Uber is Costing the MTA Millions of Dollars a Year. (But That's a Pittance.)

Ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft are costing MTA about $10 million a year, according to Robert Foran, the transportation agency's chief financial officer.

That's because app-based car service business is growing while taxi ridership in New York City is on the decline, and the MTA gets 50 cents from each street hail.

"We were hoping that the whole pie would grow, and that we would end up being held harmless," Foran said. "But that doesn't seem to be happening."

In fact, it could get worse as the apps continue to catch on.

Applying the surcharge to app-based rides would require legislative approval. Uber, which spends $200,000 on New York lobbyists, has opposed the idea because its customers are already subject to the 8.875 percent city sales tax. Taxi passengers aren't. In fact, according to Uber, its riders pay four times more in taxes per ride than taxi passengers do.

"This imbalance has generated a total of $40 million in revenue to the city and state in the first half of this year alone to spend as they please," Uber spokesman Matt Wing said.

A very small portion of the sales tax — 0.375 percent — is dedicated to the MTA. But that pales in comparison to the 50-cent surcharge, which was added in 2009 to bail out the MTA. 

"An Uber or Lyft app ride would have to be about a $133 fare," Foran said, "to equate to a 50-cent drop charge."

A spokesman for the de Blasio administration, which has battled Uber in the past, said the issue is part of a larger study about the impact of app-based services in New York.

"Maintaining funding for public transit is a critical priority for us," Wiley Norvell said. "And this is a key aspect of our current study of the for-hire vehicle sector. We want to ensure the support is there long-term for the MTA to provide essential transit for working New Yorkers."

But to put some of these numbers in context, the MTA's operating budget is roughly $15 billion a year. When it first added a $1 fee to the cost of the MetroCard back in 2013, the agency made $10 million off of it in five months.