NY subway riders could get 2nd holiday fare break
Posted on: Tuesday, 25 October 2005, 18:50 CDT
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.
Source: REUTERS
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