Integrate, Simplify, and OMNYvate Full Report

Integrate, Simplify, and vate:

On Track for Better MTA Fare Payment

OMNY

A REPORT BY PCAC

FALL 2023

Report Authors

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Ryan Leighton, Associate

Kara Gurl, Planning and Advocacy Manager

Editor

Lisa Daglian, Executive Director

Andrew Albert, NYCTRC Chair and MTA Board Member

Gerard Bringmann, PCAC and LIRRCC Chair and MTA Board Member

Randy Glucksman, MNRCC Chair and MTA Board Member

Lisa Daglian, Executive Director

Contributors

LIRRCC Members:

Larry Rubinstein

Peter Gorry

Bryan Peranzo

Christy Tolbert

MNRCC Members:

Francena Amparo

Rosalind Clay Carter

Richard Cataggio

Francis Corcoran

Michael Stanton

Walter Zullig

Special thanks to

NYCTRC Members:

Burton M. Strauss, Jr.

Stuart Goldstein

Christopher D. Greif

Sharon King Hoge

Marisol Halpern

Karen D. Hamilton

Cicely Harris

Trudy L. Mason

Scott Nicholls

Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) staff and

MTA Board members

The MTA’s commuter railroads currently have complex and confusing ticket

systems for everyone involved— riders and workers included. But the rollout of

OMNY– fittingly named One Metro New York– to the Long Island Rail Road and

Metro-North provides the MTA with an opportunity to rethink how it approaches

ticketing on the commuter rails. With new and emerging travel patterns as a

result of the Coronavirus pandemic, lower post-pandemic ridership and

changes to commuters’ work schedules, ticketing should be more seamless

and flexible for current riders, and also to encourage new riders.

The MTA has a golden opportunity to rethink how fares and tickets work on the

commuter railroads as we await OMNY expansion throughout the region. With a

target date of OMNY on Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road now set for

2025, now is the time to rethink ticketing and fare policies that make sense

regionally and unify the MTA network. Not only should the effort to introduce

OMNY to the commuter rails be redoubled, it should also be coupled with

policies that make the most of the opportunity.

OMNY’s rollout to the commuter railroads will be transformative for the MTA’s

mission to connect the region. It can advance integration between the LIRR,

Metro-North and NYC Transit, along with adjacent transit systems like Nassau’s

NICE bus, Westchester’s Bee-Line, Suffolk County Transit (SCT), PATH, NYC

Ferry, JFK AirTrain, the Roosevelt Island Tram, bike share programs and others

— some of which have already started OMNY rollout.

By using OMNY as a means to update ticketing to reflect an MTA commuter rail

network more closely connected than ever before, we can help make the best

case for riding transit. The following recommendations detail ways that the MTA

can use OMNY to streamline and simplify the fare system for riders both before

and after it is rolled out to the LIRR and Metro-North.

Integrate, Simplify, and vate:

On Track for Better MTA Fare Payment

OMNY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A Report by PCAC • Fall 2023

Simplify Cross Honoring Policies between Railroads.

Continue to Incorporate Live Scheduling Information from Partner Agencies into

TrainTime and the New myMTA App.

Use a Clearly Communicated Pricing Formula for Tickets on Both Railroads.

Identify a Core Set of Ticket Types with Easy-to-Understand Conditions.

Unify both Railroads’ AM Peak Hours.

Identify Zones on the Railroads where Fares are Similar, and Bring Prices into Alignment.

Allow for Cross-Honoring of Tickets between the LIRR and Metro-North.

Offer an Intra-city Combo Ticket Fare.

Expand and Enhance Fair Fares, Including to Commuter Rail.

To make it easier for riders to know how much they should– and will– pay for their trip,

whether on one railroad or two, the MTA should invest in steps to communicate and

coordinate ticket pricing.

Rationalizing Inter-Railroad Fares

PHASE 1: Communication

PHASE 2: Coordination

THE OMNY ON-RAMP:

How the MTA can simplify fare payment

leading up to OMNY rollout

THE OMNY ENVIRONMENT:

How OMNY implementation can consolidate the MTA’s

fare systems and improve user-friendliness

Connect OMNY with TrainTime and the New myMTA App to Expand Transfer Options

between MTA Modes Prior to Full Rollout.

Create a Weekly CityTicket with Available Transfers to Subways and Buses.

Adopt a Common Price-per-Mile and Unified Fare Zone System.

Automatically Show and Charge Riders the Best Fare Available to them.

