The Metropolitan Transportation Authority proposed a fare and toll increase that would raise bus and subway fares from $2.90 to $3 and could take effect in January. The proposal eliminates the unlimited-ride 30-day MetroCard pass as OMNY replaces MetroCard, and includes major Long Island Rail Road changes, cutting some ticket validity from 60 days to four hours. Public hearings began and many riders said the increase will worsen fare evasion because more New Yorkers cannot afford transit. MTA officials defended a pattern of small, predictable biennial increases to maintain service and avoid large hikes.
Transit riders are speaking out against the MTA's proposed fare and toll hike, which they said would only worsen the agency's fare evasion problem, if more New Yorkers can't afford to pay for their train or bus.
Although some of the biggest fare policy changes are proposed for the Long Island Rail Road - including the reduction in validity period for some tickets from the current 60 days to just four hours - speakers at Tuesday night's hearing in Brooklyn were primarily concerned with potential changes to New York City bus and subway fares. The cost of a bus or subway ride will climb 10 cents, from $2.90 to $3, under the plan.
"Are you delusional?" speaker Emmanuel Rafael Vásquez-Rodríguez, a John Jay College student, asked the panel of MTA officials during his Zoom testimony. "Every day I am late to work. I am late to school. ... There's always a flood. There's always a brake emergency. There's always a power outage. And you're expecting me to pay more?"
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