MetroCard Fare Hike

I'll be entertaining a lot of out-of-town family members this Spring and Summer, so much of our NYC adventures will have to be well planned. Part of that will deal with which MetroCards to buy. Here are my tips for the recent fare hike:

Unlimited Cards
The "fun pass" @ $7.50 is really not that fun anymore unless you ride 4x within a day. The 7-day pass is $25 (must use 13x per week) and the 30-day is now $81 (must use 41x per month). There's also a new 14-day pass for $47 (must use 24x in 2 weeks). The monthly pass still has the best bang for buck, but 41 uses in a month is pretty high. If you're a regular commuter and you work the full month, that's about 20 rides ($40). If you take one day off and don't go out on weekends, then you'll lose out. The other 2 are even worse. If you buy the 7-day pass, 10 uses for the work week amounts to $20. You have to ride 3 more times for it to be worth the money. For regular commuters, the monthly is the only way to go unless you have a long vacation coming up. The 7-day pass is good for tourists who plan to stay in NYC for a week or so. You'll surely get 13 uses out of it.

Pay-Per-Rides
The base fare remains at $2, but the discount was reduced from 20% to 15%. So if you buy a $10 card, you no longer get the free ride. Instead, you get a $1.50 bonus... an odd balance that forces you to refill the card. A $20 card has a $3 bonus... a free ride + an odd $1 balance. If you don't want to deal with the hassle of refilling cards and dealing with odd balances, then it's best to just spend $40 to get a $6 (3-ride) bonus. This is the card for you if you only use the subway once in a while. Another option is to buy cards from a store or street vendor for $17.39 (10 rides) or $52.17 (30 rides).