Ahead of congestion pricing’s June 30 start, the MTA is set to discount monthly Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North fares within the city by 10% in a bid to incentivize drivers to switch to mass transit.
The pilot program, outlined in a document posted to the MTA Board’s website, would apply an approximately 10% discount to monthly passes on the commuter railroads for trips within the city fare zone. The program, which the MTA Board is set to vote on this week, would start in July to coincide with the start of congestion pricing and would last for at least 12 months.
The document makes clear that the intention of the discount is to spur people who would otherwise drive to switch to mass transit.
“The implementation of Congestion Pricing also presents an opportunity to attract riders to transit with additional options for travel into the Congestion Relief Zone that are affordable, fast, and convenient,” the document reads. The MTA declined to comment further.
The discounts would be based on the MTA’s existing fare zones that govern how it prices tickets for the LIRR and Metro-North. A monthly pass between Penn Station (zone 1) and Queens Village (zone 3) would drop from the current $220 to $198, for instance.
Funding will come from the state’s Outer Borough Transportation Account, which is funded by surcharges on taxi and for-hire vehicle trips and has already been used to fund toll rebates for drivers traversing the Henry Hudson and Cross Bay bridges.
The MTA estimates that congestion pricing will reduce traffic in Manhattan’s central business district, south of 60th Street, by about 17% and will also reduce traffic across the region as drivers decide to take mass transit instead.
Monthly discounts for riders in the city would come on top of those for riders throughout the system launched in 2022. Individual fares between stations within the city cost $7 at peak hours and $5 in off-peak times under the CityTicket promotion, which has greatly increased sales on the commuter railroads for those kinds of trips.
Starting June 30, most motorists entering lower Manhattan will be charged $15 once per day, with trucks paying larger tolls and heavy discounts applied overnight. Low-income drivers are eligible for 50% discounts after their first 10 trips in a calendar month, applications for which are now open.
The plan — which is intended to raise money for the MTA’s capital program — was approved by state lawmakers in 2019 and has been through several rounds of public input and review from the feds, but it’s still facing a final hurdle as several lawsuits, including from New Jersey, seek to derail it. Judges are expected to issue rulings on those suits before the start date.
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