LIRR discounts coming sooner than expected; OMNY rollout delayed again

Long Island Rail Road customers will get new ticket discounts later this month, but might have to wait until 2024 to use the MTA’s OMNY fare system — three years later than originally promised.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority chairman and CEO Janno Lieber said Monday that several new fare options planned for LIRR riders, including a 20-Trip Ticket and a $5 flat fare for all off-peak trips made within New York City, will be available starting Feb. 25 — four days earlier than originally announced. Commuters buying their March monthly ticket also will receive a 10% discount.

The fare discounts aim to boost ridership on the railroad, which remains around 45% of pre-pandemic levels. The fares will be in place for three months, but could be extended depending on the success of the programs, Lieber said.

"We think we’re going to bring a lot of riders back into the system and encourage more people to use the system," Lieber said at a news conference, during which he discussed several other transit fare incentives.

They include "fare capping" on New York City buses and subways for OMNY users. Under the new plan, after making 12 trips within one week, all other trips will be free.

The new OMNY system — an acronym for One Metro New York — is already in place at all city subway stations, but is way behind schedule on the LIRR. The system, which would allow riders to pay for their LIRR ride using the same card or mobile app they use for the bus or subway, was originally scheduled to roll out on the LIRR in February 2021. Then, late in 2021, MTA officials pushed back the date to some time in 2022.

Last month, Amy Linden, the MTA’s senior director of new fare payment system, revealed that the agency now expects to begin the rollout of OMNY on the LIRR in 2023, and for it to be completed in 2024.

In remarks to the MTA Board, Linden acknowledged that the original plan to bring OMNY to the LIRR was "rushed and not fully developed."

Charlton D’Souza, president of Passengers United, a transit rider advocacy group, called the new timeline for the LIRR "ridiculous" and "a huge disappointment."

"Passengers will lose out on this," D’Souza said. "They will miss out on … having one card to do everything."

MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said bringing OMNY to the LIRR "is less of a concern than it is for New York City subways and buses," because railroad customers can already use their mobile phones to pay fares.

D’Souza also noted the MTA has not given an estimated date for when OMNY will be accepted on Nassau’s NICE system — meaning Nassau bus riders won't get the benefits of the new fare-capping plan. Donovan said NICE aims to integrate OMNY with its fare system in 2023.

Meanwhile, MTA officials on Monday rebutted LIRR union officials who, in a Newsday story this week, alleged that some workers were waiting 10 days to receive the results of COVID-19 tests mandated by the railroad. Donovan said that while there have been some isolated delays, the average turnaround time for test results is 1.49 days.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.