THE MBTA’S OVERSIGHT BOARD voted unanimously on Monday to seek public comment on two proposals that would raise base fares by either 5 or 10 percent while increasing the price of many popular T passes by greater amounts.

Under the two proposals, the Charlie Card single-ride subway fare would rise from $2.10 to either $2.20 (an increase of 4.8 percent) or $2.25 (a boost of 7.1 percent).  Those using a Charlie ticket for a subway ride would see the fare rise from $2.65 to $2.75 under both options.

Meanwhile, the popular LinkPass, which offers unlimited bus and subway travel, would go from $75 a month to either $82.50 (an increase of 10 percent) or $84.50 (a 12.7 percent increase).  The local bus pass would rise from $50 a month to either $58 (a 16 percent increase) or $59.75 (a 19.5 percent increase). The student LinkPass would rise under both proposals from $26 to $32, an increase of 23.1 percent.  The commuter rail portion of most commuter rail passes would barely change under the two proposals.

The T’s five-member Fiscal Management and Control Board was presented with four different fare options by agency staff and voted to seek public comment on just two of those. The two proposals that were rejected would have raised the price of all fare products by 5 or 10 percent, and would not have increased pass prices appreciably.

T officials said they plan to seek public comment on the two proposals in January and February, vote on a final fare proposal in March, and then have it take effect on July 1. They said the final proposal may end up being very different from what is being put on the table now.

Although the fare increase discussion is beginning before the T tries to bring spending more in line with revenues, officials at the transit agency stressed that they are not putting the cart before the horse. They said the fare discussion was dictated by the time needed to implement a fare increase on July 1. They said the actual fare increase would come only after other measures are taken to close an estimated $242 million budget gap for fiscal 2017, which begins July 1.

“We have a lot of work to do on cost containment and increasing non-fare revenue so that the public is satisfied that the fare increase that would take effect on July 1 is part of a broader strategy and we’re not going to our riders first,” said Stephanie Pollack, the governor’s secretary of transportation, who sits in on the oversight board’s meetings. “That said, we’re probably going to need our riders to help us out in closing the budget gap.”

T officials said their analysis indicates the 5 percent option would not have a disproportionate impact on poor or minority riders. A similar analysis of the 10 percent option is not completed yet, apparently because it was added late to the list of options presented to the Fiscal Management and Control Board.

A law passed in 2013 limits any fare increase to 10 percent over a two-year period, although some state senators and transportation advocates claim the law allows only a 5 percent increase. Pollack said both pricing proposals approved by the Fiscal Management and Control Board on Monday do not exceed the 10 percent threshold for base fares. She said the system-wide average increase for the two proposals would be 6.71 percent and 9.77 percent. She acknowledged the price of many T passes will go up more than 10 percent, but she said passes are not fares; she described passes as discounts off of fares.

“We have very deeply discounted passes, more than other big-city transit systems,” Pollack said. “Our passes are a great deal. We want them to stay a good deal, but we think there’s room to increase the cost of the passes without losing ridership.”

The cost of the LinkPass, for example, would rise to either $82.50 or $84.50 under the two proposals going to the public for comment. MBTA staff said the equivalent pass in other cites goes for much more — $116.50 in New York City, $91 in Philadelphia, $100 in Chicago, and $100 in Portland, Oregon.

Pollack also noted that many T customers purchase transit passes through payroll deductions using pretax dollars, which tends to limit the impact of any price increase. For example, she said a customer purchasing a LinkPass through payroll deductions would see his paycheck decline by only $3 if the price of a LinkPass rose $7.50 to $82.50.

The T has already included $23.4 million in revenue from a 5 percent increase in base prices in its budget outline for fiscal 2017. The two options now on the table would bring in an extra $9.8 million or $26 million. The total revenue yield from the two proposed fare options would be $33.2 million and $49.4 million, respectively.

T officials estimate the two fare proposals would decrease ridership by 1.2 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively. But the officials said the estimates are conservative and are unlikely to come to pass. They noted ridership actually went up after fares were increased in fiscal 2014, at least until January 2015 when heavy snowstorms disabled the transit system.

T officials hope to close the bulk of the fiscal 2017 budget deficit through internal cost control measures; increased revenues from advertising, real estate, and parking; and by eliminating or out-sourcing services with low ridership or high subsidies. For example, T officials are working to reduce overtime costs, which have risen sharply the last few years. They said they also plan to offer some workers early retirement , reduce bus maintenance costs, and shift 30 percent of people using The Ride to taxis and ride-sharing apps such as Uber and Lyft.

In fiscal 2016, the T collected $602.6 million in fare revenue, which represented about 40 percent of its non-debt operating expenses. State law sets a goal of 50 percent, but reaching that target will probably take time. Indeed, T officials said the percentage may decline slightly in the coming fiscal year as workers currently being paid with capital funds are shifted to the operating budget.

T officials acknowledged that many fares are going uncollected currently because of bureaucratic failures or fare evasion, but they said they couldn’t estimate the size of the losses.

Officials said the T website would be equipped later this week with an interactive system that will allow riders to check how the two fare proposals would personally affect them.  In the meantime, to review the fare increases, click here.

The T officials said they had considered more exotic fare approaches, including pricing based on when a person rides the T or based on a user’s income. But the officials said they concluded there wasn’t enough time before July 1 to put such complicated systems in place.

Pollack described raising fares as a balancing act. “A larger increase would bring more money to the T and mean other things wouldn’t have to be cut,” she said. “But we also know that it would have a greater impact on our riders, so we need to balance those two things.”

After a meeting of Beacon Hill’s Big Three, legislative leaders raised concerns about fare hikes. House Speaker Robert DeLeo said he would first like to see other revenue options explored, while Senate President Stanley Rosenberg said he was worried that fare hikes would discourage riders from using the T. He also said he believes state law limits any fare hike to 5 percent.

Gov. Charlie Baker seemed more open to a fare increase, suggesting that those who use the transit agency should bear more of its cost. “We should never forget most people in Massachusetts who don’t ride the T write a billion-dollar check every year to support the T, and we need to keep their interests in mind as we have this conversation.”