When I went to fill my MetroCard at the machine today, it said credit cards couldn't be processed. Talk about adding insult to injury. Lucky me, I can try again tomorrow.

New Yorkers heading to work today were greeted with higher subway and bus fares, along with steeper bridge and tunnel tolls. The MTA rolled out its latest round of increases over the weekend, and disgruntled straphangers and drivers weren't shy about letting us know how they felt.

A 30-day MetroCard now costs $112, up from $104. The base fare rose a quarter to $2.50. In addition, it now costs $1 to purchase a new card, but you can avoid that fee by refilling your current one, or turning in an expired or damaged card. Cash-paying drivers also saw $1 increases on most MTA bridges and tunnels.

What's your reaction to these latest increases? Will they change the way you commute? Are the rising costs of living in New York City making you consider a move out of town?

Send your thoughts using the link above.

Hi John,

Another day, another dollar for the MTA.
There is no choice, we have no voice.
All we do is PAY.

Marie, Bay Ridge

John,

I'm not going to be run out of town by the MTA, the PA, Cuomo or Bloomberg.
But they should be run out of town. All government owned transportation operations should be sold to the highest bidder and operated as a business on a free market. Nothing will ever be fair and right as long as the government is in control.

Joe
Port Richmond, SI

It's inevitable that we get these increases, and hard to argue about them -- unless someone wants to compromise either safety, or service, or both.

Bruce
Upper West Side
Manhattan

John,

Ny is one of the 10 top expensive cities in the country. The changes in the fare will curtail my traveling by public transportation. When I turn 65 next January, I am seriously thinking about relocating some where else. This is no place for people on a fixed income.

Jeanne
Brooklyn, NY

I am MAD, its too much advantage on commuters. WHY MUST OFFICIALS OF THE MTA BE ALLOWED TO RAISE UP ON FARES, it's too much to bear. Where all the money going? ????, they always complaining of financial problems, something is wrong, the mta needs to be audit. Their workers getting lots of benefits doing nothing much, cut their benefits to save money, they don't deserve it. The bus drivers don't come on time, the workers don't even know the answer to a question ask by commuters. They are also very rude

RuthAnn
Queens

Hi John,

Why is it that we can never see the proof. Show us the books and tell us why we are only being told year after year that they are running in the red. [WE ARE PAYING] How can this continue to just become a standard excuse for these outrageous increases. We the public are just a cash cow for every agency. We have all of these added taxes on every bill we get in the mail and no one explains what the taxes are for. They just cry the blues and never consult us because everything these politicians do is behind closed doors and their minds are always made up and to continue to torture us by making us believe the town hall meetings if you will are just a farce because they just rubber stamp everything time after time and we become the culprits.

Thank you John,
maxxiee
mp

Raising commuter, bus and subway fares? Hiking tolls? It's a case of M-T-A, as in Money Taken Away by local and state politicians, who have systematically crippled the MTA's finances by withholding operating and capital funds since 1995. The agency has been forced to borrow heavily to pay for capital projects, and then raise fares and tolls to pay down that debt, which totaled $31.4 billion as of November 2012, according to documents on the MTA website (www.mta.info/mta/investor/pdf/2013/debt_outstanding.pdf).

If the politicians keep ducking their responsibility to adequately fund the MTA, they'll bankrupt the agency and permanently damage the region's economy.

PETE FROM MANHATTAN

The MTA has raised transportation cost that effects all of us New Yorkers in which I find quite disturbing. This is not the time with so many out of work and many of us finding it increasingly hard to make ends meet. We the commuters are having our pockets pick and its' all legal. The 1% are getting richer while the 99% are getting poorer. The billionaire list just came out today and their are those including our own Mayor Bloomberg who are worth more than they were a year ago. Well what's that all about ? Something is really wrong.

Frederick
Queens

Geez things are getting pretty rough here in New York City aren't they? But I guess that is to be expected in a State filled with disinterested, indifferent and self-absorbed people just looking to hold onto theirs.

Eileen
Rockaway Beach Queens.

The want you to pay however no increase in pay. We can not feed our families. Then they want to give life to criminals that steal for money to feed. They government make crime what it is today. They shame a working man into crime. Some men rather see jail cells then watch heir family go hungry and homeless. Even for a day they rather suffer the repercussion.

Shanita

This is just another hand in the pockets of the Poor and Middle Class. In this stretched economy it is amazing how the MTA is hitting us with a "fare increase". With this Sequester looming over our heads we don't know where the ax will fall, but they have no problem with squeezing a little more blood from the poor and middle class who are already struggling.

Theresa
Upper Westside

Open for private companies to compete with each other. They have monopoly.

Alina

We need to focus on the real deal. There has to be corruption at the MTA. Do the math millions of people are using the buses, trains and tunnels yet they are out of money. It doesn't add up. Someone has to look for the waste and see where the money is going.

