Transit Advocates Critical of Specific Fare Deal Provisions

Concerns over the specifics of the MTA's recently proposed Fare Deal program cited by transit advocates:

¢ The $74.25 price of a monthly pass requires riders to use the subway 55 times a month to break even with the cost of paying one fare at a time. Whatever discount this represents may not be enough to attract new or more frequent transit users. It's also a problem for riders who now only use the

trains to get to and from work (less than 55 times/month). And it's a lot of money for many New Yorkers to put down all at once.

e The fare hikes will take effect long before the entire system will be geared to offer the plan's benefits. Currently, only 69 subway and Staten Island Railway stations accept Metrocard, the fare medium that the Fare Deal plan will rely on. It will be late 1995 before all City buses, sometime in

1996 for the Staten Island Ferry and late 1997 before all subway stations are scheduled to have Metrocard readers.

¢ The status of the 1,200 City-subsidized private buses in the plan to eliminate two-fare zones by providing free subway-bus and bus-bus transfers is unclear. If the City and the bus franchise operators don't participate, a lot of Queens may remain a two-fare zone.