NEW YORK, NY- – New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer called on the MTA to lower the fare for using
the LIRR and Metro-North within the five boroughs to the cost of a MetroCard swipe.
“New York City’s transit system is in crisis. While commuter rail tracks carve through the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, working New Yorkers are stuck behind an unacceptable pay wall, forced to pay an exorbitant amount or spend extra hours stuck on overcrowded subways and buses,” Stringer said.
The Comptroller’s plan would expand mass transit in 31 neighborhoods in the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn, offering another option to about 1.4 million residents. This would relieve overcrowding on subways and buses and cut the commute for many New Yorkers. Stringer argues that large fares have limited the use of commuter rail stations, leaving trains with a significant amount of space and that trains skip over city stations nearly 80 percent of the time during the morning rush, leading commuters to spend hours longer on buses and subways to get around.
“New Yorkers shouldn’t be held hostage by the MTA to get home to their families, and they shouldn’t have to spend extra hours crammed on the subway and bus to make ends meet. Affordable Metro-North and LIRR service would give New Yorkers more time with their family and friends, cut congestion on our streets and in our subways, and expand economic accessibility for hundreds of thousands of people. The MTA should stand clear of the doors, not hold service from the straphangers who need it most,” said Stringer.
