FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JANUARY 24, 2019 • THE QUEENS COURIER 19
Comptroller again calls on MTA to equalize LIRR fares in Queens
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
@jenna_bagcal
Th ree months aft er City Comptroller
Scott Stringer unveiled his plan for transit
equity across all platforms, he brought the
fi ght for fair fares to southeast Queens.
On Jan. 18, Stringer was joined by elected
offi cials and transit advocates at the
Jamaica Long Island Rail Road station to
call for an end to the steep paywall burdening
Queens commuters who take the
LIRR.
According to Stringer, LIRR fares
from from Flushing, Hollis, St. Albans or
Laurelton to Penn Station reach as high
as $10.25 per ride. Under his proposal,
all in-city commuter rail fares would
be brought down to $2.75, or the cost of
one MetroCard swipe. Additionally, the
plan would allow free bus and subway
transfers.
“If you could aff ord it, in some cases
almost $10, you can have fast, reliable
transit on the LIRR. Or for the price of
$2.75, the price of a MetroCard, you can
test your luck on an overcrowded subway
that breaks down almost every day,”
Stringer said. “You could also take a ride
on the slowest bus system in the nation
and your commute can take twice as long
if you can’t aff ord the commuter rail and
the price of almost $10.”
According to the comptroller, his proposal
would help 1.4 residents in the city,
including 733,000 in Queens, to aff ord
commuting across the 41 commuter rails
in New York City.
Others elected offi cials in attendance
at Friday’s press conference included
Queens Borough President Melinda Katz,
state Senator John Liu, Assembly members
Alicia Hyndman and David Weprin
and City Council members Adrienne
Adams, I. Daneek Miller and Barry
Grodenchik.
“When I woke up this morning and I
saw the snow I thought about all the commuters
in southeast Queens who either
looked at their smartphones or turned the
news on to fi nd out what the delays were,”
said Hyndman. “Because the commute
can take an hour and a half to two hours
when the weather is bad.”
Th e assemblywoman recalled her times
as a former commuter who had to pick
up her daughter from school. She shared
that she oft en would opt to take the LIRR
instead of other modes in order to reach
the aft er-school programs before 6 p.m.
“I wanted to make sure I picked up my
daughter on time because if you have
children in aft er-school when you go over
6 o’clock, they charge you. So I would
rather pay the money for the railroad
than pay the money for extra aft er-school
care,” Hyndman said.
As a daily commuter, Adams vouched
for the unreliable service that most commuters
have been facing in southeast
Queens.
“Many of residents of eastern and
southeast Queens have some of the longest
commute times to work in the city of
New York,” said Adams. “Unfortunately,
the MTA’s existing fee structure forces
many to spend extra hours on congested
subways and buses to make ends meet.
Reducing the price of commuter rail fares
to the price of a MetroCard in New York
City zones is sorely needed for riders in
transit deserts to see relief.”
In October 2018, Stringer unveiled a
comprehensive report detailing the specifi
cs of his plan and called on the MTA
to drop its prices at a press conference in
Flushing’s Murray Hill.
Th e report found that leveling the fares
of the Metro-North and LIRR with the
subways and buses would “cut commute
times in half, improve job access and and
extend the reach of the transit system at an
estimated price tag of $50 to $70 million.”
Photo: Jenna Bagcal/THE COURIER
From left to right: Adrienne Adams, Scott Stringer, David Weprin, Barry Grodenchik
Public advocate hopefuls set to stump in Jackson Heights
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Hoping to bring some clarity to the
wide open special election for public
advocate, several Queens Democratic
clubs will host an open forum in Jackson
Heights, Monday, Jan 28 and more than
half of the 23 candidates for the offi ce
have accepted invitations.
Of the two candidates from Queens,
only Assemblyman Ron Kim has confi
rmed his attendance at the Jackson
Heights Jewish Center, a campaign
spokesman for City Councilman Eric
Ulrich saying his candidate was not invited
to the forum which is scheduled to
begin at 7 p.m. at 37-06 77th Street.
“Many are trying to turn this special,
non-partisan, election into a partisan
choice, but they can’t,” an Ulrich
campaign spokesman said.”It’s precisely
because of this narrow-minded thinking
that Councilman Ulrich is running
for Public Advocate, which is an independent
check on the Mayor and his administration
as the City Charter requires. You
can’t be independent of the mayor if you
are politically aligned with him or creating
partisan loyalty tests.”
Neither Kim or Ulrich appear to have
qualifi ed for matching funds under the
city’s new public fi nancing option.
Front runners in the race including
Bronx Assemblyman Michael Blake,
Brooklyn City Councilmen Jumaane
Williams and Rafael Espinal Jr. will attend
the forum aft er campaign fi lings show all
three have qualifi ed for the new $8 to $1
matching funds based on money raised
from New York City residents. Former
Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who just
fell short of the matching funds, will also
attend.
New York City’s fi rst citywide special
election is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb.
26 to replace Letitia James, who vacated
the offi ce to become New York State’s
Attorney General. Th e special election is
expected to cost the city around $23 million
for an offi ce with an operating budget
of just over $3 million annually.
Since the offi ce’s inception in 1993, the
public advocate is fi rst in the line of succession
to the New York City mayor’s
seat. Th e winner of the public advocate
special election will take offi ce right away,
though he or she will have to run again in
November’s general election.
Th ere are no primaries for the special
elections and the candidates are running
on party lines they created.
Kim is running on his People over
Corporations party line and has continued
to use this forum as opposition to the
state and city’s deal to bring Amazon’s
HQ2 campus to Long Island City. Kim
would rather see the nearly $3 billion in
tax incentives used to lure the e-commerce
giant to buy and cancel student
debt. He said as public advocate he would
introduce legislation in the City Council
to move that forward.
Meanwhile, Ulrich, who is running on
his Common Sense ticket, says as the only
Republican in the race, he is the one candidate
who would have independence
from Mayor Bill de Blasio should he win
the offi ce of public advocate.
Ulrich says commercial rents are too
high and many of the borough’s small
businesses have no choice but to move to
areas with lower overhead.
File photo/THE COURIER
Assemblyman Ron Kim (l.) and City Councilman Eric Ulrich are Queens’ representatives in the special
election for public advocate.
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
link
link
link
