MTA Proposes More Fare Changes

The eternally cash-strapped MTA has announced a couple of proposed changes that won't find many fans.

Millions of straphangers would be hit with a $1 surcharge when they get a new MetroCard from a vending machine instead of refilling an old one under one of the MTA's leading fare-hike and revenue-raising plans, The Post has learned. "It would provide an incentive to hold on to the card," a source said, helping rein in manufacturing, distribution and disposal costs as well as providing a new revenue stream for the cash-starved agency. "When I see what it costs to produce MetroCards, it's not efficient, and it makes me sick when I see them strewn across the floor at stations," another source said. "I wouldn't say I'd be distressed" over a new-card surcharge. Another major change under consideration is putting a cap on the number of trips using weekly and monthly "unlimited ride" cards. Details of that plan were not immediately available. The "unlimited ride" restrictions would curb straphangers' ability to share MetroCards.

MetroCards are expected to be phased out by 2014 when the MTA transitions to a tap-and-ride Smartcard debit system.