MTA plans fare and toll hike in 2027 after January increase
Morning rush-hour commuters crowd the platform in Mineola. A fare increase scheduled for August was delayed until June, creating planned hikes in back-to-back years. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp
New York commuters could be in store for fare hikes in back-to-back years under the MTA’s latest financial plan, adopted Wednesday.
The document, approved by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board at its monthly meeting, includes plans for a 4% fare and toll increase in 2027. It would follow a separate 4% rate hike coming next month.
Adhering to its usual schedule of raising rates every other year, the MTA was due to for a fare and toll hike this year. But rather than implement the new rates in August, as originally planned, the MTA postponed them to January, in part to align the rollout with the discontinuation of the MetroCard. After 30 years, the MTA plans to stop sales of the magnetic stripe fare card in January.
Addressing reporters after the meeting, MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber confirmed to a Newsday reporter that the delayed implementation of the rate increase, which was approved by the board in September, could "technically" result in rate increases in subsequent years — 2026 and 2027.
"This is the 2025 fare adjustment that we’re implementing right now," Lieber said. "We’re following our every-two-year approach."
Also approved as part of the MTA’s latest financial plan was the agency’s $21.3 billion annual operating budget, which will go toward funding day-to-day costs, including employee wages.
MTA Chief Financial Officer Jai Patel said, adjusted for inflation, the MTA's operating cost are less than they were in 2019. She said the balanced budget was the result of "strong support" from state lawmakers and "aggressive" cost efficiencies from the MTA.
"We’re closing out 2025 on a strong financial foundation maintaining tight expense controls as ridership and revenues continue to improve," Patel said.
Leading all MTA agencies in bouncing back from its pandemic-era ridership lows is the Long Island Rail Road, which is now back to carrying 92% of the passengers it carried in 2019 — a year in which it set a 70-year record with about 91 million customers. City subways are back to about 85% of pre-COVID ridership, and Metro-North is at 88%, according to the MTA.
Lieber said the forthcoming fare changes, which include a drastic reduction in validity periods for some LIRR tickets, aim to address "unintentional" and "opportunistic" fare evasion from riders who don't activate electronic tickets so they can save them for the future if a ticket collector never comes around to check them.
"We're adjusting that so everybody has confidence that this is a fair system where everybody is paying their fair share," Lieber said.
Check back for updates on this developing story.
Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
