Outyear Budget Deficits Narrowed By $198 Million In Past Year
Authority Proposes to Simplify Fares to Amplify Affordability
Three Hybrid Public Hearings to Be Held in August
Any Fare Increases Postponed Until Jan. 2026
View July Financial Plan Board Presentation
View Fare and Toll Update Board Presentation
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today released its July Financial Plan showing continued balanced operating budgets for 2025 and 2026 and narrowed deficits in 2027 and 2028. Over the last year, the MTA has narrowed the deficit by $198 million. Robust summer ridership on the subway and railroads and has resulted in higher fare revenue projections this year. And overall operating expenses are below the amount that had been budgeted. The July Financial Plan reaffirms the Authority’s previously forecasted $500 million annual cost savings beginning in 2025.
This July Financial Plan remains broadly in line with budget details announced in November and approved by the MTA Board in December. The July plan forecasts approximately $50 million less in deficits for Fiscal Year 2027 and 2028, totaling $98 million. This is in addition to the $100 million announced in November, totaling $198 million less in deficits than this time last year. The projected deficit for Fiscal Year 2029 is $428 million. These funding shortfalls are in large part due trip growth in Paratransit.
The MTA today also proposed a series of fare and ticket policy changes designed to simplify the array of offerings in order to accentuate the affordability of New York City Transit’s subways and buses, the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), the Metro-North Railroad. These changes are pursuant to the 2025 Budget approved by the MTA Board in December 2024. Updates are designed to simplify the fare structure and allow customers to automatically receive the best possible value. They accompany modest proposed fare and toll rate increases that keep pace with inflation, as they have every other year since 2009.
If approved by the MTA Board in the fall, the changes would go into effect in January, 2026.
“I’m proud that the MTA, by far America’s biggest and busiest transit agency, also remains the most financially stable thanks to strong summer ridership and ongoing efforts to fight fare evasion,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “Kudos to Governor Hochul and our partners in Albany, and also to the MTA team that has found ways to save $500 million per year, even as we continued to increase subway, bus and commuter rail service.”
“The MTA is managing expenses by meeting operating efficiencies and reducing outyear deficits,” said MTA Chief Financial Officer Jai Patel. “We’ll continue to make smart financial decisions while providing reliable service customers can count on.”
“The ticket policy changes proposed today round out our efforts first launched in 2022 when we introduced fare-capping, and other fare promotions, to modernize our payment system and make navigating NYC’s transit system easier and more affordable,” said MTA Chief Customer Officer Shanifah Rieara. “We shared our plan to finalize the tap-and go rollout, which is how 75% of subway and bus riders are already paying their fares; and on the railroads, these fare policy proposals offer clearer options and better savings – encouraging more travel with greater flexibility.”
Proposed Fare Policy Changes For New York City Transit Subways and Buses
Complete Transition to “Tap-and-Go” and Retire the Unlimited MetroCard Passes.
The 7-day rolling fare cap, which allows customers to pay for 12 rides in a 7-day period and automatically ride free for the rest of the week with no pre-payment required, would become permanent. At the proposed base fare, no customer would pay more than $36 for subway and local bus rides in a week; reduced-fare customers would pay no more than $18 in a week.
Fare capping would also be extended to the express bus network on a promotional basis. During this promotion, express bus riders would never pay more than $67 for unlimited express bus, local bus, and subway rides in any 7-day period.
With fare capping available to all subway, bus, and express bus customers, the 7-Day, 30-Day, and Express Bus Plus Unlimited Ride MetroCards will no longer offer substantial financial savings and will no longer be sold. Customers will still be able to pre-load funds onto an OMNY card for unlimited travel using the fare cap. Unlike with MetroCards, any unused funds will roll over. More than 75% of subway and bus riders are already using their contactless debit/card, mobile wallet or OMNY card to pay their fare.
Tap-and-go Would be Required for All Subway, Local Bus, and Express Bus Rides Once MetroCards Are No Longer Accepted as Fare Payment
Cash and coins would continue to be accepted at card vending machines in subway stations and at one of the 2,700 local businesses that sell OMNY cards. Retail locations can be found via this map.
