One thing that happened when Mayor Bloomberg left town and Mayor de Blasio took over is that de Blasio didn’t act like unions were a thing not to be bothered with or y’know, negotiated with. So that meant subway and bus unions got new contracts, and people started worrying that the MTA wouldn’t be able to stick to their 4% fare hike for 2015. Well good news, we guess, because they’re doing just that.
The Daily News reports that the MTA’s budget for next year still includes just a 4% fare hike, despite some worrywarts and fearmongerers wondering if the new contracts for subway, bus and LIRR workers would be paid for with fare hikes. It’s not that there aren’t increased labor costs, but the MTA says that they’re using reserves that are set aside for things in the future, like paying for future retired workers’ health care and construction projects. Which doesn’t sound great, but we suppose if the Straphanger’s Campaign is happy with all this, which they told the News they are, we’re just gonna have to take their word for it.