A People’s History of MTA Fare Hikes
Like 1933, 1971 was a hot time for fare debate. One letter writer reminded readers about “the growing absurdity” of a single-zone flat-fare system. Another wrote that “the threatened increase in the subway fare would do a double disservice. It would add to the already over-inflated cost of living of the working people of the city”—some things never change!—”and it would tend, as these increases always have, to change the riding habit of significant numbers of New Yorkers from mass transportation to private cars.” He proposed Mayor Lindsay bring the fare back to 25 cents, thus eliminating the need for tokens (and the extra expense of creating them) and bringing car-converts back into the subway fold.