Bernadette of Bay Ridge

the MTA needs to cut waste and stop charging more for less. There are at least 200 managers/vice presidents/executives making 6 figure salaries. There is so much redundancy at the MTA, it's a cash cow for management. it's the ordinary people who suffer. My rent went up 4% this year, metro card 10%, health insurance premiums 12%. income - 0%. It's just wrong.

they want you to refill, but they say you can hand in expired or damaged cards. To whom? you can't buy a metro card at token booths anymore, you got to go to the machines. Are the machines going to know you can't refill your card because it's damaged? I don't think so. the system can't work and people will end up having to pay that buck for a new card.

meryl from manhattan

Dear John,

Are we going to spend the next hour, bashing the sycophants at the MTA? Or, are we going to CORRECTLY lay the blame at the MTA'S puppet masters in Albany & City Hall? The politicians are the ones who cause this mess, by chronically underfunding our mass transit system - - year after year Blame Silver, Blame Bloomberg, Blame Coumo not the MTA?

Sheldon
Crown Heights

We go through this dance every year or so. It's the same as the rent control yearly increases. We're never going to agree but they'll always get away with it. We're a captive audience. By next week we'll have adjusted and moved on, until the dance returns next year. The service, by the way, has no doubt gotten worse.

Juan
Sunset Park

The only way this M.T.A fare increase is going to be rectified to the riding public benefit is to call their state senator or even the Governor and complain like heck about this situation. The people who are on fixed income and the disabled will be effected the most. Only your state senator and the Governor can do something about this unfortunate situation.

'JOE IN PELHAM BAY'

The subway ride is more uncomfortable than ever before. The seats are not wide enough, and the police need to remove smelly homeless people and aggressive beggars from the trains and platforms.

Joan
Rosedale, Queens

The constant fair increases, taxes without an increase in salary for cost of living is making it nearly impossible to live and work in nyc. I give myself less than 2-yrs before I move out to a more affordable place of living and raising a family.

- Lola

As a mother of two it is really ridiculous that they raised the prices up. Mta has money. They making the rich richer and the poor poorer. It's unfair.

Maya from Brooklyn Ny

The platform for D-R-N lines @ Barclay center smell! MTA needs to Hire some people to fix the schedules to suit rush hour, and clean! The avenue U station is infested with rats, they are bigger than my chihuahuas

Lee, gravesend

Cut the operational waste and get MTA workers to increase their productivity.
You can start by addressing the rampant practice of LIRR workers snoozing in their trucks while on the clock.

Steve
Forest Hills

John & The Call -

The latest commentary from some politicians is that " In this poor economy, comment that we can't raise the minimum wage and can't bring to a vote a proposal for paid sick leave". Yet the "poor economy" never interferes with raises to the expense side of the equation. In this latest case it is this increase to the MTA transit fares and tolls. The other trend has been the rise in gas prices for the past few weeks. When do these fares remain
stable?

John, Oakwood

Tell Yvette from Harlem to get a grip. Staten Island is the only borough that you have to pay to get off and on with a car, the other 4 boroughs have free options. The ferry was not always free anyway, know your history. It's the only break we get.

Arnold

SHOW ME THE MTA BOOKS.

Show me the books. Who's taking the majority of profits? Guys at the top are stealing and greedy. They've been getting away with it and now they are simply BRAZEN.

no beautification projects
no improvements
service decline
crime
filth

J. VAUGHAN
LEONIA, NJ

As a former MTA employee and pioneer of MTA Sustainable Program, why don't the MTA consider doing away with free rides for its 65,000 employees. This would save an astounding 100,000,000. This would be a big relief for tax payers.

The figures are based on each employees receiving a free metrocard/LIRR/MetroNorth Pass at an avg of 1500 dollars per year. The numbers come in at 97 million in savings. It is unfair that some gets a free ride while others have to pay.

Regards,
Dennis

The economy is so bad that I just to crawl into a hole and die.

Carmen
Bay Ridge

The POLITICIANS are forcing a lot of people to pick up and leave. House values went down, property taxes stayed the say. The house market start to rise and the taxes went up. The tolls and fares are OUTRAGEOUS. Im ready to leave.

Robert

The fare hike could be the death knell for freelancers in the arts who may have several interviews or auditions in a day, but not frequently enough to warrant a monthly card. The MTA costs are just another nail in the coffin of the arts.

William
NYC

The state gov. Needs to look at the Mta books to see how much revenue they are getting from advertisements. All those train, and bus ads that's plastered on the subways, buses and railroads has to be putting a dent in their debt.

Terry

I don't mind paying a fare increase.. I find The service is good. But could theu at least HOSE DOWN the smelly-gross stations like 149 Grand Concourse. C'mmon, the smell of these stations especially in 90* heat is unbearable.

Mary----Riverdale

When I lived in DC, I spent 8 bucks per day for transportation going to work! In DC customers pay per distance while we have one flat fee here, we have it good here!

Kanon, Flushing

sad to say this fare increase, High rent and food prices are reasons why im moving to florida. sorry Sinatra i cant make it here.

Jimmy. Bronx

JOHN,

ACCESS A RIDE IS THE BIGGEST SCAM GOING..PERFECTLY HEALTY PEOPLE ARE TAKING THEM.

KATE
MIDTOWN EAST

Last snap poll doesn't make sense - almost no one has the option to change his or her commute - that's why MTA can raise fares with impunity!

Seth
Manhattan

you have got to be kidding me
that is a 10 percent increase
who gets a 10 increase exept blume buck

J.Y.

Hello my name is Ulysses

I am a bus operator from manhattanville depot and would like to say everyday people put in 1.10 when they r not disabled or seniors and we cannot dispute it so i think if everyone paid their right fare it would help the mta meet their quotas and they wouldn't have to raise the fare!