Everything's $3 Now? What Riders Pay For in NYC's Subway Fare Hike
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Base fare rises to $3 in January 2026 as MetroCard ends, OMNY becomes standard, and fare evasion enforcement intensifies.
You're probably here because you scanned a QR code in a subway station hoping for a fix. Below, you'll find both answers to transit problems that impact you and ways to take action and actually push for change.
Everything's $3 Now? What Riders Pay For in NYC's Subway Fare Hike
Beginning January 2026, the base fare for New York City's subways and local buses will rise from $2.90 to $3.00. The MTA ties the hike to revenue shortfalls and the shift to a fully tap-based system. MetroCard sales will end in 2025 as OMNY becomes the standard.
But there's more in motion than cost: the agency is pushing harder on fare enforcement with new fare gates in high-traffic stations, and piloting delayed opening on emergency exit gates (in some cases up to 15 seconds) to block fast "superhighway" evasion. Early data suggests these changes have helped cut fare evasion; subway evasion dropped ~26 percent from mid-2024 to late 2024.
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Published October 1, 2025
Sofia Chennow is a contributor for Tunnel Vision.
This article is part of the Fares series.