New ticketing possibilities with OMNY include the opportunity to integrate LIRR, Metro-

North, and NYC Transit fares, making the entire region more connected. Better

integrating the MTA region will help encourage riders to take advantage of all the ways

to ride the MTA has to offer.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A Report by PCAC • Fall 2023

New Yorkers are lucky to have the best transit network in the nation– despite the fact

that the region’s subways, buses, commuter rail, and other transit modes operate

separately from one another. That’s why OMNY’s upcoming rollout to the LIRR and

Metro-North is so critical to a more unified future for transit: one where a rider can

travel across modes without having to think about how to buy their ticket, get the best

price, or whether their transfer is covered. Using OMNY to make travel easier and

more seamless has already been wildly successful on subways and buses, and it’s

time to bring that to the rest of the region. OMNY has the potential to completely

transform the way riders travel through the region and better unify our entire transit

network– but first, the MTA needs a roadmap to ensure its full potential comes to life.

Soon, it will finally be OMNY time!

Communicate and Work with Riders and the MTA Employees Directly Responsible for

Collecting and Selling Tickets.

Modernize and Improve Both Railroads’ Ticket Collection, with Input from Stakeholders.

Simplifying the fare structure goes hand-in-hand with improving fare collection. New

options and opportunities that will come with the rollout of OMNY can be looked at vis

a vis the recommendations from the report issued by the Blue Ribbon Panel on

Payment Evasion once discussions and communications with stakeholders have

identified appropriate paths forward.

Possibilities include:

OMNYʼS POTENTIAL:

iii

How OMNY can be used to improve the

MTA’s fare collection

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A Report by PCAC • Fall 2023

Every day, commuter rail riders on the LIRR and Metro North take a pop quiz

whenever their tickets are checked: is this ticket the right one, and if not, how much

do they owe the conductor? Did they pay too much? Regular commuters, weekend

riders, tourists – and even ticket collectors themselves – can agree that the way

tickets on the railroads are sold and collected doesn’t make much sense. Decades of

pilot programs, inconsistent availability across vending locations, and incomplete

information makes buying a ticket a frustrating and confusing process that requires

riders to choose from dozens of options, combinations of ticket types, and discounts.

Riders eligible for discounts can wind up overpaying for a trip, and riders who

underpay must pay a “step up” charge to a conductor.

The MTA has a golden opportunity to rethink how fares and tickets work on the

commuter railroads as we await OMNY expansion throughout the region. With a

target date of OMNY on Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road now set for 2025,

now is the time to rethink ticketing and fare policies that make sense regionally and

unify the MTA network. Not only should the effort to introduce OMNY to the commuter

rails be redoubled, it should also be coupled with policies that make the most of the

opportunity.

Arguably, any changes to commuter railroad fare policies that can improve the

system overall may require trade-offs that could advantage individual groups of riders

over others in the short term. The goal, however, is to ensure that changes and the

overall effects are balanced. Over time, the LIRR and Metro-North have amended

their current fare structures with a number of pilot programs and introduced targeted

discounts for riders traveling in certain areas or to certain stations, which may have

required other riders to pay more to make up for the difference.

The introduction of OMNY to the commuter railroads offers the MTA the opportunity

to reimagine how customers can pay for their commute more easily, and to revisit

how fares on the commuter rails are structured. Now is the time to look closely at a

more regional approach that encourages seamless travel across railroads, and the

entire MTA system.

INTRODUCTION

While the technical term is “tariff,” for the purposes of this report, the colloquial term “fare” is used to describe the cost of payment for transportation.

Too Many Choices

The fine print regarding ticket conditions on both railroads when printed directly from

the MTA website amounts to ten pages of text – nearly impossible for any conductor

or ticket collector to remember in detail while doing the many tasks of operating a

train like operating the doors, ensuring passengers get on and off safely, answering

questions, and making announcements. This means ticket checks may be

inconsistent depending on the train, crowding, and time of day.

Over the last 20 years, New York has invested tens of billions of dollars in

modernizing its commuter railroads while many of their ticketing practices date back

to the era of private ownership. Whether riders get their tickets from an app, a

vending machine, or a ticket attendant, they often have over a dozen choices when it

comes to the types of tickets they can buy– in addition to confusing price modifiers

based on the time of day, onboard step-up pricing, direction of travel, station

combinations, or small-print caveats or conditions not known at the time of sale.

While conductors are tasked with performing their tasks to keep trains moving safely

in a timely manner, they’re also hard-pressed to be able to memorize all ticket

conditions at all times in a crowded and sometimes hostile environment. This can

cause conflict between railroad employees and riders to the point that violence

against conductors and customer service agents is unfortunately too common.

