NY MTA seeks 13 pct revenue hike over 2 years

By Joan Gralla

NEW YORK, July 23 (Reuters) - Fares and tolls paid by New York City transit riders and commuters will have to raise an extra 13 percent of revenues over the next 18 months or so unless the city and state boost their aid, the state mass transit agency said on Wednesday.

The first increases are slated for next July 1, when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said its fares for subway, buses and commuter trains as well as bridge and tunnel tolls will be raised to increase revenues by 8 percent. This will help close a $900 million deficit spawned by spiking fuel prices and sinking real estate tax collections, the MTA said.

The MTA -- the biggest U.S. mass transit system with 8 million daily riders -- also said it penciled in an additional 5 percent increase in revenues beginning Jan. 1, 2010.

A second increase, however, would likely be delayed as it takes several months for fare hikes to go into effect since public hearings must be held and systems redone.

"We typically try to do a fare increase early in the year," Gary Dellaverson, the MTA's chief financial officer, told reporters after a board meeting.

Fares and tolls were last increased in March. The agency has only raised them two years in a row once in its more than 100-year history, in 1980-81.

However, officials said it was too early to say how much fares and tolls may rise or whether the $2 one-way subway fare will be kept.

Eager to raise cash, the transit authority will test six new television consoles that will carry Time Warner's (TWX.N) CNN cable news channel in bus, subway and commuter stations.