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New Yorkers made noise—and the MTA actually listened.
After a six-week comment blitz that generated 1,378 missives from riders, advocates and elected officials, the agency has softened a handful of the fare changes up for a board vote on Tuesday, September 30. As in: fewer “are you kidding me?” moments at the turnstiles and on the rails.
“These changes are being proposed following an extensive public comment period in which 1,378 comments were submitted from customers, advocates and elected officials across the service area,” the MTA said in a statement released last week.
Here’s the useful stuff: The weekly cap for subway and bus riders—the thing where you ride free after 12 paid taps in seven days—won’t jump to $36 after all; it’s now proposed at $35. That’s a hair under a 3-percent bump and preserves the all-important 12-ride threshold that turns the rest of your week into gravy.
Commuter rail tickets also get a sanity check. Instead of expiring four hours after purchase, all one-way LIRR and Metro-North tickets—paper or mobile—would be good until 4 am the following day. This means that if dinner runs long or your train vanishes from the board, your ticket won’t.
Families win, too: the $1 “family fare” would expand to include kids 17 and under (up from 11) and would be valid all day, every day, including the weekday morning rush that was previously off-limits. And for riders west of the Hudson, the previously proposed 4.4-percent increase on Metro-North’s Pascack Valley and Port Jervis lines is off the table.
The broader fare-and-toll hike itself isn’t changing, however—just the timing. The MTA says the system-wide increase is now slated for January 2026, aligning with the rollout of full tap-and-go across subways and buses. Under that package, the base subway and local bus fare would move from $2.90 to $3, and the weekly cap would lock at $35 once those 12 taps are in the books. The agency notes it fielded roughly four times as many comments as during the 2023 hike cycle, which likely helped nudge these revisions.
If you pushed back, this is your tiny victory lap. The board votes Tuesday: if approved, the rider-friendly tweaks ($35 cap, next-day ticket validity, expanded family fares and no West-of-Hudson bump) would be baked into the 2026 fare framework.
Consider it proof that showing up (and writing in) matters, even in the labyrinth of transit policy. For now, keep tapping, keep the feedback coming and maybe—just maybe—budget for one less rage-coffee this week.