New York faces fares fiasco

By Jane Standley BBC New York correspondent

Fares had risen to $2 in May

A judge in New York has ordered the city's transportation authority to cancel a fare increase which came into effect earlier this month, saying the decision was unlawful.

The judge has given the transportation authority two weeks to reverse the fare increase which pushed the price of a journey up from $1.5 to $2.

Seven million commuters who are carried every day on New York's buses, subway trains and suburban railways all began paying higher fares earlier this month after the transportation authority said it needed the extra money to close a large financial deficit.

But New York City and State auditors then revealed the deficit to be a figment of the authority's imagination and a consumer group acting on behalf of commuters argued in court that the authority was actually facing a financial surplus.

Reform of the authority's accounting system has already been ordered, but now the court ruling means that thousands of subway turnstiles and city buses will have to be refitted to take fares downwards.

The judge gave the authority two weeks to change the fares and to appeal.

The ruling will cost millions of dollars to enforce and may well pave the way for legal proceedings for fraud against transportation officials.