NEW YORK — Long Island Rail Road commuters will get to have their say about a proposed fare hike that could raise ticket prices by 10, 20 or 30 percent and boost subway fares to $2, according to Newsday.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board voted yesterday to hold public hearings in all five boroughs and in almost every county in which the MTA operates before deciding how much to raise fares. The MTA is considering three options and won’t decide which financial plan to pick until after public hearings are held early next year, MTA spokesman Tom Kelly said. Fare hikes would follow in early spring.
Also, the MTA approved the LIRR’s 2003 operating budget yesterday, which could call for some cuts in service depending on the MTA’s financial picture.
In case of a 20-percent ticket price increase, the LIRR budget introduced earlier this month calls for eliminating five peak trains and closing seven ticket windows on the weekends. In the case of a 10-percent fare hike, the LIRR would have to sharply curtail service, cutting about 10 peak trains. No details were given in the event of a 30-percent fare increase. City bus and subway fares would go up 25 cents or 50 cents and tolls on bridges and tunnels the same amount, depending on what the MTA decides.
LIRR president Ken Bauer said yesterday the 2003 operating budget is fluid and could change depending on the MTA’s fare-hike decision. The $1.02-billion LIRR budget has a $425.1-million cash deficit, roughly $8 million more than this year’s deficit.
“If there are changes that come about when the full board looks at the financial plan, then we will have to make the necessary adjustments,” Bauer said.
The railroad has not identified which lines would face cuts or which ticket windows would be closed. Bauer has said the trains would be shoulder trains, meaning near the end or start of the rush hour.
Bauer said the public will be able to comment on the LIRR budget at the hearings.
However, at least one transit watchdog group said the MTA’s public hearings will be inconsequential.
“I think it is largely lip service,” said Peter Haynes, president of the Long Island Rail Road Commuters Campaign. “They are giving the public a chance to vent and then they are going to go and raise the fare by whatever they had in mind anyway.”
MTA chairman Peter Kalikow said yesterday that the authority will listen to the public at the hearings. He also said that the fare hike is not linked to the settlement of the recent transit union contract.
MTA officials have said the authority has to raise fares as it faces a $1.1-billion budget hole in 2003 and $1.7 billion in 2004.
“We will take the advice seriously,” Kalikow said.