To: LIRR President c:Nicholas Otte

From: Usman, Reinalynkate, Aunn

Subject: LIRR Price Report – The Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Date: October 8, 2020

The purpose of this memo is to present our issues regarding the LIRR. The goal of this memo is to introduce a new fare plan regarding the LIRR that would overall allow cheaper fare for its riders.

Summary

The fluctuating and unreasonable prices of the LIRR for New York residents have put an unnecessary amount of financial pressure on the rider’s commutes. We would like to hold a meeting with the LIRR president and representatives

Discussion 

The transit system is an essential part of today’s transportation for many people within New York City. An example of these transit systems is the Long Island Rail Road(LIRR) which is being used daily by thousands of New Yorkers every day. The main issue regarding the LIRR is the high pricing for its fares with individuals paying an average of more than $334 per month according to a Newsday article. Some individuals may be able to afford the LIRR, but not all can afford this high pricing. According to the Center for New York City Affair, about forty percent of New Yorkers cannot afford the basic cost of standard living in New York City with south manhattan having a minimum standard cost of living of $85,877. With the added high pricing of the LIRR tickets, this puts financial stress on individuals especially if they are considered as one of the forty percent who cannot afford the standard living in New York City.

Due to the inflated ticket prices of the LIRR the service should be outstanding, but it’s the exact opposite. According to the article, LIRR Commuters Decry Quality Amid Fare Hikes (Fincham, 2018) “From 2007 to 2017, monthly pass ticket fares from Mineola to Penn Station have increased by 31.8 percent while commuters say trains regularly run late, are overcrowded and 

are not as clean as they had been in previous years.” Running late and sanitation should not be a worry for individuals paying such a high amount for train services. There are only two ways to get to the city from Long Island, it’s either by car or the LIRR. Many students cannot afford cars plus the hassle of finding legal parking in the city would consume too much time and let’s not start with the traffic. This makes it so the only option is to use the LIRR, even though the prices are jacked up most of the people have no real choice. A Hicksville resident that goes to Stony Brook University also claims (Fincham, 2018) “I’ve lived in Nassau County almost my whole life, but given the opportunity, I would still take the LIRR. There’s really no other option, but convenience definitely matters and needs to be improved.” She’s in a situation where she can only take the LIRR for transport so she’s at least demanding for better service overall.

Doing some math, taking the annual ridership from 2018 and the fair monthly, riders would have made the LIRR almost $30 billion dollars in fares alone. Riders pay $334 monthly to even have access to the LIRR commute. Cutting the fare down from $334 to even $200 would still make the LIRR more than enough money to sustain their employees and facilities accumulating $17 billion with $200 monthly ride fares.  By taking the steps of reducing the pricing fare for LIRR commuters, this will allow a cheaper and more accessible fair to all commuters. 

A price discount should be implemented that would ensure that individuals are paying less than what they are paying averagely at an outrageous price of $334 monthly. 

Recommendation

We would like to have the opportunity to meet with the LIRR president, his representatives, and financial advisor and provide our insight on the best ways we can deal with the pricing of the LIRR fare. We have the best interest of the many individuals who use the LIRR and we wish to provide the best outcome for them. You can contact us with any questions or concerns that you may have regarding our proposal.

Sources 

1) Sheena Wright and Merble Reagon, “Forty Percent of NYC’s Working Families Don’t Make Enough to Afford Basics, a New Study Shows”, 03/07/2019, http://www.centernyc.org/forty-per cent-of-nycs-working-families-dont.

2)Afonso A. Castillo, Discount programs, federal tax benefits, other deals can help save on LIRR tickets, 10/04/2019, https://www.newsday.com/long-island/transportation/lir r-rider-tips-1 .37092245.

3) Afonso A. Castillo, “NYC-only riders to pay less for riding the LIRR”, 02/26/2020 https://www.newsday.com/long-island/transportation/lirr-fare-discounts -new-york-city-1.422

29112. 

4) Fincham, K. (2018, March 14). LIRR commuters decry quality amid fare hikes. Retrieved October 15, 2020, from https://longislandreport.org/news/lirr-commuters-decry-quality-amid-fare-hikes-2/25947

5) Baruch, College. “Long Island Railroad (LIRR) – Statistics.” NYCdata: Long Island Railroad (LIRR) – Statistics, 2018, www.baruch.cuny.edu/nycdata/travel/lirr-stats.htm. 

6) Deloitte & Touche. “MTA Independent Auditors’ Review Report.” MTA Info, 31 Mar. 2020, new.mta.info/document/18496.

Roles

Top Supervisor- Aunn

Research Director- Reinalynkate

Submission Manager- Usman