Text size:

Poll: Board supports fare hike

By Marlene Naanes, amNewYork Staff Writer and Steve Ritea | MNaanes@am-ny.com

December 18, 2007

If you hope the MTA board will reverse the fare hike during its final vote Wednesday, quit expecting a Christmas miracle.

A poll of the board by amNewYork and Newsday Monday found that a majority of members who can vote support the hike, which means straphangers will shell out more for unlimited ride MetroCards and receive less of a perk on bonus cards by early March.

Eight of 14 votes appear secured in favor of a fare hike, the poll found. Although the board has 22 members, only 13 get full votes, and three others share a single vote.

Seven board members with full votes said they support the increase: H. Dale Hemmerdinger, John H. Banks, Barry Feinstein, Jeffrey A. Kay, Mark D. Lebow, Mark Page and Francis H. Powers.

amNewYork determined the eighth vote in favor by getting statements of tentative support from Susan G. Metzger and James L. Sedore, who with Carl Wortendyke will share a vote.

Wortendyke voted Monday to pass the plan through the finance committee.

Finance chair Andrew Saul voted against the plan. Member Mitch Pally is also opposed to the hike.

The remaining voting members could not be reached for comment or have said they remain undecided.

The plan would increase the 30-day pass from $76 to $81 and the seven-day pass from $24 to $25. The bonus on a pay-per-ride MetroCard would be reduced from 20 percent to 15 percent, but the minimum amount to qualify for a discount will be lowered to $7 from $10.

Commuter rail fares and tolls will also increase. All hikes would take effect by early March.

The MTA originally proposed raising Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North, subway and bus fares, as well as bridge tolls, by an average of 6.5 percent, now lowered to 3.85 percent. But last month, Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced that the agency has found $220 million in additional revenues that will be used to freeze the $2 base subway and bus fare, and stem some proposed increases in other fares.

Only 14 percent of subway and bus riders pay the base $2 fare, but MTA officials argue they are among the poorest customers and are least able to afford an increase.

A bipartisan coalition of state and city lawmakers has asked the board to postpone its vote until April in hopes the State Legislature could find enough money to prevent a hike.

"I think it's a mistake to go ahead with the fare increase now," Saul said Monday, saying legislators should be given time to make good on their word. "I think this takes the pressure off them."

MTA Chief Executive Elliot Sander has said waiting could be unwise, considering the agency is already asking the state for $1.5 billion during the next two years to finance operations and various projects, and stalling could lead to larger increases.