MTA Begins Public Hearings On Plans For Toll And Fare Hikes
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The MTA will begin public hearings Monday evening on its plans for toll and fare hikes next year.
Among the proposals is raising the base fare on the MetroCard from $2.50 to $2.75 while increasing the bonus on a pay-per-ride MetroCard.
A second proposal would keep the base fare the same, but eliminate the bonus. Under both plans, the weekly and monthly MetroCards would cost more.
MTA Begins Public Hearings On Plans For Toll And Fare Hikes
The proposed hikes, announced last month, would take effect next March. The MTA said its board may modify the proposals before voting on them in January.
The agency has published a table that includes details of the proposed changes. Click here for more information.
"The heart of our message is that there are bigger fish to fry this time," Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign, a watchdog group, told WCBS 880's Peter Haskell.
Russianoff said he's more concerned with the agency's $32 billion capital plan.
"You can't have a good subway system with crappy trains and buses and poorly maintained tracks," he said.
One hearing public will be held Monday in Manhattan at Baruch College's Performing Arts Center.
The other will be held in the Bronx at Hostos Community College's theater on the Grand Concourse.
Both begin at 5 p.m. For more information on Monday's hearings as well as upcoming dates, times and locations, click here.
"I think it's very important to make your voice heard so that they realize that there are people who are being impacted by this," Rusianoff said.
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