(Newsday posted the following story by Joie Tyrrell on May 2.)
NEW YORK — Many Long Island Rail Road commuters shelling out 25 percent more for their train tickets yesterday said they would have supported a smaller fare hike, but this was too much to bear.
“Twenty-five percent is way out of line,” said Ira Checkla, an attorney from Jericho who was traveling to Manhattan from Hicksville yesterday. His monthly ticket jumped from $154 to $192.
“The timing couldn’t have been worse. It’s a tough economy,” he said. “Two to three years ago, riders would have supported a small increase but right now it’s definitely disproportionate.”
The first fare increase since 1995 went into effect yesterday as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority raised rail ticket prices by an average of 25 percent. Subway and bus fares rise Sunday from $1.50 to $2. MTA officials had said they needed to raise fares to offset significant deficits in the agency, but that has become a matter of dispute as the city and state comptrollers accused them of hiding funds to support the increase.
The Straphangers Campaign, a transit advocacy group in Manhattan, sought yesterday to stop the fare hike in its tracks by filing suit against the MTA. State Supreme Court Justice Louis York delayed the group’s request for a temporary restraining order yesterday, saying he needed to examine whether it has the right to sue over the fare hikes. York could rule as early as today on whether to temporarily block the fare hikes, while awaiting a full hearing on the issue next week.
The Straphangers are arguing that the increases should be blocked because the 10 public hearings the Metropolitan Transportation Authority held earlier this year were a sham because the agency provided inaccurate financial information.
Florence Dean, an attorney for New York City Transit, said that if York orders the MTA to delay Sunday’s subway and bus fare hike there would be “chaos and confusion” as workers scrambled to undo seven weeks of preparation for the hike.
The court’s involvement had made Deann Arce, an interior designer from Hicksville, hopeful yesterday. She purchased a one-way off-peak ticket in the morning with the 25-percent increase intact, but was hoping a rollback would be in effect by the time she had to travel home later in the day.
“The percentage is just unfair,” said Arce as she stood on the platform at the Hicksville station. “In light of what they just found out, we shouldn’t have to be paying that high of a percentage.”
Yovamy Torres, who travels from Manhattan to Hicksville for work as a restaurant manager in Plainview, said he will ask his employer for more money or find other ways to get to work. “It’s going to be $100 more a month,” he said. “Maybe I will get a car. It would be cheaper.”
In addition to the fare hikes, the MTA has also altered a number of discounts and policies, including eliminating the forgotten ticket policy. Under the policy, monthly ticketholders who forgot their tickets received a refund for the daily ticket they purchased. Now they will not.
Commuter Elizabeth Jones, a home health aide worker from Westbury, said she understands that rising costs have forced the MTA to increase prices. She said she has been pleased with the LIRR’s service even though the eastbound train she was waiting for yesterday was running more than 20 minutes late.
“They have to do what they have to do,” she said. “And I’ll have to be cutting back.”