MTA To Offer Discounted Fares During Holiday Season

The MTA wants to give straphangers an early holiday gift, and while it won't come wrapped in a bow, in may lighten the load during an expensive time of the year. In a memo, MTA executive director Katherine Lapp recommends a holiday promotion that would include half fares on the weekends from through ThanksgivingNew Year's and during the entire last week of December for those who use pay-per-ride cards.

Those who use a monthly MetroCard during the holiday season will get four free days and those who purchase a weekly MetroCard will get one free day. There would also be a special holiday MetroCard good from November 23 through New Year's Day – a total of 39 days for the cost of a 30-day MetroCard. “I guess it gets people back in town, everyone needs to ride the subway anyway. It's a great idea,” said one straphanger. “It's a fantastic idea, it's about time. It's about time they're helping us out for a change,” added another. “Sooner or later they're gonna raise the price anyway. So at least we get a little break in the meantime,” added a third.

“Ten years ago we were begging the authorities to use the surplus to benefit the riders, and so the fact that the MTA itself is thinking of these kinds of rewards for its long-term customers is a good sign about the agency, and that it wants better service and more security is absolutely critical,” said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign. The agency is doling out the cash from a larger than expected surplus that could reach $1 billion. The agency also plans to spend $100 million dollars on security improvements and $450 million on shoring up the agency's pension fund. The MTA's board still has to approve the holiday gift, but it is expected to pass.

It's not clear how any of this will affect fare increases planned for 2007. Meanwhile, the MTA may be trying to ease the burden on riders, but there's no mercy for anyone who sells swipes on MetroCards. Many New Yorkers have been approached by a swiper trying to make a profit off an unlimited MetroCard by selling access through a turnstile.

Starting Wednesday, the offense becomes a class B misdemeanor and one that could land illegal swipers in jail for up to 90 days. New York City Transit says swipe selling costs the city about $10 million a year in revenue.

Source: NY1