Just kidding. Sorta. MTA now says 15% fare hike not on table

Hypothetical.

Outraged straphangers were fuming Tuesday after a top MTA executive said fares, which only recently went up, could soon jump again, to $3.15, from $2.75.

Now, that official’s boss is clarifying things.

“‎Yesterday’s mention of a potential 15 percent fare and toll increase was a hypothetical answer to a hypothetical question,” said MTA Chairman & CEO Thomas F. Prendergast.

“No one has proposed we pay for our capital needs on the backs of our riders, and no one is considering it.”

On Monday, MTA CFO Robert Foran, warned that state and federal shortfalls in a five-year $32 billion capital plan to expand and maintain the subways may have to be made up by New Yorkers, who were flabbergasted by the news.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who controls the agency, has slammed the capital plan as bloated.

The shortfall has given new life to talk of tolling the city’s East River crossings.