A timeline for MTA fare changes

The state Senate yesterday voted to adopt this bill, which generates more revenue for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Liz Benjamin at the Daily News uploaded this copy of the floor memo, which summarizes the bill's contents.

Chief among the provisions approved by the Senate are a payroll tax of just over one third of 1 percent for most businesses and the self-employed in the 12-county region the MTA serves. The tax is supposed to be less for suburban counties to the north. School districts paying the tax will be reimbursed by the state.

There are also additional fees on licenses, learner's permits, vehicle registration and car rentals made in the region. There's also a 50-cent surcharge on medallion taxi trips.

The passage of the bill is expected to obviate the need for deep service cuts and fare hikes, including reduction or elimination of some Riverdale/Kingsbridge-area bus lines, which we have covered in the past.

The MTA's board will meet Monday, an MTA spokesman said. The meeting agenda should be set by tomorrow, said the spokesman, Kevin Ortiz.

It's expected that the board will then vote on reducing the level of the fare hikes and service cuts they previously approved.

There will likely still be some cuts to service and fares increases.

Discussion on the Senate floor stretched on late into the evening last night as Republican senators lambasted the Democrats floating the bill. Lawmakers Martin Dilan and Bill Perkins fielded most of the questions. Most of the questions focused on the impact of the payroll tax on small business; the exemption from the tax for school districts, which Republican senators repeatedly said had not been strongly worded enough to be enforceable; and the capital plan for roads and bridges, which the Senate leadership expects to be addressed at the same time as the MTA capital plan.