By Philip Newman
Transit officials say straphangers will still face fare increases in 2015 and 2017 but the hikes will cost riders only about half as much as originally planned.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said it had decided to reduce the increases from 7.5 percent to 4 percent, with resulting savings for transit riders and bridge and tunnel users of $905 million from 2015 to 2017.
MTA Chief Financial Officer Robert Foran said the transit agency plans to recoup some the financial loss through heavy cost reduction throughout the transit system.
“We wouldn’t come forward with a presentation like this if we thought there was a low likelihood of doing it,” said MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast at an MTA Board meeting Wednesday.
Prendergast said he realized that fare and tolls, which had increased four times since 2008, were approaching a “breaking point.”
Foran said the improved financial situation at the MTA was the result, to a great extent of increased proceeds from fares and tolls and from real estate taxes. The fact that more than 30,000 transit workers have worked under a contract that expired nearly two years ago was also a major factor.
The MTA Board will vote on the plan at its December meeting.
