The anticipated ten-cent MTA fare increase that was supposed to go into effect on the subways and buses on Friday will now go into effect on January 4th, 2026. That sems like a mixed bag of good news and bad news… until you remember that the MTA implemented congestion pricing in January to stave off a fare increase or cuts in services. Wasn’t congestion pricing supposed to solve the MTA’s budget woes, and if it doesn’t, does a $3.00 fare really do the trick? 710 WOR’s Beat on the Street reporter Natalie Migliore went to the 59th Street station, which brings commuters on five different subway lines to Columbus Circle, to ask the people coughing up the extra dime if it’s worth the price of admission.
Migliore found one woman who said she may have seen a difference in street traffic when congestion pricing began but thinks heavy traffic has now returned: “I don’t even know, are they even still doing the congestion pricing, ‘cause I haven’t really noticed. Because when it first started people were diverting away from the area, and we had less traffic. But now I see it’s like back to normal, so it’s kind of hard to tell.”
If Migliore found one common thread, it was that many commuters said the fare increase should mean that the MTA is doing something in two areas: safety and homeless people. One man said, “Well, I think they’ve got to get the bums off the trains, because we have to pay and they get on for free and they take up all the seats and we can’t ride comfortably. It’s either smelly or no seats at all.” A woman echoed that sentiment: “I guess trains can be a bit daunting, especially in the late hours. The train cars are sometimes empty. Sometimes you have our unhoused folks that have no place to go but to stay on the train, so that can be fearful for some people.”
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