Long Island Rail Road refunding little to riders; MTA’s Foye asking for $4B federal bailout

Written by RT&S Staff

Most Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) customers expecting to receive a refund for their cancelled monthly passes are getting coins instead of bills.

LIRR monthly passes range in price from $197 to $500, and when riders stopped using the train service earlier this month due to coronavirus concerns many of them received a refund of just 50 cents. According to LIRR’s refund policy, monthly passes are discounted by about 50 percent when compared to the cost of 42 one-way tickets, but the discount is exempt once the ticket is turned in for a refund. LIRR determines refunds by deducting the cost of one-way and/or weekly fares for the period the ticket has been in the customer’s possession.

LIRR expects to receive over 5,000 refund requests for March monthly tickets. State lawmakers sent a letter to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which overseas LIRR, requesting the agency to facilitate the process and waive the $10 processing fee. MTA is considering the request, but so far no action has been taken.

Meanwhile, MTA Chairman Patrick Foye is asking for $4 billion in relief from the federal government to help offset the expenses. The LIRR alone has experienced a ridership drop of about 70 percent. MTA also is in need of funds to help pay for sanitization efforts which have been increased over the past couple of weeks due to the coronavirus. The MTA is looking at serious service cuts in an attempt to cut back on costs.

For the latest news, go to www.rtands.com.

More on passenger rail.

Tags: , , , ,

Media