Your monthly Metro Card could cost almost $170 in ten years, according to a new report.
The MTA raised subway and bus fares 8.4 percent in 2011 and 2013—and the Independent Budget Office analyzed how much fares would cost over the next ten years if the same trend continues every two years.
In 2023, a weekly Metro Card would cost $45, and a monthly card will shoot up to $168. The base fare would increase to almost $4 a swipe, at $3.75 by 2023.
The increase is much higher than inflation, which is projected to be 2.7 percent per year through 2023.
“These fares are too damned high,” griped Gene Russianoff, of the Straphangers’ Campaign. “These fare hikes will burn the riders, and discourage them from using mass transit. And it’s just not sustainable in the long-run.”
He called for Albany to provide greater support for the MTA to protect straphangers from fares going up.
MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg said that it’s impossible to predict how much revenue and expenses the MTA will have in upcoming year.s
“This report is purely hypothetical,” he said. “It’s just way too early to say what’s going to be in 2015 and 2017. It’s simply saying this is what has happened in the past, and extrapolating forward, this is what could be in the future.”
He also noted that the MTA is already saving money by cutting $800 million a year out of its operating expenses since 2009—and is on track to eliminate $1.3 billion a year by 2017.
Lisberg said the agency still has to face costs that are out of its control, such as pension and health care contributions, as well as fuel costs.