(The following article by Jennifer Maloney was posted on the Newsday website on April 3.)
NEW YORK — Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North commuters stood in long lines Monday morning, unable to buy monthly and weekly tickets because the railroads’ ticket machines were not accepting credit or debit cards, the LIRR said.
Railroad officials said that Chase Banking Services, the bank that processes those transactions, had technical problems. A Chase spokeswoman did not return calls for comment.
Many riders buy their monthly and weekly passes from ticket machines on the first Monday of the month. But Monday, as the machines worked intermittently between 6:30 a.m. and 10 a.m., many were forced to pay cash for one-way tickets.
“I would have needed 65 dollars to buy the weekly,” said Frank Marcinek, 45, of Levittown, who arrived early at the Hicksville station yesterday to buy his pass. “I didn’t have that kind of money on me.”
Marcinek used a 10-trip ticket he keeps for emergencies.
Both railroads said they would compensate riders by accepting March monthly tickets until 10 a.m. Tuesday. They also pledged to refund the difference between the station fare and the on-board price for passengers who were forced to buy a ticket on the train. LIRR tickets bought on the train can cost between $4.75 and $5.50 more than tickets bought before boarding.
The LIRR also said it would give a credit or refunds for passengers who were forced to buy a one-way ticket.
And one passenger said a ticket machine charged her credit card $203 for a monthly ticket that never appeared.
“I came in to work, logged onto my [bank Web site], found out that my $203 was debited from my account,” said Marianne Kiernan, of Levittown.
LIRR refunds can be submitted to: LIRR Refund Department, P.O. Box 350383, Jamaica, NY 11435.