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New Yorkers woke up Sunday to a small but psychologically seismic shift at the turnstiles: the base fare for subways and buses has officially hit $3.
The 10-cent increase, approved last fall by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, nudges the fare up to $3 and marks the first time the system has crossed that threshold in its 120-year history.
The MTA says the increase is part of its long-standing plan to raise fares incrementally every other year, rather than letting costs turn into a single shockingly large hike down the line. Officials point to rising labor, energy and maintenance costs—and have pointed out that plenty of transit systems elsewhere have imposed double-digit percentage increases in recent years.
To soften the blow, the MTA is leaning hard on OMNY’s automatic fare-capping system. Riders who tap with the same card or device will never pay more than $35 in a seven-day period, which is equivalent to 12 rides. After that, trips are free for the rest of the week. Reduced-fare riders are capped at $17.50. The agency frames this as a more flexible replacement for the old unlimited passes, which are being phased out along with the MetroCard.
Sunday’s increase didn’t stop at the subway turnstile. Express bus fares jumped from $7 to $7.25, while weekly and monthly tickets on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North rose by up to 4.5 percent. Tolls on MTA-run bridges and tunnels are up 7.5 percent and even a single-ride paper ticket now costs $3.50.
The hike lands at an awkward political moment. New Mayor Zohran Mamdani has pledged to make city buses free, arguing that public transit is increasingly out of reach for working New Yorkers. Any such plan would require major new funding (and cooperation from Albany) but the fare increase has only intensified that debate.
For now, the reality is simple: the subway ride that long tracked the price of a slice of pizza has officially pulled ahead.