NY subway fares to rise; most service cuts spared

By Joan Gralla

NEW YORK, May 11 (Reuters) - New York subway, bus and commuter rail fares will rise by 10 percent, and most planned service cuts will be spared under a plan approved on Monday by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Subway and bus fares will increase to $2.25, from $2.00, starting on June 28, and the cost of a monthly pass will rise to $89, from $81, Gary Dellaverson, chief financial officer of the MTA, told the transit agency's board before it approved the increases.

In addition to higher transit fares, tolls on bridges and tunnels will also rise.

A bailout plan by the state last week of the MTA, whose revenues have dropped due to the recession, spared service cuts that would have included two subway lines and 21 bus routes, and staved off threatened fare hikes of 20 percent to 30 percent.

But the MTA, the nation's biggest transit agency with 9 million daily riders, still must find $200 million of savings. Though no union workers will be laid off under the approved plan, train-clearing and station agent jobs will be lost through attrition.

One board member warned that trains will be cleaned less often and cutting subway station agents risks higher crime.

Board member Andrew Albert, criticizing the prospect of dirtier stations and more crime, said removing the agents was "a huge mistake."

Gene Russianoff, a transit advocate with the Straphangers Campaign, said the agents were "the eyes and ears of the system," adding fare evasion would rise and the public would lose people who can give directions and call for help.