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New Yorkers, grab your wallets: Your morning commute is about to cost more than your favorite $3 slice (at least in some neighborhoods). The MTA board voted this week to raise fares across the system, pushing the base price of a subway or bus ride to a historic $3, starting January 2026.
This is the first time we’ve crossed the $3 line, a milestone that transit officials have been eyeing for nearly a decade. In true New York fashion, the decision was unanimous—an 11-0 board vote—though it landed with the same thud as a delayed F train.
The price bump is part of a wider series of increases hitting everything from Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road tickets to tolls on MTA bridges and tunnels. Subway and bus riders will see the base fare rise from $2.90 to $3, while express bus fares creep up to $7.25. Single-ride paper tickets, which are mostly beloved by tourists and those who’ve forgotten their OMNY, will increase to $3.50.
MTA Chair Janno Lieber admitted the sting, calling the fare hike “always painful,” but argued that it’s modest compared to other systems. “This moderate, roughly 2% a year fare increase is a gift from our political leadership that would not be possible if it were not for their intervention led by Governor Hochul,” he said, pointing to a state business tax hike that’s helped plug the MTA’s financial gap.
The move also marks the official end of the MetroCard. With the yellow-and-blue card retiring at the end of this year, all riders will need to switch to OMNY, the tap-to-pay system that comes with a built-in weekly “fare cap.” That means no one pays more than $35 in a week—effectively replacing the old unlimited pass. Reduced-fare riders will be capped at $17.50.
Still, not everyone is buying it. Back in July, Mayor Eric Adams opposed the proposal, saying in a statement: “Proposing a fare hike without demonstrating meaningful improvements is offensive to hard-working New Yorkers.”
Whether you see it as reasonable math or another hit to the city’s affordability, one thing is certain: the “pizza principle”—that a slice and a subway ride should cost about the same—has officially gone off the rails. “I don’t know what the pizza principle would dictate at this point because folks have told me that we’re less than a slice in many cases,” Lieber told The City. “Certainly at Totonno’s or some of the other great Brooklyn pizzerias that I favor, the slice has gone north of $3.”
So yes, it’s official. The subway just got pricier than ever—and for New Yorkers, that’s saying something.