Long Island Rail Road fares will increase at the end of the year for the first time since 2019, but not as high as originally thought, MTA officials said Monday.
The Metropolitan Transport Authority, at its finance committee meeting on Monday, revealed it was backtracking on a plan to raise fares by 5.5%, which would have been the biggest fare increase in a decade Instead, the transit agency, buoyed by a state payroll tax increase that will boost revenue by $1.1 billion a year, will return to its usual 4 percent fare increase.
The agency typically adheres to a schedule of raising fares and tolls by 4 percent every two years, but postponed a hike in 2021 and 2022, citing financial hardship among motorists caused by the pandemic.
Tolls, however, will still increase by 5.5% under the proposal.
The MTA plans to hold six public hearings on its fare increase plan next month and have its board vote on the proposal in July. The new rates and tolls would go into effect on Labor Day.
The MTA projected a recurring annual shortfall of up to $2 billion, largely caused by ridership losses during the pandemic. MTA Chief Financial Officer Kevin Willens told board members that the “reasonable fare and toll increases,” when combined with new state aid and an effort to reduce the agency’s costs of traffic by $400 million annually, “provide a balanced solution to fully address the MTA fiscal cliff.
While the goal is to increase overall fare revenue by 4%, the actual cost increases for users will vary. On the LIRR, weekly and monthly tickets would increase by an average of 4.3%, with no ticket exceeding $500. Return tickets would rise by 4.6%.
The discount on an off-peak LIRR ticket, compared to a peak ticket, would also be reduced from 27.5% to 26%.
The MTA also announced it was considering testing several new types of fares on the LIRR, including a Peak CityTicket that would charge $7 for trips made within New York City limits during weekday rush hours. At current prices, these rides can cost anywhere from $9 to $12.75. The LIRR is also proposing to expand the CityTicket to include the Far Rockaway station. The LIRR is also proposing to expand the CityTicket to include the Far Rockaway station.
Given the new fare discount initiatives, which include plans to pilot several free bus routes in New York City, and plans to increase subway frequency, several MTA board members expressed their support for the tariff increase.
Finance Committee Chairman Neal Zuckerman noted that it was the MTA’s first fare increase in four years and “reasonable” given cost increases at the MTA, which still has a 30% fewer runners than before COVID.
Even after the proposed increase, the cost of a monthly LIRR pass would remain below what it was in 2019, as the railroad last year cut the cost by 10 percent.
“We have to do this,” Zuckerman said. “It’s appropriate.”
Others criticized the planned increase, including Danny Pearlstein, a spokesman for the Riders Alliance, a transit advocacy group, who urged New York City to expand eligibility requirements for reduced fares so that “New Yorkers of low-income people would never feel the sting of a tariff. hike that will go into effect on Labor Day.”
On New York City’s subways and buses, the MTA is proposing to raise the cost of a single ride for the first time in eight years. The $2.75 “base rate” would rise to $2.90 under the plan, a 5.5 percent increase. Because it accepts the MetroCard, Nassau’s NICE Bus would change its fare to reflect that of MTA buses, a NICE spokesperson confirmed.
Lisa Daglian, executive director of the MTA’s Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee, which includes the LIRR Neighborhood Council, said that while fare increases are never popular, “they are necessary to maintain our transit system “.
Daglian, however, cautioned the MTA against a proposal to eliminate the LIRR’s “Atlantic Ticket,” which offered $5 LIRR rides between stations in southeast Queens and Brooklyn, plus a free bus transfer or subway. Eliminating “the only option to transfer between commuter rail and NYC Transit with a fare would be a huge mistake,” Daglian said in a statement.
The MTA is proposing two options for raising tolls at its bridges and crossings. In one scenario, tolls would increase 7 percent for all riders, making the cost of major crossings like the Queens Midtown Tunnel and Throgs Neck Bridge $7.01 for E-ZPass customers, more than Current $6.55.
An alternative plan would raise tolls by 6 percent for E-ZPass users and 10 percent for non-E-ZPass users, who would pay $11.19 at major intersections.
MTA offers excursions
Weekly and monthly LIRR tickets: 4.3% on average
Round trip LIRR ticket: 4.6%
NYC Subway/Bus Single Rides: 5.5% to $2.90
E-ZPass tolls: 6% to 7%
Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two children.
