MTA Revises Ticket Policy For LIRR, Metro-North After Customer Complaints
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The MTA is extending the period of one-way and round-trip tickets on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North from two weeks to two months.
The agency also is extending the refund period on those tickets from one month to two months.
"It makes it easier to buy a ticket and keep it in your pocket. [You] don't have to wait in line, you don't get caught paying an on-board fee and it's just one less thing to worry about," MTA spokeswoman Margie Anders told 1010 WINS.
Ten-trip tickets will continue to be valid for six months. A $10 refund processing fee will remain in effect to cover administrative costs.
The MTA said the changes will cost the commuter railroads a total of $6 million but reflected the agency's commitment to customer service.
It had decreased the validity periods in December 2010 to reduce revenue loss from uncollected tickets.
The revised policy announced Monday was made in response to complaints from customers and elected officials.
"It was such an unpopular policy and we do have a little brightening of our economic picture that we are gonna go ahead and make these changes," Anders said.
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