MTA Cashing in on MetroCard Green Fee

A New York City MetroCard. The MTA is generating a lot of revenue with their Green Fee.
Photo credit: George Elmer

The MTA is bring in a lot more money than they expected with their green fee. The fee charges a rider $1 every time they bought a new MetroCard. The fee was added to try and get riders to continue using their existing MetroCard instead of wasting it. It has been in effect since March and in that month, more riders than the transit officials predicted bought new MetroCards and paid the extra fee. If this trend continues, the MTA is expecting to exceed their predicted $20 million in new revenues and savings. They thought that the idea of saving a dollar would be enough to convince people to recycle their card, however they couldn't be more wrong.

It is believed that now with these extra revenue dollars, there will be a lot more pressure on the transit authority to make improvements. Board members led by Allen Cappelli and Mitch Pally have been pushing for the MTA to make a fund directed towards making service enhancements and restorations to subway stations and trains. After Governor Cuomo announced that the organization would receive around $40 million more from transit dedicated taxes, the board members made an even bigger push for this fund to be established. 

The MTA prints around 160 million cards a year for around nine and half million dollars. They expected the fee to generate around $18 million, and printing fewer cards and trimming clean up costs would save them around $2 million. 

For the latest information on fees and service, visit MTA.info