APRIL 15, 2022 www.qns.com RIDGEWOOD TIMES
13
Making NYC’s transit system more equitable
BY JANNO LIEBER
My mission as the MTA’s
chair and CEO is to
make sure that we’re
leveraging every part of the
system to make public transportation
more accessible and
equitable for New Yorkers.
While subways and buses tend
to be the modes of choice for
most city residents, some could
see a greater benefit from the
commuter railroads.
Riders living in southeast
Queens for example could save
up to an hour of travel time if
they opted for the Long Island
Rail Road instead of taking a
bus and subway. That’s precious
time back to spend with
friends and family. So why
don’t more people try it?
We know that historically
price has been the deciding factor
in choosing a subway and
bus commute over the LIRR
and Metro-North. That’s why it
was so important for us at the
MTA to consider intracity rail
discounts when developing our
package of new fare promotions,
which were introduced
last month.
We landed on an expansion
of the existing CityTicket
to weekdays off-peak. The
CityTicket program provides
a $5 flat fare for one-way trips
taken wholly within the five
boroughs – like from Woodlawn
in the Bronx to Grand
Central Terminal or from
Bayside to Penn Station. The
deal was previously available
on weekends only.
Demand for the new ticket
is off to a good start – more
than 100,000 weekday
CityTickets have been sold
since the launch – but I know
we can do better. We’re going
to continue highlighting the
benefits of CityTicket, our
new 20-trip ticket (perfect for
hybrid workers!) and monthly
ticket discounts (saves 10%),
especially as major service
improvements come online
for both LIRR and Metro-North.
East Side Access, our marquee
megaproject, is going to
bring LIRR service to Grand
Central for the first time ever
when completed later this year.
This will allow us to increase
service frequency by up to 30%
at some stations.
Meanwhile, the Third Track
project is adding some muchneeded
LIRR capacity on the
Mainline, which serves Queens
communities from Woodside
to Queens Village, and will
provide reverse commuters
with more options given the
ability to run additional twoway
service during rush hours.
And we’re not forgetting
about Bronx residents who
live in Metro-North territory.
MTA just awarded a contract
for Penn Station Access, the
project to build four new MNR
stations in the East Bronx – a
noted transit desert. The new
rail options at Hunts Point,
Morris Park, Co-op City and
Parkchester/Van Nest will help
cut travel times to Manhattan
by as much as 50 minutes.
It all comes back to our commitment
to transit equity – the
driving force behind everything
we do at MTA.
Janno Lieber is chair and CEO
of the MTA.
OP-ED
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