June 24, 2019
MTA to Extend Popular LIRR Atlantic Ticket Program for Additional Year
Field Study Helping LIRR Evaluate Customer Volumes at Penn Station and Atlantic Terminal; Program Provides Substantial Discounts for Riders Traveling Between Brooklyn and Queens on LIRR
Long Island Rail Road President Phillip Eng today announced that the LIRR will continue its Atlantic Ticket field study for an additional year.
Atlantic Ticket offers discounted LIRR fares for customers traveling between Brooklyn and seven stations in Queens. The study, which began in June 2018, is measuring the impact the lower fare is having on ridership on the LIRR and New York City Transit’s subways and buses.
“We are seeing some promising results f
I was going to say that a ‘sure bet’ for this would be increasing the face amount nominally and integrating a MetroCard stripe on the actual ticket … but it seems they arrange for this. Problem I have is this “$5.50 transit fare” put on the card, whereas I think it would be much more valuable to treat this as a ‘free transfer’ to whatever subway line of choice is a continuation of the LIRR trip than as a separate cost item or, as I think likely, “MetroCard balance” that might never be used. Might be interesting to try a month or two, perhaps with a nominally high ‘face’ amount to cover what the subway ‘division’ of the transit authority thinks is fair but with the transfer coming free – and a discount for those terminating at Atlantic Avenue for whatever reason, who wouldn’t use the transfer. Bet you see the take rate go up, and the buzz around the idea too!
Very easy to program a special code for ‘two-hour’ free transfer, and only very slightly more work to make the two-hour window contingent on actual train arrival on which the ticket was validated. (I am tempted to add metadata that would identify a stolen or snatched ticket in ‘realtime’ and flag its use or photograph the “user” for enforcement…)