The report of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Payment Evasion (or the “Blue Ribbon

Report”) noted that in cases where auditors deliberately boarded a commuter train

with the wrong ticket type, conductors either didn’t notice the ticket was invalid or

charged auditors the incorrect step-up fare 26.7% of the time on the LIRR and 9.1%

of the time on Metro-North (page 89). In effect, there is no fare system when it is

nearly impossible to enforce impartially. Passengers can also abuse train facilities

and mobile tickets either by hiding from conductors in the bathrooms or activating

their tickets just before their ticket is checked, both of which are strategies which slow

fare collection down and can lead to confrontations. As recommendations from the

Blue Ribbon Report are being studied and implemented to reduce evasion, OMNY

implementation will help lessen the difficulty for conductors to collect all fares since

they can be both checked and scanned automatically.

In late August of 2023, fares on MTA buses, subways and trains increased for the first

time since 2019, with most ticket prices increasing by approximately 4%. Monthly

ISSUES & OPPORTUNITIES

https://new.mta.info/document/111531

ISSUES & OPPORTUNITIES

tickets will remain cheaper than they were prior to the pandemic thanks to a 10%

discount implemented in March 2022. The $500 price cap on monthly tickets will be

retained, as will the 15% off-peak 10-trip price discount. For the railroads, a one way

off-peak ticket will be discounted 26% over one way peak fares, unifying the off-peak

discount between both railroads: an important step towards increased seamlessness.

To achieve this, off-peak tickets on the LIRR will go up 6-7% but only 2-3% on Metro

North. Overall, the railroads are preserving incentives for buying tickets in bulk, as

well as discounts for monthly and weekly commuter passes.

Additionally, CityTicket was expanded on both railroads with a peak ticket option to

accompany the off-peak ticket currently being offered: it is the first time that city

railroad riders will have access to discounted fares 24/7. However, this expansion

meant that Atlantic Ticket, with its weekly option that allowed for transfers to subways

and buses, was taken out of the ticket portfolio— thus, there are no longer any

railroad ticket options remaining that include access to NYC Transit buses and

subways.

Current mobile ticket options on the TrainTime mobile app for

LIRR and Metro-North. Dozens of individual ticket options are

represented, all with different conditions for eligibility. Tickets

in RED are specific to Metro-North, tickets in BLUE are

specific to the LIRR, and tickets in GREEN are specific to

NYC’s Five Boroughs. Tickets offered by both railroads are

PURPLE.

ISSUES & OPPORTUNITIES

Moving Toward Seamlessness: A More Regional Network

Commuter rail ridership has steadily crept back up to around 70% of pre-COVID

levels, concurrent with the opening of Grand Central Madison, the completion of the

Third Track project, an increase in return to the office, and improving on-time

performance. While physically connected, the two railroads couldn’t be further apart

in terms of cross-honoring tickets, fare zone prices, peak hour travel conditions, or

coordination with discount programs and free transfers to other transit providers. All

the while, both have similar branding, rolling stock, and cosmetically identical tickets.

By updating the fare system to reflect a commuter rail network more closely

integrated than ever before, we can help make the best case for riding transit by

making transfers as simple and seamless as possible for riders, workers, and the

MTA. OMNY is the key to being able to enact and implement the fare policy

recommendations contained in this report – and while several can be brought online

in advance of the OMNY rollout, planning and preparation must get underway

immediately to allow for the comprehensive, user-friendly, and more seamless

transportation network of the future.

A sample diagram of current LIRR ticket options as they appear on Ticket Vending

Machines (TVMs). This represents the options available on sale at machines at Atlantic

Terminal and Valley Stream. Many tickets are offered behind several menus.

ISSUES & OPPORTUNITIES

In the context of this report, “seamlessness” refers to the relative ease or difficulty

riders have in paying their fares and transferring between modes of transport. Transit

networks that are more seamless seek to minimize the amount of effort and cost

riders pay when transferring between transportation modes, maximize the amount of

relevant pricing and routing information delivered to the end user, and try to make

fare payment as simple to understand and straightforward as possible overall.

With OMNY, a more seamless transit and fare payment system is within reach for the

MTA. Already, the MTA has taken advantage of its mobile apps (including a new app

currently in beta testing) for both fare and service information; made changes to

hasten the agency-wide transition to OMNY; introduced the Combo Ticket on mobile

and physical points of sale to encourage through-riding; and has physically expanded

the capacity and reach of the Metro-North and LIRR systems. Penn Station Access

will further integrate New York’s commuter railroads, bringing Metro-North to the East

Bronx and Penn Station.

With the planned 2025 introduction of OMNY on the commuter rails, it is important to

explore ways the new technology can make ticketing more seamless, and to initiate

planning for the future of ticketing and fare policy now.

