MetroCard Bonus Will Disappear In April As MTA Hikes Fares

NEW YORK — MetroCard bonuses are set to disappear in April under a fare hike plan the MTA Board approved Wednesday. The plan keeps the base subway and bus fare at $2.75 but will eliminate the 5 percent bonus for buying at least two rides starting around April 21.

The prices of unlimited MetroCards will rise next month from $32 to $33 for seven days and from $121 to $127 for 30 days. Most Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad riders will also see varying price increases depending on the type of ticket they buy.

The board approved the plan after taking an extra month to review alternatives to the fare and toll hikes it has imposed every two years since 2009. That delay cost the beleaguered MTA $30 million that it will never make up, Acting MTA Chairman Fernando Ferrer said.

The plan is "painful in some areas, but it is fair and it keeps us afloat financially, and that’s an important thing," Ferrer said.

The increases were necessary to stave off financial trouble and service cuts for the MTA, officials argued. The agency would face a $1.6 billion budget deficit in 2022 if planned hikes were not implemented this year and in 2021, Chief Financial Officer Robert Foran said in November.

The approval came a day after Gov. Andrew Cuomo — who controls the MTA — and Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled a joint plan to boost the agency's revenue by more than $1.4 billion a year through congestion pricing and taxes on marijuana and internet sales.

The MTA also unveiled a slate of operational reforms on Wednesday — largely in line with Cuomo and de Blasio's plan — that aims to cut costs and streamline the agency's massive bureaucracy.

The MTA's operating agencies, including New York City Transit, which runs the subways and buses, have submitted consolidation plans and have a mandate to find $500 million in recurring savings, according to a press release announcing the changes.

The transit authority plans to consolidate its accounting, marketing, engineering, procurement and other functions. It also will end any consulting relationships that it finds unnecessary and will save $75 million by cuttting outside vendors' and contractors' hourly rates by 10 percent, the press release says.

Another effort will target fare evasion, which the MTA says has a cost of about $215 million a year. Working with district attorneys, the state and the city, the agency will work to prevent fare-beating and increase enforcement rather than criminalizing it, the MTA said.

Transit officials have touted improvements in subway service in recent months. Weekday on-time performance increased to 76.7 percent in January from a dismal 58.1 percent in the same month last year, the MTA said. NYC Transit President Andy Byford has also launched an initiative to safely speed up trains.

But board member Andrew Albert questioned the wisdom of eliminating the MetroCard bonus at a time when ridership is falling because of still-struggling service and the growth of ride-hailing apps. He suggested giving straphangers unlimited use of their cards for two hours after they first use them.

"New Yorkers who are economically challenged are buying the bonus MetroCard as their card of choice," Albert said.

Other board members, though, said the MTA would face even bigger problems if the fares were not hiked.

"I don’t think anyone relishes this vote today, but I think it’s important to keep this agency running," said board member Polly Trottenberg, who is also the city's transportation commissioner.