By Jordan Heller
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — New Yorkers are poised to add "fare hikes" to the adage about the certainty of death and taxes when the MTA board meets Thursday to vote on its latest proposal to increase its coffers.
Chief among the items that the MTA board will vote on is a $15 increase for 30-day Unlimited MetroCards, which will bring the cost of a monthly subway pass to a whopping $104.
In addition to the higher cost for a monthly pass, the MTA board is expected to approve a number of other fare hikes. All told, the increases are expected to bring in an additional 7.5 percent in revenue. Also on the agenda for Thursday's board meeting:
— Increasing the cost of a single ride from $2.25 to $2.50.
— Increasing the cost of a 7-day Unlimited MetroCard from $27 to $29.
— Decreasing the bonus on pay-per-ride MetroCards from 15 percent to 7.
— A $1 surcharge on every purchase of new MetroCards, penalizing riders who opt not to refill old cards. Unlimited cards would be refillable.
— Eliminating the 1- and 14-day Unlimited MetroCards.
— Increasing the cost of a 7-day Bus Plus MetroCard from $45 to $50.
— Increasing the buy-in for a pay-per-ride MetroCard from $8 to $10.
In a letter to the board dated Oct. 5, MTA Chairman Jay Walder said it has not been easy keeping to the 7.5 percent revenue increase agreed upon with state officials in 2009.
As part of that deal, the MTA received a bailout package from Albany that included the Payroll Mobility Tax and other new revenue sources.
"Although the tax revenue associated with this strategy has been far less robust than originally projected, the MTA has kept its commitment to hold to the 7.5 percent revenue increase," Walder said in the letter.
