New Yorkers will soon be paying more to take the bus or subway, as MTA board members Thursday approved a 25 cent hike on fares, bringing the the total cost of an individual ride to $2.75. NY1's Jose Martinez filed the following report.

 

A trip through the turnstile and the toll booth is going to cost more come March.

 

As expected, the MTA board on Thursday signed off on its fourth fare increase since 2009, bumping the cost of a ride 25 cents to $2.75.

 

A 7-day unlimited MetroCard will cost a dollar more, $31. The price of a 30-day MetroCard will go up $4.50 to $116.50. And the tolls are rising 4 percent at MTA bridges and tunnels.

 

With the fare increases coming like clockwork every two years, transit officials said they tried to soften the blow.

 

"How do we take something that we know is going to be very painful to some people and painful to others and try to figure out the best way to approach it?" said MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast.

 

They decided to keep, and slightly increase, the discount given to riders who put at least $5.50 on a MetroCard, which the MTA says it will begin schooling riders on.

 

"What is the bonus, what does it mean to customers, how can they reap value from it, and how can they recharge their cards in a way so they lose as little value on the card as possible," Prendergast said.

 

Even with Thursday's fare hike, the MTA's financial problems are far from over. Transit officials project that another fare hike will be needed in two years. And even with that increase, the agency's proposed $32 billion Capital Program to maintain and improve the transit system faces a $15 billion shortfall.

 

Without more money from Albany, transit advocates and MTA board members warned that the new $2.75 fare could look downright puny in the future.

 

"If the state legislature and, in particular, Governor Cuomo do not come up with new revenue sources to fund the MTA's five-year Capital Plan, today's fare increase will be the first of larger ones around the corner," said John Raskin, executive director of Riders Alliance.

 

"Our worry is that it'll be the beginning of the return to the way things used to be, with graffiti-covered cars that break down very often," said Gene Russianoff, senior attorney for Straphangers Campaign.

 

With those memories of the system in the bad old days, riders also have to look to its future, when they'll get hit with another fare hike.