NYC Subway fee increase as a mechanism to understand inflation.

I took the subway yesterday and noticed New York City raised the price from $2.75 to $2.90 for the ride. I noticed the change the day it happened. Still flabbergasted I didn’t see more warnings of the increase… maybe my fault.

15 Cents doesn’t seem like much, but I was intrigued.

I feel like a lot of us know that inflation at the speed it’s growing is “bad”, but no one details the repercussions for us to truly grasp its negativity. 

Let's use our subway ride as our metaphor - the 15-cent increase was probably for a few reasons (cost of inflation itself, increased needs for repair, demand for more lines and stops in further boroughs… the list goes on). 

Sally, our character, like the average New Yorker, spends $120 a month on subway rides (~2x a day, 5x a week +7 extra rides for social outings on the weekend = 47 rides in a month x 2.75 = $129.25). 

Each ride was costing her 2.75.

This month it will be 2.90… 47x2.90= $136.30

That’s a 5.4% increase in monthly subway expenses.

So Sally goes back to her drawing board, She spends $2k a month on rent, $600 on groceries, $200 on utilities… the list goes on. 

Imagine all of her daily bills are increased by 5.45% each.

This is inflation — the increased cost to consumers that will be reflected on price tags, yet removed from their disposable income.