Commuters board in Peekskill
NEW YORK – The Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board approved a new fare scheduled for the Metro-North Railroad and New York City transportation services on Wednesday.
Since 2009, the MTA has considered and implemented fare and toll hikes every other year.
The new fares on Metro-North will see an increase of four percent; however, Metro-North Committee Chairwoman Susan Metzger, who represents Orange County, said West-of-Hudson riders will see a two percent increase.
Service on the Port Jervis and Pascack Valley lines pay a combination of MTA, NJ Transit and PATH policies, thus the reason to keep the increase at two percent.
Metzger said no one wants to see fare and toll hikes, but they are essential
to fund the appropriate level of service for its ridership.
“None of us has ever wanted to raise the fares, but inflation keeps moving on and since we have had this two-year cycle, we have managed to pretty much reflect what inflation is,” she said.
Metzger voted for the increased fares and tolls.
Rockland County Metro-North Member Carl Wortendyke voted against the new rates because of the continued value gap.
”It’s probably $30 to $40 million that just keeps coming every year and we don’t get anything for that in Rockland,” said Wortendyke, who voted against the hikes. “We have had letters go back and forth between my county executive and the top people at the MTA and year after year, nothing seems to happen.”
The increase on monthly and weekly tickets on West-of-Hudson service will be capped at 3.75 percent and no more than $15. Other ticket types increase over a wide range due to rounding to 25-cent increments; however, any increase more than six percent is 50-cents or less per trip.
The new fares kick in on Sunday, February 19.
