Attention, MetroCard swipers: the cost of a ride will definitely go up in 2013, MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota told NBC New York in an exclusive interview Friday.
“How sure is that? It’s going to happen,” said Lhota, a former deputy mayor to Rudy Giuliani who took the reins of the money-starved agency late last year. He confirmed that previously speculated fare hikes in 2015 and 2017 will also happen, and that all of the jumps will be about 7.5 percent.
While the exact fare increases haven’t been calculated, transit officials expect the base subway and bus fare, which is now $2.25, to rise to $2.50. MTA tolls would also go up; a 7.5 percent hike on a $6.50 toll means an increase to about $7.
But the chief executive, who takes the No. 2 train every day from his home in Brooklyn and calls himself “rider/chairman,” told NBC New York there are other, more creative ways to make money and begin chipping away at the MTA’s $40 million budget gap.
“We’re trying to look for every place that we possibly can where we have foot traffic, where we can actually have retail operations,” said Lhota, strolling through an empty corridor near the Times Square shuttle at Grand Central.
Only yards away, gleaming new shops have begun to deliver regular returns to the MTA through rent, and a percentage of sales.
“There are thousands of people who come in here on the weekends just to go shopping,” said Lhota.
The chairman acknowledged that the tight budget requires him to re-brand the way people think about the MTA.
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2 Responses
How about cutting wasteful spending?? Naaa, why would they do that.
@Mark:
They won’t, because some geniuses still think unions are beneficial. Until there are normal workers, with salaries on par with the amount of work they do, tolls, fares, and – most of all – the wasteful spending will continue to go up and up, with no incentive for them to go down.
Maybe boycott one of the bridges one day…I think there were a couple of people who tried paying the Verrazano (sorry about the spelling) toll with pennies the last time the fares went up. Not such a bad idea.