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NEW YORK, NY September 24, 2007 —Get ready to dig deeper for you metro card

REPORTER: The MTA offered two different proposals today for a fare hike in 2008. Both would raise the 2 dollar base fare for bus and subway riders to 2.25. But while the MTA says one option would "tweak" the weekly and monthly metro cards with an increase of 4 percent, the second plan would raise them by 6 and a half to 8 percent. That's because this scenario would also include a new discount for riders who choose to travel off peak says Chief Operating Officer Susan Kupferman.

KUPFERMAN: The policy objective here is to try to spread the peak by getting riders who have some flexibility in their schedule to shift, even a small percentage shift equates to millions of rides a year.

REPORTER: Riders could by a 6 dollar card and pay either 2 dollars or a dollar 50 depending on when they travel. The MTA also wants to introduce a new 14-day discounted pass. Meanwhile, bridge and tunnel tolls would increase by 25 to 50 cents and fares on commuter rails would rise by about 6 point 5 percent on average. Public hearings on the plans will begin in November.