LIRR begins $8 surcharges for onboard tickets, activations

Long Island commuters are crying foul over new LIRR fare policies they say force them to wait until the last minute to buy their tickets, but then hit them with an $8 penalty if they get them on the train.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials have said the new policies, which took effect Sunday, aim to curtail fare evasion, including in situations where a conductor does not inspect a ticket, giving a rider the ability to save it for future use. The MTA has said the Long Island Rail Road loses about $25 million a year in uncollected fares.

But riders said the new policies significantly reduce their ability to plan ahead, including by doing away with round trip and 10-trip tickets, shrinking how long one-way tickets are valid for to one day, and severely limiting ticket refunds.

If a mobile ticket is purchased or activated onboard a train, customers — after warnings — will be hit with a new $8 penalty, which must be paid before they can purchase another mobile ticket.

MTA officials on Friday would not say how many warnings or surcharges have been sent to riders for late ticket activation this week. But riders on social media posted messages from the MTA's TrainTime App informing them they would have to pay an $8 "on-board surcharge" before using or purchasing their next ticket.

At the LIRR's Ronkonkoma station Friday, the new policy rankled several commuters. Christian Rubino said it would encourage other fare evasion techniques.

"To just charge extra for someone who wants to buy a ticket on the train, just because they are running late, I feel like that’s greedy," Rubino, 26, of Moriches, said. "That is only going to cause more people to not want to buy train tickets and to hide in the bathroom on the train” to avoid paying the fare.

In introducing the new ticket policy in July, MTA Deputy Chief for Commercial Ventures Jessie Lazarus said 55% of riders using mobile tickets wait until a conductor comes around to activate them.

"Those delays are impacting conductors' ability to get through the train and check other tickets," Lazarus said. "It's a source of conflict. Other customers don't like to see this. And conductors have to prompt customers, which is causing a bit of a problem for them."

The restrictive new policies dominated the discussion at a meeting of the Long Island Rail Road Commuter Council on Thursday. Council member Bryan Peranzo said previously, he would buy his mobile ticket the night before a planned trip. But with tickets now expiring at 4 a.m. the day after they are purchased, he recently bought a ticket to Penn Station as he was boarding his train at Hicksville.

"And I already have my first email and text message telling me, ‘You didn’t activate it beforehand,’" Peranzo said.

By not letting him buy a ticket in advance and then admonishing him for waiting too long, "it’s almost like they’ve got me at both ends," he added.

LIRR officials have said they don't track customers' locations but can tell that a rider did not buy a ticket beforehand or activate a ticket promptly by the time interval between when a ticket is bought or activated and validated by a conductor.

Aaron Donovan, a spokesperson for the MTA, the LIRR’s parent organization, said in a statement Friday that customers will receive a "series of escalating warnings" before the $8 charge, though he would not say how many warnings riders will get.

"Avoiding a surcharge is easy. Activate your ticket before you board," Donovan said.

But some commuters said the reality of riding the LIRR is far more complex. With only one day to use a one-way ticket, and because of the potential for major train delays or other changes in plans, some riders said they’re waiting until they see their train approaching the station before they buy a mobile ticket.

“Let’s just say something happens or the trains aren’t running, and then you are out of that money. That’s not fair,” said Lisa Newman, 67, of Manorville, said. “It’s just not right what they are doing.”

Making the commuting process even less flexible are restrictive policies on refunds for unused tickets. Paper tickets can only be refunded for the full amount within 30 minutes of their purchase and only at the station where they were bought, even though most stations don’t have ticket windows, and those that do are typically open only a few hours a day.

The LIRR "Day Pass," which replaces round-trip tickets, cannot be refunded at all. And mobile one-way tickets can only be refunded for the full amount within two minutes of when they were purchased. "It’s ridiculous," said LIRR Commuter Council Chairman Gerard Bringmann.

The new ticket policies were accompanied by a fare hike that raised the cost of monthly tickets by 4.5% and other tickets by as much as 8%.

With no option to buy a 10-trip ticket anymore, Massapequa Park part-time commuter Chris McKenna said the restrictive new policies have forced him to consider purchasing a monthly pass, which just went up in price from $287 to $299.75. He expects that some months, he won’t ride the train enough to make it worth the expense. But purchasing a monthly pass would leave him free from worrying about those $8 late activation fees.

"Who’s actually benefiting on this, other than the MTA and the state?" McKenna, 46, said.

MTA officials noted that, while the 10-trip ticket is over, customers now get an 11th ticket free after buying 10 within two weeks.

Steve Firkser, 49, of Coram, said that while he doesn't like the LIRR's new ticket policy, it’s now the reality.

“You got to take it," he said. "Take it or leave it."