Queens residents living in “transportation deserts” have very limited options for commuting to Manhattan and often have to pay higher fares to use the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR).
One councilman is arguing that the long commutes and increased fares are a burden to these residents and that people using the LIRR or Metro-North Railroad to travel within city limits should pay fares equal to subway and bus prices.
Councilman I. Daneek Miller introduced Resolution 670 at a City Council hearing last Thursday, which calls for this equalization and for a free transfer between subways, buses and the commuter rail lines.
“It is a tale of two cities for sure, [in that] if you live in one part of the city there’s pretty much no way to get to the other end,” Miller said at the hearing.
Miller noted that much of southeast Queens, including the Rockaways, has limited transportation options and that New Yorkers suffer the longest work commute of any large city, with many residents traveling an average of 6 hours and 18 minutes per week.
Commutes for people living in transportation deserts in east Queens may stretch up to 15 hours per week, Miller added. He argued that long commutes are linked to various health, financial and emotional risks like depression, anxiety, reduced work productivity and increased travel costs.
Miller’s district, which includes St. Albans, Hollis, Cambria Heights, Queens Village, Jamaica and Springfield Gardens, is served by the Laurelton and Rosedale LIRR stations. A one-way off-peak ticket costs $7.25, while a peak ticket runs for $10, significantly higher than the $2.75 one-way fare for a subway or bus ride.
Other Queens neighborhoods such as Flushing and Bayside are also served by the LIRR and would benefit from the fare equalization plan. The resolution received support from the Department of Transportation (DOT), Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1056, the New York City Transit Riders Council, the Regional Plan Association, and the Institute for Rational Urban Mobility, among others.
The city and the MTA have agreed to explore in the coming months the possibility of expanding the CityTicket program to better serve New York residents while ensuring it is also fiscally and operationally feasible for the MTA, a spokesperson for the DOT said. “DOT looks forward to working with Council member Miller and other stakeholders as well.”
Should such a plan be approved by the city and state, Miller said, it would increase rider access at more than 40 Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road stations within New York City and shorten commute times. The resolution was laid over by the committee on transportation on Thursday.
“Our communities deserve a fair share of transportation resources and quite frankly the government has an obligation to provide mass transit equitably throughout the city,” Miller said.
