Spitzer Plan To Hold $2 Fare Would Hike Costs for Most

The cost of a MetroCard swipe could rise in January for almost 85% of subway and bus riders, even though Governor Spitzer yesterday ordered the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to hold the base fare at $2 at least until 2009.

Mr. Spitzer's proposal, which allows for a hike in ticket prices on all discounted MetroCards, is drawing fire from MTA board members and elected officials who say his plan would benefit tourists and force commuting New Yorkers to shoulder the load of the transit authority's looming financial deficits.

"This is not good enough for me," an MTA board member who opposes a fare hike, Mitchell Pally, said in an interview. "Why is the $2 fare so sacrosanct? The impact on the seven-day fare and the 30-day fare, those to me are more important."

Weekly, monthly, and discounted MetroCards account for 84.9% of subway and bus ride swipes. Mr. Spitzer's plan also allows for a fare hike aboard the commuter railroads.

Mr. Spitzer's plan "might come at the unfortunate expense to average New York City commuters who depend on unlimited passes for their daily commute," Council Member Simcha Felder, a Democrat of Brooklyn, said in a statement.

In anticipation of budget gaps beginning in 2009, the MTA in February proposed a fare hike and toll increase that would generate $262 million next year. The proposed increase would raise the base fare to $2.25 and increase the cost of weekly and monthly passes by about 6.5%.

Fare hikes and toll increases, which can be damaging to politicians in opinion polls, are often instituted at the beginning of a governor's term, when re-election is far on the horizon. Less than a year into his term, with his approval rating at a new low, Mr. Spitzer appeared to have his public image in mind yesterday in announcing that he was saving the base fare.

Earlier this week, Mr. Spitzer abandoned his proposal to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, as well as his plan to require Amazon.com and other online retailers to charge sales taxes on all purchases from New York. Mr. Spitzer said the decision to save the base fare was made after updated MTA budget forecasts showed the agency earned an additional $60 million from fare collections than was expected, and $60 million more from higher than expected real estate taxes. The agency also reported that it had saved $60 million due to spending cuts, and $40 million because of debt service costs. Sounding a note of caution, the executive director of the MTA, Elliot Sander, said the savings were a "one-shot availability of funds" that the agency could not count on in the future.

State lawmakers yesterday called the decision to hold the base fare a partial victory.

Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday that it was too early to say whether the city's appointees to the MTA board would vote for Mr. Spitzer's plan in December.