New York City’s subway and bus fares will bump up to $3 on Sunday.
It’s a 10-cent increase since the last fare hike in 2023. The MTA for years has found creative ways to avoid increasing the cost of a single ride to an even $3 as it contends with growing costs and inflation. In 2017, the agency held the cost of a single ride at $2.75 but increased the cost of unlimited ride passes to make up the difference.
Transit officials also held the fare at $2.75 in 2019, and got rid of bonuses given to MetroCard users who loaded up their fare cards with cash value. Gov. Kathy Hochul paused a planned fare hike to $2.90 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But increasing the fare to $3 this time around was unavoidable, since the MTA board proposes and votes on increasing the fare by 4% every two years as operating costs increase.
The fare hike comes as the MTA completes its full transition into the OMNY system and abandons the 30-day unlimited passes offered to MetroCard users. The new system allows for weekly unlimited passes, which will now require riders to pay $35 within 7 days after tapping into the system 12 times, before riding for free.
The surcharge to purchase a new OMNY card is also going up from $1 to $2, but MTA officials said that price hike won’t go into effect until later in 2026, when fare gates no longer accept MetroCards with remaining balances.