So . . . Tourists And Convicts . . . Anyone Else?

Who benefits most from keeping subway and bus fares at $2? Besides tourists, I mean. Inmates:

Jailbirds are among those thanking the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for maintaining the $2 pay-per-ride MetroCard — part of a restructured fare-hike proposal supported by Gov. Spitzer and Mayor Bloomberg that will save the base fare while raising the price of unlimited cards used by 86 percent of riders.

Recently released convicts must buy a two-ride, $4 MetroCard with money in their inmate accounts when they’re sprung from Rikers Island.

. . .

“I’m glad they didn’t raise it,” said 59-year-old Roberto Gonzalez of Bushwick, Brooklyn, who has been locked up since Dec. 8 for burglary and menacing.

But he admits he had other things on his mind while in the city’s infamous lockup.

“I wasn’t thinking about the fare hikes,” he said. “[Rikers] is full of Crips, Bloods, MS-13s . . . And they’re full of attitude.”

The Correction Department buys about $160,000 worth of MetroCards a year for inmates to use upon their release, a spokesman said.

“We issue them to inmates who do not have sufficient money in their accounts as they’re being discharged from jail,” said a spokesman.