FARE WIND BLOW$

NEW YORK POST
By DAVID SEIFMAN

October 11, 2002 --
The MTA's top budget official yesterday admitted that a subway- and bus-fare hike could come by March, after first trying to duck questions about the agency's shaky finances at a City Council hearing.

Gary Caplan, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's budget director, told skeptical members of the council's Transportation Committee that it was too early to say if a fare increase would be needed to close a projected $663 million budget gap next year.

"Don't know yet," Caplan testified. "Fare increases are a last resort. I'm not going to throw in the towel before time's up."

But he added, "If there was a need for a fare increase, it wouldn't be sometime until March or April. The most pressed period of time would be that period of time."
Some officials think that if it happens, the fare would be boosted to $2.

Caplan said no one would know if the $1.50 fare is doomed until an MTA board meeting later this year to determine how much extra city and state aid might be available.

Almost no one believed him.

"Today is Oct. 10 and you're saying you have no idea what's going to happen in the next month or two?" asked an incredulous committee chairman John Liu (D-Queens).
Councilwoman Helen Sears (D-Queens) didn't try to hide her displeasure with Caplan's inability to provide more financial data.

"I actually find you flippant and a little arrogant," she told the stunned official.

Because of the need for public hearings, Caplan said it would take at least 90 days for a fare hike to be implemented once it's recommended to the MTA board.

And while insisting there was no game plan to boost the fare, Caplan admitted there's been some discussion about offering MetroCards with more options.

"You can do different kinds of passes, biweekly passes, four-day passes - different pricing levels," he said after the hearing.

Caplan said no matter what happens, the MTA would continue to offer discounts to MetroCard users. "We don't want to lose ridership," he explained.

Transit advocates claimed subway riders already cover 60 percent of the cost of their rides, far more than their suburban counterparts.

But Caplan said subway riders ante up just 46 percent of the bill, compared with 42 percent at Metro-North and 34 percent on the Long Island Rail Road.

Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, who addressed the committee immediately after Caplan, said it was clear why the MTA was stalling all discussion of a possible fare hike.

"I'm afraid the governor would rather talk about this after the election," she said.

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