NY subway riders could get 2nd holiday fare break

By Joan Gralla

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York City’s subway riders might
get end-of-year holiday fare discounts two years in a row
because surging real estate tax collections have helped produce
a fat surplus, agency officials said on Tuesday.

The discounts — which would stretch from Thanksgiving to
New Year’s — would, for example, give subway and bus riders 3
extra days if they buy a $76 MetroCard, explained an official
with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of
New York, who addressed a finance committee meeting.

Not all of the 7 million people who ride New York City’s
subways and buses every day can afford a $76 electronic fare
card, and riders who purchase a 7-day card would get one extra
day, the official explained.

Suburban commuters from Long Island and Connecticut would
be offered similar fare discounts, as part of a broad effort to
unsnarl the city’s notorious holiday traffic jams and encourage
the use of mass transit.

The MTA, which runs New York City’s subway, bus and
commuter lines, wants to spend a total of $100 million on these
fare discounts in 2005 and 2006.

Estimates for the agency’s surplus keep growing: it now is
expected to hit $700 million or so, the MTA official said.

In July, that surplus was projected at $481 million, after
the agency decided to use $350 million or so of its extra cash
to close future budget gaps, according to a staff memo that was
released.

Though the MTA board meets on Thursday, it is not required
to approve the discounts, explained Tom Kelly, MTA spokesman.
They will be discussed, however, and the board does have the
power to block them, he added.

The MTA board will not, however, take up other proposals
for using the rest of the surplus until mid-November.

Those plans include using the cash for some of the agency’s
capital program and paying down some of its pension
liabilities.