Today, NYC Comptroller and mayoral candidate Bill Thompson called on the MTA to expand its CityTicket program, a sensible recommendation that would expand transit options within New York City.
CityTicket is a $3.50 flat fare for travel within New York City (except Far Rockaway and parts of the New Haven Line) on the LIRR and Metro-North, available on weekends only. Started in 2004, the program makes transit a more attractive option in many neighborhoods. Parts of Queens and the Bronx have nearby commuter rail stations but no subway and light weekend bus service. Other neighborhoods have both commuter rail and subway stations.
Yesterday, Thompson sent a letter to MTA interim CEO Helena Williams recommending that CityTicket be expanded to weekday late nights (10pm-6am), when bus service can be sporadic and unpredictable. A six-month pilot program would allow the MTA to assess the expansion’s impact on farebox revenue. He also urged the agency to include Far Rockaway in the program.
Thompson first called on the MTA to expand CityTicket to late nights in 2006 (see MTR # 536). MTA officials have said that completion of East Side Access would create enough capacity on the LIRR to accommodate an all-day CityTicket program, though they have not committed to such a program (MTR # 442).
Image: From MTA system map.
[…] proposals are intriguing, and include free crosstown buses in Manhattan, expansion of CityTicket (previously endorsed by mayoral candidate Bill Thompson and TSTC), reopening unused LIRR stations in Queens, and […]
This makes a huge amount of sense. RPA once referred to the commuter rail system as the “sleeping giant” of the NY metro area’s transportation system due to all of the untapped potential contained within it. I’m a frequent CityTicket user on weekends as it is a much easier ride from my place in the NW Bronx to midtown via Metro North than the subway.
If CityTicket is expanded, it should be the “carrot”, with some version of congestion pricing or bridge tolls functioning as the “stick” in order to be fully effective.
[…] Comptroller Supports Expansion of Cheap In-City Commuter Rail Travel (Tri-State Transportation Campaign) […]