Fare hikes are still on the horizon, but straphangers can ride a little easier in 2012.
The cash-strapped MTA passed its 2012 budget yesterday, a risky, $12.6 billion fiscal plan that calls for no fare hikes or service cuts, instead relying on steep concessions from its workers union.
The good news for straphangers ends there, however.
The agency’s long-term financial plan — also approved yesterday — is hinged on three fare and toll hikes, in 2013, 2015, and 2017.
It’s still unclear how much those hikes will ultimately cost mass- transit riders and motorists crossing MTA bridges and tunnels.
With extra funding from Albany about as likely as catching a seat on the Lexington Avenue line during rush hour, the budget relies heavily on its largest workers’ union accepting no wage increases for the next three years, deep agency cost-cutting and the economy not worsening, none of which is guaranteed.
The MTA already has had to revise the draft budget it crafted in November after lowering its projected tax revenue by $87 million due to the regional economy.