By IZABELA RUTKOWSKI

Monika Kamalska, an honors student in medical laboratory science at Hunter College, leaves home in the Maspeth section of Queens five days a week to catch the Q54 bus and later the L train to get the to school’s downtown campus.

Her busy school schedule prevents her from working, but she tries to save money on everyday expenses. “I buy used books or find great deals online. But now I also have to think about scheduling my classes so I do not have to pay for the transportation as much,” said Kamalska, who studies at both Hunter’s downtown and Upper East Side campuses. Even so, she added, “Next semester I will have to make an additional nine trips a week to get to my classes.” .

MTA fare hikes will hurt Kamalska as well as her father and brother who work together as contractors in order to pay for Kamalska’s school bills. “The increase may not sound much to someone that has money but we are regular people,” she said.

The service cuts approved by the MTA to close its $800 million budget shortfall for 2010 are going into effect in June. The agency still needs to find ways to save and despite previous assurances about not raising the fares until 2011, New Yorkers might face fare hikes as early as this year. If the MTA will not boost the cost of the ride in 2010, there is a great chance that the 2011 increase will be higher than previously planned.

“The MTA is facing a difficult budget time in part because revenues have been below expectations,” said Doug Turetsky, spokesperson for the New York City Independent Budget Office. “In addition the mobility tax that was part of the bailout voted by the state has generated far less money than anticipated. Also some of the taxes dedicated to the MTA have generated less revenue than anticipated. And then added to that arbitration panel approved labor settlements that were higher than the MTA hoped for.”

The MTA already decided on fare hikes for 2011, but experts say the hike might be not enough to close the agency’s budget gap.

“In May 2009, New York State passed a rescue package for the MTA that allows for 7.5 percent fare hikes in 2011 and 2013,” said Jason Chin-Fatt of the Straphangers Campaign. “Since this package passed, the MTA’s financial outlook has deteriorated rapidly.”

Chin-Fatt said that it happened because dedicated taxes brought in hundreds of millions of dollars below projection.

“It is this decline in MTA’s funding base that has led to talk of fare hikes in 2010, though most folks at the MTA will say they are working hard to prevent that,” Chin-Fatt said.

According to MTA spokesperson Aaron Donovan, the agency has not scheduled fare hikes for this year and is doing everything to avoid that.
“We currently intend to raise the fares every two years to keep up with the inflation and the next scheduled fare increase would be in 2011.”

Donovan said that it is too early to say what the next year’s increase would be and didn’t deny that it might be more than the planned 7.5 percent. “The public hearings would be coming in,” he said.

Dan Levitan, a spokesman for the Working Families Party, said it remains unclear if the MTA will look to raise the transit fare in 2010. “They might end up doing that if they don’t have new funding,” Levitan said.

Levitan said that while a transit fare increase would affect everyone, it would hurt mostly working families. “The fares are increasingly unaffordable. The new estimate came out that says if the fare hikes and students’ MetroCards cuts are going to effect, the average working family with two kids would have to pay an additional $2,500 a year,” Levitan said.

Morton Wagman, a historian at Kingsborough Community College, said that the real economic cost of a bus or subway ride is about $3.50 to $4.

“The difference between the economic fare and the amount charged today is made up by money collected by the MTA from tolls on the various bridges and tunnels in the city,” Wagman said. “The biggest expense to the MTA is labor cost.”

Anne Girden, who has used New York public transportation since 1940s, said that she noticed that MTA recently laid off many workers and that she is afraid of the planned cuts in 2010.

“They are saving not just thousands but millions of dollars on personnel,” she said. “If anything they should be giving us money back because they’re eliminating service.” But now there is no one in token booths to advise riders or sell MetroCards, she added.

Girden said that subway trains are dirty and have erratic schedules. “The only thing that changed during all these years is the number of rats that increased along with the price,” she said.

Wagman said that the fare has always been a political and economic problem in New York. When the first elevated trains began in the 1880s and subways started in 1904, the fare was 5 cents, he said.

“Despite wars and inflation the fare reminded five cents for decades,” Wagman said. “After World War II ended, in 1947 the Board of Transportation doubled the fare from 5 cents to 10 cents,” he said. “Caving in to the pressure from transit workers union, the MTA and city’s mayors have raised the fare every few years to where it stands today.”

Chin-Fatt said the MTA’s transit fare is high in comparison to some cities, but “very reasonable” compared to others. “In Albany, New York a bus ride is $1.50. In London, a trip on the underground will cost you $8, so it’s a matter of perspective,” he said.

Chin-Fatt said that a fare hike will hurt, but some New Yorkers would rather pay a small increase to stave off the service cuts, while others will argue that they cannot afford to pay a cent more.

“Again, it’s a matter of perspective,” he said.