MTA says Happy New Year 2026–NYC Transit Fares Rising
The bus and subway fare for a single ride goes up ten cents to $3.00 as of Jan. 4. The fare last hike was in the summer of 2023.
| 03 Jan 2026 | 12:23
This MetroCard vending machine was shut down by 3 p.m. on Dec. 31, several hours before it was scheduled to cease allowing riders to replenish the iconic blue and yellow cards. Unexpired cards can still be used for several more months, but can no longer be replenished. (
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It will cost ten cents more to hop on a subway or bus as of Jan. 4 when the single ride fare goes to $3. (
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While the MTA stopped selling MetroCards at vending machines at the end of 2025, Zabar’s is still selling its much tastier version, with no end date yet. (
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Fares for Metro North and LIRR trains will jump 4.5 percent. And if you don’t buy a ticket before you board the penalty fee will jump from $2 to $8. (
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The first Sunday of 2026 is a turning point for New Yorkers; the basic transit fare of $2.90 is going up a dime to $3. The increase, voted upon during the September 2025 MTA Board Meeting, is the first one since the summer of 2023, not just subways and buses, either. Need a new OMNY card? It’s a dollar more to buy at $2. Other increases across the MTA region will range from five cents to a 4.5 percent increase for Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road commuters.
Have a Metro-Card or a few in your possession? If you still have a MetroCard, you can transfer the value to an OMNY Card only at a Customer Service Center.
You will still be able to swipe a MetroCard with some money on it until some point in 2026, but you will no longer be able to replenish it. The exact date when MetroCard will no longer be accepted will be announced later this year. Remaining balances will be eligible for transfer or reimbursement. If you have a seven-Day or 30-Day Unlimited Ride pass, you must begin using it by March 31, 2026.
If you are venturing on the LIRR or Metro-North, the successful City Ticket program, good within NYC City Limits on either commuter line, will go up five cents. If you get on the train without a ticket, on-board staff will issue one, but the $2 surcharge has gone up to a whopping $8.
The discounted monthly MetroCard pass is gone. With an OMNY card or other fare payment by phone or credit card, there will now be a permanent seven-day fare cap for unlimited rides. When you pay for 12 rides in a seven-day period, any additional rides are free; No rider will pay more than $35 in a week. Reduced-fare customers will pay no more than half that amount in a week.
One of the reasons for the increase? Wages and benefits for subway and bus operating personnel are eating up 58 percent of the MTA’s operating expenses.
Farewell Metro Card
After 30 years of the MetroCard, the last day of purchase for the iconic yellow and blue pass was Dec. 31,2025. It has gone the iconic way of the Greek Coffee Shop cup.
A mock funeral was held Dec. 30 in Washington Square Park. The “funeral” included a blue and yellow Metro Card cake and of course a moment of silence. Many paraded to the West 4th St. station to make a symbolic final swipe. One report said that when they arrived, many of the mourners discovered their old MetroCards had already expired. An MTA employee held the security door open and let them have one last courtesy ride for free.
If you missed the Dec. 30 “funeral” for the MetroCard there is a current exhibit at the New York Transit Museum, bidding a visual adieu to the thirty-year payment card, with its safety reminders, special commemoration cards.
This tour de force invites visitors to explore the card’s origins, systemwide rollout, technology behind it, and how it became a cultural icon for a generation of riders. Zabar’s will still be providing a MetroCard cookie, a blue and yellow flour and icing concoction.
For further fare information, consult the MTA’s website at https://www.mta.info/fares-tolls/2025-changes
Intrigued by in-person viewing of Metrocard history? Check out https://www.nytransitmuseum.org/exhibits/