Metro-North is poised to hike up the price of a cocktail on both its bar cars and the carts stationed near the platforms in Grand Central. The railroad is “seeking approval from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board of directors to raise prices…to keep pace with inflation.”
Metro-North’s booze sales represented $607,000 in profit last year, approximately 63% of it from me. Metro-North estimates it sells a million beers and 250,000 bags of chips in a year.
The MTA board will vote on the matter–a joint request between Metro-North and Long Islang Railroad–Wednesday, and the price hikes would go into effect May 8. Perhaps more daunting, the railroad is also “seeking authorization to raise prices each September at the rate of growth in the consumer price index… without seeking board approval.”
The new price list would see a domestic beer jump from $2 to $2.50.