For the MTA, coin collection on local buses is inefficient and if it continues, would cost the agency $14 million annually to operate and maintain. Eliminating coin collection would also allow teams to fully deploy proof-of-payment on buses and conduct thorough fare enforcement.
Proposed Rates
Under the fare rate proposed, the base fare for subways, local buses, the Staten Island Railway and Paratransit would rise 10 cents to $3.00. Express bus fares would rise to $7.25, from the current $7.00. The reduced-fare would remain at half-off the base fare, rising from $1.45 to $1.50. Single-ride tickets on subways and buses will increase to $3.50 from the current $3.25. The fee for a new OMNY card would increase to $2 when the MetroCard is no longer accepted for fare payment later in 2026. To view the full NYC Transit fare table under the proposal, see here.
Proposed Fare Policy Changes for LIRR and Metro-North Ticket
More Flexible Ticket Offerings
A new promotional Day Pass for unlimited travel would replace the Round-Trip ticket. The Day Pass would be valid on the day of purchase until 4 a.m. the following day. On weekdays, the Day Pass would cost 10% less than two one-way peak tickets; on weekends, it would cost the same as two one-way off-peak tickets. Unlimited Day Passes are also available for CityTicket and Far Rockaway ticketholders, priced at $14.50 in the peak and $10.50 in the off-peak.
A new promotional discount would be available for mobile customers. After 10 peak or off-peak trips in 14 days, mobile customers would get an 11th peak or off-peak one-way trip for free in the same zone combination in the same 14-day period. Unlike today’s 10-Trip, which would be eliminated, this new fare product would not require customers to pre-pay for 10 tickets to receive a discount and introduces a new discount for 10-Trip peak customers. 71% of customers already purchase their tickets via the TrainTime mobile app.
Reduced Fare is Always Available
A promotional reduced fare product would be available all day, every day for seniors, people with disabilities, and Medicare recipients, even in the morning peak period.
No Need to Activate Tickets
The MTA is eliminating the need for customers to activate tickets after purchasing. All One-Way mobile tickets would auto-activate upon purchase, and the ticket would expire after four hours. Paper tickets would also expire four hours after purchase.
Customers Can Buy Before Boarding to Avoid the Onboard Surcharge
The surcharge for tickets purchased onboard, whether from a conductor or the TrainTime app, would increase by $2. Customers who repeatedly purchase mobile tickets onboard would be penalized after an escalating series of warnings.
Proposed Fare Rate Changes for LIRR and Metro-North
For the commuter railroads, a proposed increase of up to 4.4% would apply to monthlies and weeklies. All other ticket types would increase up to 8%, with no fare increasing more than $2. To view the full LIRR proposed fare table see here. To view the full Metro-North fare table under the proposal, see here.
Given a 10% discount applied to monthly tickets in 2022 and suspension of the fare increase in 2021, the current cost of a monthly ticket is about the same price of a monthly ticket in 2019 when adjusted for inflation. Monthly ticket fares will not exceed $500.
The Off-Peak CityTicket would go from $5 to $5.25 and the Peak CityTicket from $7 to $7.25. These proposals also apply to the Far Rockaway ticket. The Peak CityTicket and Far Rockaway ticket, which are currently promotional, would become permanent fare products.
Base fares for Metro-North's West-of-Hudson services, the Pascack Valley Line and Port Jervis Line would increase by 4.4%.
Proposed Toll Increases for Bridges and Tunnels
Modest increases are proposed for all nine Bridges and Tunnels facilities for both E-ZPass and Tolls by Mail rates. For the RFK, Whitestone, Throgs Neck, Verrazzano Bridges and the Queens-Midtown, Hugh L. Carey Tunnels the proposed toll would go from $6.94 to $7.46. The Henry Hudson Bridge would go from $3.18 to $3.42 and Cross Bay and Marine Parkway Bridges would go from $2.60 to $2.80.
Next Steps
A series of hybrid public hearings will be held on August 19 and 20. To view more details on the public hearings, see here. The registration for the public hearings and the online comment portal is open as of today at mta.info. Additional opportunities for the public to comment in-person in September at various regional satellite locations will be announced at a later date. After considering public comment, the MTA Board will vote on these proposed fare and toll changes, which would go into effect January, 2026.