Elected Say Eliminating Proposed Discounted LIRR Fare Between Southeast Queens and Penn Station Renders Freedom Ticket Pilot “Inferior” and “Set Up For Failure”

QUEENS, NY (TIP):  In advance of the upcoming Board Meeting of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), Borough President Melinda Katz, U.S. Representatives Gregory Meeks, Senators Leroy Comrie and James Sanders, Assemblymember Alicia Hyndman and Clyde Vanel and Councilmembers Adrienne Adams and Daneek Miller in a joint letter to MTA Chairman Joe Lhota expressed their opposition to the MTA’s proposed revision to the “Freedom Ticket” plan, which would force Freedom Ticket riders seeking to get to and from midtown Manhattan to first transfer at Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn.

The proposed revision would eliminate the discounted LIRR one-way $6.50 Freedom Ticket fare originally proposed in 2015 between six southeast Queens stations (Rosedale, Laurelton, Locust Manor, St. Albans, Hollis and Queens Village) and Penn Station in Manhattan or Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn. Currently, the $10.25 one-way peak weekday fare is cost prohibitive for many between the Queens stations and Penn Station or Atlantic Terminal.

“As you know, we have been avid supporters of the ‘Freedom Ticket’ plan put forward by the New York City Transit Riders Council (NYCTRC) in 2015,” the elected officials wrote in a joint letter this week to Chairman Joe Lhota. “The inferior Freedom Ticket pilot program now under consideration, however, would force users… a transfer that would substantially increase their commuting times…  Given this significant limitation, without the option of Penn Station, I expect few southeast Queens residents would use Freedom Tickets if the pilot program is implemented in its current state. The pilot is therefore being set up for failure, an outcome that is unacceptable, as it will not properly serve SEQ residents, allow for sufficient outreach in the community, nor gauge their use of a long term program.”