For some commuters, raised fees a hardship

Commuters scurrying to catch trains at the Ronkonkoma station early Friday said they were not pleased with LIRR fare increases the MTA board approved Thursday.

Riders on the Long Island Rail Road will see steep fare increases of 7.6 percent to 9.4 percent starting Dec. 30. Transit riders throughout the region will also see hikes.

"It's too much money," said R.J. Rameshar, 51, a maintenance worker from Holbrook who rides the train six times a week to Brentwood for his job. His daily round-trip fee for the train rides is $6. He also said he has to take a bus, and if he misses the bus, he has to catch a cab.

"It keeps going up and up," he said.

The period of time for which tickets will be valid will be significantly shorter - one-way passes will be good for two weeks instead of six months - and discounts for tickets ordered by mail or on the Internet will be reduced or eliminated.

The hikes are the third set of increases in three years.

Mary McCabe, 45, an adoption counselor from Bay Shore, called her $30 fee Friday for a round trip from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station "ridiculous."

SEE PHOTOSLIRR trains and commuters through the years

"It makes me so mad, I want to drive," said McCabe, who uses the train about once a month for her job. "Then I look at the traffic on the LIE and, well ..."

Coleen DeVita, 49, a Verizon employee from Centereach, uses the train sparingly to get to training sessions for her job.

"I think it's terrible," she said. "People need to use transportation, and salaries aren't going up as fast as everything else."

DeVita said she often sees commuters standing on trains because the LIRR has reduced the number of trains. "So you can't even get a seat sometimes."

Elliot Gonzalez, 43, of Ronkonkoma, is a daily commuter to Brentwood, where he works for a general contractor in construction.

"It's gone up twice since I moved up here," said Gonzalez, who moved to Long Island from Philadelphia last year. "It's definitely going to affect me."

Zuri Douglas, 23, of Medford, said she has to buy a ticket each day because the starting time varies for her Manhattan job as a call-center representative. "It's a lot for me," she said of the $150 weekly transportation fee. "And I take a subway every day, too."

Douglas said she puts aside money from her paycheck for transportation costs, and what's left over goes to other necessities. "I just don't make enough," she said. "So much of my paycheck goes to transportation."

Gonzalez also said his salary isn't being increased to keep up with the hikes in transportation fees. Plus, he's noticed there are fewer trains running.

"People are paying a heavy price and there's less service," he said.

With Alfonso A. Castillo