LIRR fares rise for first time in four years

Long Island Rail Road riders can expect a modest uptick — roughly 4.3 percent — in the price of their weekly and monthly tickets. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the LIRR parent company, voted unanimously to raise the base fare prices for LIRR train trips earlier this month for the first time in four years. The rate hike will start on or around Aug. 20.

The price increase translates to a one-way ticket from Long Beach to Manhattan, rising from $14 to $14.50 during peak hours, and from $10.25 to $10.75 during non-peak hours.

While the agency customarily raises fares every two years, MTA officials held off on an anticipated round of fare increases in 2021 for fear it would drive away commuters from using mass transit at a time when winning them back was key. It also still had billions of dollars in federal coronavirus pandemic relief funds it could tap into.

“They changed the schedule inconveniencing everyone especially those of us going to Atlantic Terminal,” Glen Ohringer, an East Meadow resident, wrote on Facebook, “and now they want us to pay more for the privilege of having to run to catch the connecting Atlantic train every day.”

The MTA’s financial situation came to a head earlier this year when it was announced the agency faced a projected $2.5 billion budget gap by 2025. The agency has since managed to stave off financial ruin and avoid making drastic service cuts after Gov. Kathy Hochul and lawmakers promised to pump millions of dollars in added funding.

“We have to face the harsh reality of MTA’s fiscal cliff,” Hochul noted in her 2024 executive budget address. “A problem that was created by almost the complete cessation of ridership during the pandemic — except for emergency workers, first responders, and health care workers.”

This change in fares comes only six months after the opening of Grand Central Madison. The terminal runs along Madison Avenue between 43rd and 48th streets and accommodates all 11 LIRR lines.

The benefits include less crowding at Penn Station and the nearby subway stations, and easier access to the east side of Manhattan.

East Meadow and Westbury commuters didn’t seem to think that the new addition had many benefits.

Regina Isakova from East Meadow wrote in a Facebook post back in January that the commute in the mornings from Bellmore or Merrick makes the trip longer. “The wait between the trains to GCM can be up to 30 minutes. Who has that kind of time to waste?” Isakova wrote. “There are several express trains to Penn Station in the morning that are more convenient to take.”

Meanwhile, Westbury resident Roselle Koutsogiannis, wrote to the Herald that she thinks it will help her commute. “I took a look at the schedule. I think my commute from Westbury will be a few minutes quicker. The only good thing for me is it’s a much more doable walk from (Grand Central) and I can avoid the subway.”

Critics and observers, however, argue that the MTA’s budgetary problems reach back to decades of fiscal troubles and structurally shabby budget practices resulting in expenses outpacing revenue.

The current fare bump — and those still on the way — are part of the roughly $1.3 billion bailout deal struck between the transit giant and the state, said MTA chair and chief executive Janno Lieber.

On balance with the LIRR dropping fare prices by 10 percent last year, “the fares are still (comparatively) lower than they used to be, even though everything else in life has gone up,” Lieber said.