Apr. 30—KINGSTON, N.Y. — Two regional congressmen urged Tuesday that the Metropolitan Transit Authority extend discounts to all Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road riders.
U.S. Reps. Pat Ryan, D- Gardiner, and Michael Lawler, R- Pearl River, demanded that the discounts be offered to those riders, not just ones from the five boroughs of New York City.
Last month, the MTA approved a congestion pricing plan which will charge Hudson Valley families $15 per day to commute to Manhattan Central Business District, without committing to service improvements or carve-outs for commuting city employees riders, the two said in a statement.
The 10% discount on monthly tickets which was favored by the MTA on Tuesday only applies to fare zones within New York City, Ryan and Lawler said in separate announcements. The pair sent a letter to MTA Chief Executive Officer Janno Lieber.
"First the MTA forced through an unfair, uninformed, and unacceptable congestion pricing plan, ignoring the voices of countless Hudson Valley firefighters, police officers, union members, teachers and other hard-working families. Now they're adding insult to injury," Ryan said in a statement. "This is yet another example of Hudson Valley residents paying their hard-earned tax dollars to the MTA, only to watch all the benefits go to New York City."
Ryan represents the 18th Congressional District.
" Hudson Valley families are struggling under the weight of a crushing affordability crisis and cannot afford the thousands in new tolls a year that it would cost the average Rockland County resident just to commute to New York City for work," said Lawler, who represents the 17th Congressional District.
The MTA board voted on Tuesday on new fare discounts on Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North trips that start and end within the five boroughs.
The discounts would reduce the cost of a monthly LIRR pass between Jamaica and Penn Station from $220 to $198, they board said. Monthly Metro-North passes between Grand Central Terminal and the northern Bronx would drop from $199.75 to $180.
These discounts, which are pitched as a one-year pilot program, do not include riders from Ryan or Lawler's districts.
The MTA said Tuesday that the state legislature set the parameters of the discount program.
"The discount will cost $4 million per year and that amount is funded by the NYS Legislature through a fund the Legislature controls and created in 2018 called the Outer Borough Transportation Account," the MTA said in an email. "The fund receives $50 million per year from fees charged on taxi and for-hire vehicle trips in New York City."
During a press conference Tuesday, Lieber emphasized the legislature's role, according to a transcript.
"Well, one thing that needs to be clear is this was a decision by the state legislature using a preexisting program called the Outer Borough Transportation Account, which is, by the way, funded by surcharges ...," Leiber said. "That was money that specifically designated to help transit in the outer boroughs. So that's where this came from. I have to defer to the State Legislature, they made the decision to put that on."
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