Subway riders feeling the pain of MTA fare hikes that went into effect on Sunday said they have to cut back on everything from beauty products to “Taco Tuesday.”
A monthly MetroCard now costs $116.50, up from $112, while the base fare went up a quarter, to $2.75, and a weekly MetroCard went from $30 to $31.
Rebecca Barber, 18, of Valley Stream said she would make up the difference by spending less on beauty supplies and clothes.
“I’ll have to buy less clothes and makeup and stuff that I want instead of need,” she said.
Chrissy Knopp, 24, of Crown Heights told The Post she has decided to give up two tacos a month at Chavellas Restaurant’s “Taco Tuesdays.”
“I’m gonna miss my two aguacate con queso tacos,” she said.
Another straphanger said she would force herself to drink the subpar coffee at her office to free up some extra dough.
“That $4 will go toward that,” said Grace McLain, 23. “I’ll miss those two cups of coffee. The coffee at work really sucks.”
I’ll miss those two cups of coffee. The coffee at work really sucks.
- Subway rider Grace McLain
Shavoir Thompson, 26, of the Bronx will not only skip her morning caffeine jolt but will also forgo her breakfast treat.
“I’ll give up my morning coffee and doughnut,” she said. Adding that the fare hike “really caught [her] off guard.”
Andrew Albert, chair of the Transit Riders Council, said the city’s straphangers have a much greater burden when it comes to fares than in other parts of the country.
“The really disturbing part about the fares on New York City’s transit system is that riders are paying a higher percentage for the actual cost of their ride than riders in cities with much less service,” he said.
“The fact that this is the case in the state with three-fourths of the country’s transit riders is shameful.”
The fare hike comes as new transit statistics revealed a continued increase in delays as the subway system coped with sky-high ridership and a brutal winter.
There were an average of over 43,000 weekday delays in the past 12 months — an increase of about 36 percent from the year before.
Overcrowding was responsible for more than 15,000 delays in Jan. 2015. Weekday waits also worsened on numbered lines, including the 1, 2, 4, and 5, 6, and 7.
The record cold temperatures this winter also led to more broken rails and signal problems.
“The statistics show that as we have more and more riders at all hours of the day, there’s no margin for error. The slightest delay during rush-hour can have ripple effects up and down the line,” said MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg.
“The long-term answer is better signal technology to move more trains and more people, but we’re implementing short-term strategies to fix more problems more quickly and prevent them from turning into major delays.”
The MTA is adding more platform conductors at crowded stations to guide crowds, and plans to be more strategic in where they stage maintenance workers.