(Newsday.com posted the following story by Joie Tyrrell on January 28.)
NEW YORK — In addition to a possible fare increase, MTA officials are considering trimming some commuter discounts and combining the fare zones that include Port Jefferson and Ronkonkoma.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority budget officials unveiled a slew of cost-saving proposals in a finance committee meeting yesterday that they hope will help ease a nearly $1-billion deficit. Many of the proposals, including selling Long Island Rail Road tickets on the Internet, emphasized advance ticket sales.
Proposals include reducing the monthly ticket discounts in some parts of eastern Suffolk County by 1.5 percent and cutting discounts on weekly and off-peak ticket prices Islandwide. The MTA also could increase the penalty for buying a ticket aboard a train to $3, a dollar increase.
Commuters who buy monthly, weekly, 10-trip and off-peak tickets pay a discounted price over a top-dollar ticket at rush hour. Prices vary by the distance traveled.
MTA spokesman Tom Kelly said yesterday that the fare structure changes are merely suggestions subject to public hearings that start next month. The public will also get to comment on the MTA’s proposal to raise ticket prices by 10, 20 or as much as 33 percent. Hearings will be held at Hofstra University’s Student Center at 4 p.m. Feb. 10 and at the Student Activities Center at Stony Brook University at 4 p.m. Feb. 11.
“Nothing is set in stone,” Kelly said.
According to MTA documents, the 1.5 percent cut in monthly discount tickets would take place in the “outermost fare zones,” but Kelly did not detail which zones would be affected.
The MTA is also looking at combining zones 10 and 11 on the LIRR. Zone 10 includes Bay Shore to Sayville, Brentwood, Ronkonkoma, Kings Park and Smithtown. Zone 11 includes Patchogue, Medford, St. James, Stony Brook and Port Jefferson.
Commuters in Zone 11 pay $214 for their monthly tickets compared with $200 for those within Zone 10. It was unclear yesterday how the consolidation of zones would affect ticket prices.
However, Peter Haynes, president of a transit advocacy group called the Long Island Rail Road Commuters Campaign, said it could mean some riders will be paying more.
“I would imagine the new zone could be something like $230 so the Patchogue people would be paying $16 a month more and the Sayville people $30 a month” more, he said. “But the new zone itself isn’t really going to matter that much. It’s the fare increase that is really going to hit people in the pocketbook.”
The MTA also proposed a number of changes to ease the merger of the LIRR and Metro North announced last year.
Yesterday, MTA budget officials said the agency could eliminate the LIRR’s policy that monthly ticket holders can receive a refund if they forget their ticket and have to buy a daily ticket. Metro North has no such policy.
“What it looked like to me is that this is the beginning of the merger of the two railroads,” said Beverly Dolinsky, executive director of the Long Island Rail Road Commuter’s Council, an advocacy group. “The bottom line is they want to make it one railroad and the fare policy has to be the same.”
The MTA also introduced some new discounts, most geared to pushing advance ticket sales. For example, 10-trip off-peak discounts would rise from 10 percent to 15 percent.
Commuters who purchase fares on the Internet would receive a 2 percent discount on monthly tickets and 5 percent on all other tickets. Customers who buy through the mail would receive a 2 percent discount on monthly tickets.
The proposed changes would not take place until after the MTA board approves a fare package, which could happen in February or March, MTA officials said.