postponed after the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provided short-term funding for the MTA , the MTA was considering increasing a single-ride fare to $2.90 by 2023 and to as much as $3.05 by 2025. Express bus base fare $1.50 (1975 – June 27, 1980) $2.00 (June 28, 1980–?) $3.00 (? - December 31, 1985) $3.50 (January 1, 1986 – December 31, 1989) $4.00 (January 1, 1990 – February 28, 1998) $3.00 (March 1, 1998 – May 3, 2003) $4.00 (May 4, 2003 – February 26, 2005) $5.00 (February 27, 2005 – December 29, 2010) $5.50 (December 30, 2010 – March 2, 2013) $6.00 (March 3, 2013 – March 21, 2015) $6.50 (March 22, 2015 – April 20, 2019) $6.75 (April 21, 2019 – present) – MetroCard or OMNY only; coin payment discontinued Fare collection history Token and change From the inauguration of IRT subway services in 1904 until the unified system of 1948 (including predecessor BMT and IND subway services), the fare for a ride on the subway of any length was 5 cents ($.05 in 1904 ; $.05 in 1948 ). On July 1, 1948, the fare was increased to 10 cents () for rapid transit (subway & elevateds), and 7 cents for surface routes (streetcar & bus). It has since then has steadily risen. When the New York City Transit Authority was created in July 1953, the fare was raised to 15 cents () and a token was issued. For the most part, token models were changed periodically as prices changed, but not always. The first token change occurred in 1953, but this change did not to reflect a change in fare cost. The NYCTA's original design as proposed on July 25, 1953, for the 15 cent fare raise was the 16mm "Small Y Cutout" token. However, due to the time the NYCTA actually received approval for a fare hike on June 14, it left them short of time ordering the tokens. Because of the very short time span involved, the NYCTA ran to the US Mint which rejected their request, as the USM did not wish to involve themselves in private token coinage manufacturing. The NYCTA then approached the Canadian Mint, who also rejected their request. At this point the NYCTA put the manufacture of the tokens out for bid. The three manufacturers successful in their bids was Osborne Coinage, Scovill Manufacturing and Meyer &