Customers can text “CooCoo” for LIRR fare info

February 14, 2001 MTA Long Island Rail Road customers can now obtain train fare information via cell phone text message from CooCoo, the Long Island-based text engine company that has been providing train schedules and service updates via cell phone at no extra cost beyond the phone company's standard texting fee.

Since CooCoo debuted its
LIRR travel information in January, some 50,000 unique users have tried the
service, with 77 percent coming back to use it again. Between 300 and 500
additional LIRR customers are discovering the convenience of CooCoo every day.

Texting station-to-station
request to 266266 (that spells CooCoo) gets train information in second, including
departure/arrival time, ticket prices and service updates. The company
estimates it will answer more than 1.8 million requests this year at the
current rate of daily usage.

"We are excited
about the innovative way CooCoo is getting LIRR travel information to the
public and that it’s being done at no cost to the MTA," said MTA Chairman
and CEO Jay H. Walder. "The addition of ticket prices to this service is
another positive step in an experiment that is promising to help us
revolutionize the way mass transit data is provided in New York."

Long Island Rail Road
President Helena Williams said: "Customer response to CooCoo has been very
encouraging. Our customers like the option of getting train and now fare information
via cell phone. It’s very convenient and in the long run should help drive down
our costs."

CooCoo Co-Founder John
Tunney said: "The fact that CooCoo is so user-friendly is why we’re
getting such a high delight factor among LIRR customers. At CooCoo, our plan is
to continue to introduce more innovative services for mass transit riders as
time goes on."

CooCoo is the latest in a
series of enhanced LIRR customer communication efforts. Customers can also
receive free, real-time customer E-Alerts by signing up at www.mta.info/lirr.