'Doomsday' in NYC: $2.50 Subway Fare OK'd

Starting May 31, New Yorkers will have to pony up $2.50 to ride the bus or subway—even as the city’s public-transit system sees cutbacks in routes and schedules, the Daily News reports. Today’s vote by the Metropolitan Transit Authority to enact its so-called “doomsday budget” was necessary, officials said, because the state government refused to help the cash-strapped system.

“It’s the same old story of how in Albany political opportunism comes first and the people come second,” an opponent of the hike said. “The Big Apple unfortunately will become a shriveled prune.” A plan to bridge the budget gap with bridge tolls met with deadly opposition in the state senate. “It’s truly sad that a few individuals can hold all these brave individuals hostage,” the MTA’s chairman said. (More New York City subway stories.)