June 24, 2019
MTA to Extend Popular LIRR Atlantic Ticket Program for Additional Year
Field Study Helping LIRR Evaluate Customer Volumes at Penn Station and Atlantic Terminal; Program Provides Substantial Discounts for Riders Traveling Between Brooklyn and Queens on LIRR
Long Island Rail Road President Phillip Eng today announced that the LIRR will continue its Atlantic Ticket field study for an additional year.
Atlantic Ticket offers discounted LIRR fares for customers traveling between Brooklyn and seven stations in Queens. The study, which began in June 2018, is measuring the impact the lower fare is having on ridership on the LIRR and New York City Transit’s subways and buses.
“We are seeing some promising results from Atlantic Ticket,” Eng said. “We hope this continues to support our common goal of providing more public mass transit options and giving our customers a better commute.”
With connections to nine subway lines at Atlantic Terminal, travel time to Lower Manhattan is comparable to traveling from Penn Station. As part of the metrics it is evaluating through the study, the LIRR is monitoring customer volumes at Penn Station and Atlantic Terminal to gauge whether there is a notable shift of travel habits.
“We have seen riders move from Penn Station to Atlantic Terminal,” Eng said, “balancing riders out across the western terminals.”
Under the study, the fare for a one-way LIRR ticket between Brooklyn and seven Queens stations is $5.00 at all times of day, a reduction of 51% from the baseline peak fare of $10.25, and a reduction of 33% from the baseline off-peak fare of $7.50.
The combined one-way fare covering the LIRR and NYC Transit portions of a trip is $7.75 ($5 for the LIRR Atlantic Ticket and $2.75 for NYC Transit pay-per-ride fare).
Atlantic Ticket also offers a $60.00 joint weekly unlimited-ride ticket valid for LIRR travel between the selected stations and transfers to NYC subways and buses. Compared to the current fares in Southeast Queens, this joint weekly ticket offers a 42.5% discount over the baseline two-system fare of $104.25.
The 10 LIRR stations covered under the field study are listed below along with convenient subway connections.
Brooklyn
Atlantic Terminal : 2, 4, 5, B, D, N, Q, R
East New York L
Nostrand Avenue 2
Queens
Hollis
Jamaica E, J. Z.
Laurelton
Locust Manor
Queens Village
Rosedale
St. Albans
Customers can purchase the Atlantic Ticket at ticket machines or from ticket sales offices and have the option to add a $5.50 New York City Transit fare to their one way or round trip tickets. The Atlantic Ticket is not available via the MTA’s eTix app or from conductors on board trains.
Between Brooklyn and Jamaica, the LIRR offers direct rush hour service of roughly every 10 minutes, and off-peak service every 30 minutes.
From Hollis, Laurelton, Locust Manor, Queens Village, Rosedale and St. Albans, the LIRR offers rush hour service roughly every 20 minutes and hourly off-peak service. Off-peak trains serve Brooklyn stations directly. For some peak-hour trains, customers traveling to Brooklyn on Atlantic Ticket need to change trains at Jamaica. Customers on these trains who remain on the train and travel to Penn Station are charged the normal, higher fares during that portion of the trip.
I was going to say that a 'sure bet' for this would be increasing the face amount nominally and integrating a MetroCard stripe on the actual ticket ... but it seems they arrange for this. Problem I have is this "$5.50 transit fare" put on the card, whereas I think it would be much more valuable to treat this as a 'free transfer' to whatever subway line of choice is a continuation of the LIRR trip than as a separate cost item or, as I think likely, "MetroCard balance" that might never be used. Might be interesting to try a month or two, perhaps with a nominally high 'face' amount to cover what the subway 'division' of the transit authority thinks is fair but with the transfer coming free -- and a discount for those terminating at Atlantic Avenue for whatever reason, who wouldn't use the transfer. Bet you see the take rate go up, and the buzz around the idea too!
Very easy to program a special code for 'two-hour' free transfer, and only very slightly more work to make the two-hour window contingent on actual train arrival on which the ticket was validated. (I am tempted to add metadata that would identify a stolen or snatched ticket in 'realtime' and flag its use or photograph the "user" for enforcement...)
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