With the approval of its budget yesterday, the MTA officially raised the rates on subways and buses, MTA bridges and tunnels, and commuter rails. While the increase in fare was inevitable after both Governor Spitzer and Mayor Bloomberg approved of them, the big news today is how the MTA is actually going to bring in extra money with the bonus scheme on the pay-per-ride Metrocard for subways and buses. The base fare for a ride remains at $2, but starting March 2nd, 2008 bonuses will be 15% instead of the current 20%.
What does that mean for the riders? Messy math. Because the 15% increase will result in odd and unusable fractional fares, it's possible that riders will throw those cards away, which would effectively be giving free money to the MTA. Riders could even end up with as little as 5¢ on their card! To prevent this, you can buy cards in extremely inconvenient amounts to end up with an even dollar figure on your card. Reader wickedced came up with this formula:
$17.39 = exactly 10 rides
$34.78 = exactly 20 rides
$51.27 = exactly 30 rides
$69.60 = 40 rides + 4 cents
$87.00 = 50 rides + 5 cents
Since the MTA is being a pain, you can only add money in multiples of 5¢, which is where this handy dandy Metrocard bonus calculator is useful. Now if someone could only write a program for cellphones. The Times came up with a handy print-and-go chart (pictured) if you want your fare calculus in dollars, not rides. Other ways around this: you can keep adding funds to the card to build on your nickels, send a Metrocard back to the MTA to get a refund, or talk to a station attendant to get leftover money onto a new card. But what will all the tourists do with their leftovers?!? Somehow we suspect that's a lost cause and that there will be enterprising people combing discarded Metrocards for spare change.
The subway and bus fare hike means a 7-day pass will cost $25 (up from $24), a 30-day pass will cost $81 (up from $76) and a new 14-day pass will cost $47. Additionally, tolls will go up 3.8% and MTA commuter rail rates will go up 3.76%-4.25%. Many riders are bitter since this is the 3rd increase in fares since 2003 with some Long Island rider costs increasing nearly 30% over that period!
In a pre-hike move to possibly stem rider displeasure, some politicians called for a "Riders' Bill of Rights" to go along with the increase in fares. Councilman John Liu and Councilman Bill de Blasio penned the bill, which looks more like a Christmas wish list than something that's practical:
1. Affordable fares
2. Regular, on-time subway service
3. Immediate, accurate notifications of service changes
4. Accurate assistance in finding alternative means of transportation when service is interrupted
5. Clean trains and platforms
6. A working and understandable public address system
7. Well-trained, helpful station and train personnel
8. Working pay phones and access to cellular phone service in stations
9. A user-friendly MTA Web site that can support heavy traffic
10. A safe environment with police presence and bright lighting
While it would be great if the MTA could satisfy all these "rights," we're just hoping for about half. Any more than that would just be wishful thinking.
Photograph of a Metrocard vending machine by phil h on Flickr
