would bump it up a quarter, while holding down other rates.
That would benefit the most riders — since most trips are paid for with 7-day, 30-day or pay-per-ride cards.
Any way you cut it, though, New York buses and subways will still be a good deal.
Consider: Fares today, which average (after discounts) $1.62 a trip, cover only about half the actual operating cost. That’s just $1.08 in 1996 dollars, far less than the $1.50 fare charged at the time.
Fact is, inflation-adjusted fares have been falling for years — even as New Yorkers enjoy more miles and hours of service than just about anywhere else.
No doubt, the hikes will hurt — particularly for those riders struggling amid tough economic times and/or Sandy hardships.
But a top-rate transit system is vital.
And it’s got to be paid for — somehow.