MTA proposal would raise LIRR fares 4.4%, activate e-tickets immediately to reduce free rides

In a fresh bid to prevent free rides, some LIRR tickets would expire in just four hours, instead of two months — part of a broader plan to hike the cost of taking a train or bus or driving across a New York City bridge or tunnel.

The proposal includes new discounts and incentives for some Long Island Rail Road riders, including an unlimited day pass. It would also include a 4.4% increase in the average LIRR fare.

One-way electronic tickets would be automatically activated when purchased, and both electronic and paper tickets would no longer expire in 60 days. The change aims to address a growing problem of riders waiting to activate electronic tickets until a conductor comes to inspect them. If a ticket is not activated, passengers can ride for free and save it for future use. 

The railroad has said it loses about $24 million in uncollected fares annually.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority deputy chief of commercial ventures Jessie Lazarus noted at the MTA Board meeting Wednesday that 71% of customers across the authority’s two commuter railroads, the LIRR and Metro-North, use electronic tickets. Although the LIRR instructs riders to activate tickets upon boarding their train, 55% of e-ticket holders wait until they hear a conductor proclaim, "All tickets please!" slowing down the ticket collection process.

If approved by the MTA Board this fall, the policy would require riders to buy their electronic or paper tickets just before boarding a train, just as they did "in the old days," before e-tickets, Lazarus said.

"Very few people chose to buy that ticket onboard, because if the conductor came and you didn’t have a ticket, you were going to pay more to buy it from the conductor," Lazarus said.

Under the proposed plan, if riders wait until a conductor comes around to purchase a ticket on their phone, they automatically will be hit with a $2 onboard penalty, just like with paper tickets. Railroad officials said they will use time stamps to compare when tickets are purchased and when they're scanned. If it's too close together, riders could get hit with a penalty after a series of warnings.

MTA chairman and CEO Janno Lieber said because "90% of riders are actually buying their tickets within the four-hour window" the change will affect relatively few people. "I don’t think this will impact ... people’s behavior dramatically," Lieber said.

'Stole a ride'

MTA Board member Sammy Chu, of Plainview, said the policy changes are "encouraging" and will "go a long way" toward addressing fare evasion on the LIRR.

Chu chided riders who regularly wait to activate tickets with the hope of riding for free.

"You didn’t get lucky. You stole a ride," Chu said. "I would say it is no different from hopping a turnstile."

LIRR riders interviewed Wednesday weren’t thrilled over the prospect of their tickets expiring within just four hours. Waiting at Hicksville for his train to Penn Station, Michael Ramirez, 32, said the reduced period doesn’t take into account that travel plans can change.

"They get a ride, or someone picks them up, or they got to go somewhere and they won't be able to use it," Ramirez, of Hicksville said. "It's just a waste of money at that point."

Asmanaz Qureshi, 24, of Hicksville, acknowledged she typically waits to activate her ticket until the conductor walks down the aisle.

"I don't see why they have to expire at all," Qureshi said. "You already paid for it."

As part of the plan, the LIRR is also doing away with round-trip tickets, replacing them with a Day Pass that will allow for unlimited travel in one day between two zones until 4 a.m. the following day. On weekdays, the pass will be discounted 10% from the price of two peak one-way tickets. On weekends, it will be the price of two off-peak tickets.

The LIRR, for the first time, will also allow riders to "earn free trips," Lazarus said. After buying 10 electronic tickets, riders will get an 11th ticket for free. All trips must be made within two weeks and within the same zones. The program will replace the LIRR’s 10-Trip Ticket.

Toll crossing, subway ride increases

The fare change proposal, which MTA officials expect would take effect in January, will increase the cost of most LIRR tickets by an average of 4.4%, with monthly tickets capped at $500. A monthly pass between Hicksville and Manhattan would go from the current $287 to $299.75.

The cost of a CityTicket will also go up by 25 cents, from $5 to $5.25 during off-peak hours, and from $7 to $7.25 during peak hours. The CityTicket would become a permanent offering, rather than a temporary promotion, as it has been for years.

The cost of a New York City subway or bus ride would climb 10 cents to $3, from the current $2.90.

E-ZPass tolls at major crossings, including the Queens-Midtown  Tunnel and Throgs Neck Bridge, would climb from the current $6.94 to $7.46.

At Penn Station Wednesday, Juju Richards, 25, of Elmont, said her weekly commute to and from Manhattan, where she attends classes at NYU, is "already expensive."

The proposed rate hike "will definitely burn my pocket," she said.

"So many people take the bus and train every day. They’re already making a lot of money," Richards said. "I honestly don’t see why they have to increase the fare."

Jordan Chrysal, 53, who commutes to the city from Port Washington for work, said he was surprised to learn about the proposed fare increase, but still considers his monthly commuter pass a good value.

"I didn’t realize this was on the table," Chrysal said. "We just have to go with it, unfortunately,"

Nicole Black, 31, from Queens, takes the LIRR at least once a week to Huntington. The current $13 off-peak price is already "a little expensive."

"For someone doing it every day that's going to add up," she said. "$26 in one day... that's like two meals."

The MTA plans to hold public hearings on the proposed fare and toll rate changes before having board members vote on them in the fall.

In a statement, Danny Pearlstein, spokesman for the Riders Alliance, a transit advocacy group, defended the MTA’s proposal to raise fares, while pushing New York City government leaders to expand reduced fare programs for low-income residents.

"Fares raise billions of dollars each year to fund public transit services that millions of people ride every day," Pearlstein said. "New York cannot function without that revenue. Our fares help pay wages and benefits for tens of thousands of transit workers, who get us where we need to go."

In another change that some LIRR riders will welcome, reduced fares for seniors and people with disabilities will be offered during morning peak hours for the first time.

Lisa Daglian, executive director of the MTA’s Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee, an advocacy group that has long called for the change, called it a "tangible and meaningful change, which will reduce barriers to employment, education, and health care options for riders who depend on the railroads."

Newsday's Lauren Zola and Mercedes Hamilton contributed to this story.