MTA gives 4-day strike rebate to LIRR monthly ticket holders, waives $10 refund fee

Monthly Long Island Rail Road ticket holders will receive a credit for four days of missed train rides during the strike under a Metropolitan Transportation Authority proposal approved Wednesday.

The MTA also agreed to waive the $10 refund fee for those who bought tickets during the strike.

Following the historic work stoppage, which saw LIRR service cease early Saturday morning and not fully resume until Tuesday afternoon, the MTA Board voted Wednesday at its monthly meeting to issue prorated refunds to 68,000 monthly pass holders.

Riders will receive an automatic credit for four days, or about 13%, of their monthly ticket cost, which can be used toward the purchase of their June pass, according to the MTA.

The first LIRR strike in 32 years began on 12:01 a.m. Saturday, as MTA managers and the unions representing half of the LIRR's organized labor force failed to reach an agreement on a new four year contract, which would be retroactive to 2023.

Although an agreement was reached by Monday evening, the LIRR did not begin operating trains again until late Tuesday morning, as it took time to get crews and trains into position and to conduct federally-mandated safety testing of railroad infrastructure. Full service was restored in time for the Tuesday evening rush.

At Wednesday's board meeting, LIRR President Rob Free thanked the railroad work force, including striking employees, for bringing back service "in record time." 

"Upon the agreement being made, the labor organizations made a commitment that they’d do everything to assist us in bringing back service, and they did just that," Free said.

Free and MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber both expressed appreciation for LIRR unions not involved in the strike, who showed up throughout the work stoppage, helping maintain the rail system and facilitating a prompt return of service.

Christopher Leathers, the LIRR labor representative on the MTA Board and a member of the non-striking International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, noted that some of the nonstriking workers, including train conductors, endured the "public backlash for a strike that they neither caused nor controlled."

Gerard Bringmann, chairman of the LIRR Commuter Council and a non-voting MTA Board member, acknowledged that conductors were "the subject of misdirected anger."

"As part of the Commuter Council, I'd like to apologize for that," Bringmann said.

Check back for updates on this developing story.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.