Advocacy group seeks LIRR ticket changes

An advocacy group is asking the MTA board to scrap expiration dates on Long Island Rail Road tickets and eliminate a refund fee by doing away with ticket refunds.

"Once you purchase the ticket, that ticket has worth," said Mark Epstein, chairman of the LIRR Commuter's Council, which Tuesday sent letters to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board. "You bought a ticket and you should be able to use that ticket."

The proposal comes nearly a year after a price hike, a reduction in the period that a ticket remains valid after purchase and the addition of a $10 fee for refunds -- a penalty so high that it can exceed the price of some tickets.

"The MTA will review the Commuter Council's proposal," agency spokesman Sam Zambuto said.

In December 2010, the MTA board gave tickets a shorter shelf life, drastically cutting the period for which they were valid. One-way and round-trip tickets that were valid for six months are now good for 14 days, and 10-trip tickets that were valid for a year now expire after six months.

At the time, the commuter council protested the changes, Epstein said, arguing that they would leave commuters holding a useless ticket after having paid for it. He said commuters have since complained about the move and that it is "leading to inconvenience, confusion, financial hardship and frustration."

The change came, said MTA board member Mitchell Pally of Stony Brook, because the agency incurred costs when refunding money for tickets.

SEE PHOTOSLIRR trains and commuters through the years

But the commuter council wrote in its letter dated Tuesday that the group's proposal resolves the administrative costs of refunds -- because there would no longer be any -- and it prevents commuters from losing money because the tickets would always be worth what was paid for them.

LIRR president Helena Williams, MTA executive director Joseph Lhota and Metro-North Railroad president Howard Permut also were sent copies of the letter.

Pally supports the proposal.

"From my perspective, that solves the two issues that were raised," he said. "I'll do my best to move this issue forward."