The board voted to keep the base fare at $2.75 while eliminating the 5 percent bonus riders receive when buying a pay-per-ride MetroCard. Commuters who rely on the authority’s sprawling network will also see fare and toll increases of about 4 percent.
On April 21, the price of a weekly MetroCard will rise to $33, up from $32. A monthly pass will increase to $127, up from $121.
The fare increase vote comes as state lawmakers decide whether to approve new revenue streams for the system. Transit leaders say they need billions of dollars to tackle budget deficits and to pay for repairs.
The board has approved modest fare increases every two years, but this is the first one since the subway descended into crisis in 2017. Without additional funding, transit leaders say they could be forced to make service cuts.
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In addition to a fare increase on the commuter railroads, the tolls on MTA bridges and tunnels will increase March 31. For E-ZPass users, the toll on most crossings will rise by 36 cents.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is pressing for congestion pricing, a proposal to toll cars entering the busiest parts of Manhattan to raise money for the transit system. Cuomo, a Democrat who controls the authority, has warned that without congestion pricing, the authority might have to raise fares by 30 percent.
The push for congestion pricing got a significant boost Tuesday when Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his support for the proposal. In a joint plan, Cuomo and de Blasio also called for two new revenue sources for the transit system: a cannabis tax and an internet sales tax.
But a group of Senate Democrats representing Long Island said they had “troubling concerns” about congestion pricing and argued the plan was too focused on the subway and did not do enough to benefit the Long Island Rail Road.
The fare and toll increases are expected to raise about $336 million each year, but only about half of the authority’s $16 billion operating budget comes from fares and tolls. The rest comes from dedicated taxes and state and local subsidies and other revenue.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.