Updated, 2:49 p.m. | Bowing to pressure from Gov. David A. Paterson and State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted unanimously on Wednesday morning to revoke free travel privileges it had extended to former and current members of its board, allowing them unlimited use of E-ZPass tags as well as travel on the authority’s commuter railroads, subways and buses.

The vote, which was made at the authority’s Madison Avenue headquarters after board members met behind closed doors for an hour and 18 minutes, occurred without public debate. The vote was 12 to 0, with one member abstaining.

Under the new policy, former board members, and spouses of former and current board members, will not receive any free travel privileges. Current board members may still use E-ZPass tags and travel for free on the authority’s railroads, subways and buses — but only while traveling on official M.T.A. business.

The vote represented an end to the highly publicized hubbub that started late last month, when Mr. Cuomo warned that the authority’s practice of extending free travel benefits violated state law, which requires that board members serve without compensation.

Board members at first threatened to go to court to defend the free travel privileges, but facing mounting public pressure, the board backed down and said it would change its policies.

That seemed to end the matter. But then, last week, some board members said they had second thoughts and defended the free travel as an important part of their jobs overseeing the region’s mass transit system. “Why should I ride and inconvenience myself when I can ride in a car?” asked David S. Mack, a board vice chairman who represents Nassau County. The comment, which was widely reported in the news media, drew scorn from officials.

Mr. Paterson said that any attempt to hold on to the travel privileges would show “an utter contempt for average New Yorkers” at a time of rising gas and food prices. The board quickly backed down, once again, and Mr. Mack, in a statement last Wednesday, said, “I regret that my comments yesterday did not reflect my commitment to the M.T.A. and the work it does to provide the best public transportation system in the United States.”

Today’s vote occurred after board members met in executive session, their deliberations closed to the public. Normally, the board is required to hold all its meetings in public, but members said that the potential for litigation from Mr. Cuomo’s office justified their meeting in private.

In the public vote that followed the executive session, one member, James L. Sedore Jr., who represents Dutchess County, abstained. Two members, Andrew M. Saul, a vice chairman of the board who represents Westchester County, and Robert C. Bickford, a new board member representing Putnam County, were absent. (One board member, Francis H. Powers of Staten Island, died on Saturday and has not been replaced.)

The M.T.A. board is a complex entity. The 17 voting members are all technically appointed by the governor, but effectively, six report to the governor, four represent the mayor of New York City, and three are delegates from Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk Counties. The last four voting members, all from suburban counties, collectively share one vote. There are 14 votes. There are six additional, nonvoting members, representing labor unions and riders’ advocacy groups.

On Wednesday afternoon, a few hours after the vote, the authority also said that former board members would also be required to return parking placards issued by the authority’s Police Department. Current members will continue to be allowed to use the placards on official business.

H. Dale Hemmerdinger, the M.T.A. chairman, said in a statement: “No M.T.A. board member serves for a free pass — we are all here to serve the public good. We hope that this policy change will make that clear and allow us to return our focus to tackling the difficult challenges facing the transportation system.”

Sewell Chan contributed reporting.