For the first time, riders can transfer

between the LIRR and Metro-North under

one roof at Grand Central— and soon, at

Penn Station with Penn Access.

ISSUES & OPPORTUNITIES

The MTA Apps (TrainTime and MyMTA in beta testing)

The MTA is beta testing a new all-in-one MyMTA app to supersede its

TrainTime app. It will allow users to purchase tickets, plan a trip, save favorite

routes and check schedules for subways, buses, Long Island Rail Road,

Metro-North Railroad, PATH and AirTrain.

Other features will include live bus tracking; real-time on-board crowding

for railroads; live route tracking; Citi Bike information, as PCAC

recommended in its Bike and Pedestrian Access recommendations; and

more.

The MTA’s current progress towards seamlessness includes:

The existing TrainTime app itself has greatly improved the user experience

thanks to an overhaul merging the formerly separate LIRR and Metro-North

eTix and trip planning apps. TrainTime also introduced live train loading and

train car information.

It also allows the sale of most– though not all– types of tickets and

discounts, and point-to-point destination and ticket planning between both

railroads.

Trip planning suggestions between New York City Transit, LIRR, Metro-North, PATH, and

AirTrain on the MyMTA app in beta testing:

ISSUES & OPPORTUNITIES

Off-board ticket collection at Elmont-UBS Arena LIRR station

Off-Board Validation at Yankee Stadium, Citi Field, and UBS Arena

Existing gating systems currently employed for events at Citi Field, Yankee

Stadium, and the recently-opened UBS Arena have allowed the railroads to

verify that riders have activated their tickets before they board the train. This

allows conductors onboard to fully focus on the safe operation of the train and

providing customer service, while capturing fares of scores of riders in a more

orderly environment.

Introducing more advanced technology to let riders validate their tickets off-

board can make paying the fare faster and more seamless, allowing for faster

passenger flow and a simpler user experience. Customers could simply

board a train and have their tickets validated by contactless technology, with

fewer opportunities to avoid paying the fare.

Combo Ticket

Coinciding with the opening of Grand Central Madison is the first formal

through ticketing option between the MTA’s commuter railroads for a flat

surcharge of $8 plus the current off-peak one-way fare.

This opens opportunities for through-commuting between the LIRR and

Metro-North and for the MTA to learn more about when, where, and how

through-commuters use both railroads.

Ensuring that city riders of both railroads pay a fare that is equal to or less

than the cost of two CityTickets should be next in the fare’s evolution, with the

introduction of an intra-city Combo Ticket valid between any two stations in

the five boroughs.

Photo: Newsday

ISSUES & OPPORTUNITIES

Issues with Current Regional Railroad Ticketing Systems

Through-ticketing— when riders can buy one ticket valid on two or more railroads for

a journey— is an important step towards a more seamless MTA transit network.

Currently, it exists in a limited scope through the Combo Ticket, with much room for

improvement.

In the Northeast, commuter railroads have limited through-ticketing, where they

cross-honor fares or allow for transfers between bus and rail operators but not with

neighboring commuter railroads or other mass transit options. In the MTA region, this

can be seen with bus networks like NICE and Bee-Line accepting MetroCard

payments and the sale of joint bus and commuter rail UniTickets at ticket vending

machines on the LIRR and Metro-North.

This cross-honoring system is not always seamless. Metro-North’s West of Hudson

lines are operated by NJTransit crews, issue tickets via NJTransit vending machines,

and run with a mix of MTA and NJTransit equipment. Despite being branded as a

Metro-North service, West- of- Hudson lines aren’t shown on the MTA TrainTime app,

on East- of- Hudson ticketing machines owned by the MTA and are described in an

incomplete fashion on the MTA website. As such, the two lines occupy a gray area

between Metro-North and NJTransit.

West-of-Hudson lines pose a particular challenge as the MTA looks towards the

future of fare integration because of its existing fare arrangements with NJTransit.

The State of Connecticut and Metro-North have figured out how to serve commuters

across state lines using a ticketing system that is offered on MTA apps, while still

presenting revenue sharing challenges on the New Haven line that lead to a lack of

cross honoring on the Harlem and Hudson lines for one-way and round-trip tickets.

Within the scope of the MTA, the LIRR and Metro-North already publicly share

information through the TrainTime app, allowing for the purchase of separate tickets

and viewing schedules for and between either railroad. The limited through-ticketing

provided by the Combo Ticket, which can be purchased on the TrainTime app, is an

imperfect but substantial step in the right direction. The MTA’s existing ticketing

platforms can be helpful in implementing a more user-friendly fare system in the

interim before the rollout of OMNY. The level of multi-faceted engagement available

on the new myMTA app currently in BETA testing remains to be seen.

