MTA Seeks Fifteen Cent Fare Hike By Labor Day
The fare hike will be subjected to scrutiny during public hearings in June, and is not final. It is projected to increase the agency’s fare-raised revenue by 4 percent. The OMNY unlimited ride pilot will be expanded from an exclusive Monday-to-Sunday deal to any consecutive seven day period.
| 22 May 2023 | 05:11
The 34th St.-Herald Square subway station. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. (
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In the biggest proposed fare hike since 2015, the MTA is seeking to increase subway and buss fares from $2.75 to $2.90 per ride.
Express bus fees for journeys from the outer boroughs to Manhattan would jump from $6.75 to $7 per ride. Measured in the context of a weekly-pass fare increase, this would increase subway and bus costs from $33 to $34 and bus fees from $62 to $64. A thirty-day unlimited MetroCard would jump by five dollars to $132.
Express bus fees from the outer boroughs to Manhattan would jump $6.75 to $7 per ride.
The fare hikes will be either praised or contested in a public hearing in June, approved or denied in July, and will take effect by Labor Day in September right after Labor Day, according to the MTA plan.
In a boon for fans of the unlimited weekly ride deals OMNY rolled out, these seven-day swipe bonuses will be expanded from the exclusive province of Monday-to-Sunday to any seven-day consecutive period.
The hikes are intended to raise four percent in revenue for the underfunded agency, a compromise from the five-and-a-half percent increase Governor Kathy Hochul initially sought. The one-and-a-half percent difference will be made up by a $65 million dollar infusion to the agency included in the state budget.
The MTA recently revealed that fare evasion led to a $690 million budget shortfall for the agency in 2022. That figure is expected to jump to $1 billion in 2023.