ISSUES & OPPORTUNITIES

A common practice on both the LIRR and Metro-North is the cross-honoring of fares

between parallel subway and commuter rail routes in the event of a disruption to

either line. Currently, transfer passengers simply flash their MetroCard or railroad

ticket to the conductor or station agent during a ticket check or at fare control. This

results in uncollected fares and allows for additional opportunities to evade fare

payment. Making fares more seamless at transfer points to buses, subways, or other

railroads would make transfers less difficult and more appealing, especially in

situations where service disruptions or repairs require riders to change commuting

habits.

The Bigger Picture: The Northeast Corridor Region

The Northeast Corridor Commission published a federally-mandated through-

ticketing study in 2017 which showed multiple initiatives to update fare media being

undertaken with similar — though distinct— characteristics.

The report diagnosed several shortcomings of railroad ticketing on a regional scale.

Currently, information sharing between transit operators on Amtrak’s Northeast

Corridor is lacking. There is no common source for information: trip planning and fare

calculation must be done on entirely separate apps and websites for each agency

that operates transit along the line, including but not limited to the Massachusetts Bay

Transportation Authority, Connecticut Department of Transportation, NJ Transit,

SEPTA, and Maryland DOT, adding stress and confusion to the transit rider

experience.

Riders surveyed in focus groups by the Commission expressed support for the idea

of through-ticketing, with many stating they didn’t really know where to start with the

current arrangement where information and ticket availability are limited, and where

one agency’s service ends and another’s begins. They also expressed willingness to

use transit for more trips if through-ticketing between transit agencies was an option.

Still, it’s important that through-tickets be available on both phone apps and with

paper tickets to ensure all riders have access to purchasing them.

One model of shared ticketing policy, and the one given the most attention in the

Commission’s report, is called the direct sales model, where riders can input their

origins and destinations into the same system and receive one ticket good for the

whole journey that will be cross-honored by all agencies operating transportation

Commuter rail agencies operating over parts of the Northeast Corridor are VRE, MARC, SEPTA, NJTransit, LIRR, Metro-North, CTDOT, and MBTA.

ISSUES & OPPORTUNITIES

along that route. The TrainTime app as it exists today can be considered a limited

expression of this model, sharing information between the two commuter railroads

and allowing for joint trip planning and fare calculation, with a unified MTA trip-

planning app in testing.

Still, outside of the Combo Ticket, separate tickets are necessary for through-travel

betweeen the LIRR and Metro-North, particularly posing an issue for riders traveling

within the city who would need to purchase two separate City Tickets to get the best

fare for trips between the railroads. The upside of the TrainTime app means that

tickets for each railroad can at least be bought and stored in the same place at once.

State and regional level transit agencies surveyed by the Northeast Corridor

Commission are open to the idea of through-ticketing, but harbor reservations over

transfer scheduling and timing, potential loss of revenue, the costs of designing and

implementing a through ticketing model, and sunk costs into existing fare technology

that come with increased coordination.

Best Practices

The priority of transit agencies like the MTA should be to appeal to, and ultimately

retain, long-term satisfied riders, who can be attracted and supported through a more

user-friendly fare system.

After the outbreak of COVID in the United States, multiple transit agencies took

advantage of the installation of contactless payment technology to reform their fare

structure, combined with “deep level” discounts like single-day unlimited passes.

These had a positive effect on ridership, in addition to retaining riders who had

adapted to a hybrid work-from-home model. Transitions towards flat fare systems or

simplifying how tickets are sold can drive ridership, as shown by several other transit

systems. With ridership on all MTA transit modes still trailing behind pre-pandemic

levels, a more user-friendly fare system could help boost ridership. An analysis of

Stockholm’s transition to a flat fare system showed that riders respond well to fare

simplification efforts— in this case, all of Stockholm County became one “zone” with

one fare. Integrating the zones spurred more intra-network travel regionwide.

In New York, the transition to the OMNY tap system was already underway, though

COVID delayed its system-wide deployment.

https://nec-commission.com/app/uploads/2019/01/NEC-Through-Ticketing-Study_v05.00.pdf

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X2100055X

Fare Policies, Structures and Technologies: Update By Daniel Fleishman, Transit Cooperative Research Program

ISSUES & OPPORTUNITIES

OMNY’s rollout to the commuter railroads will be transformative for the MTA’s mission

to connect the region. It can advance integration between the LIRR, Metro-North and

NYC Transit, along with adjacent transit systems like Nassau’s NICE bus,

Westchester’s Bee-Line, Suffolk County Transit (SCT), PATH, NYC Ferry, JFK

AirTrain, the Roosevelt Island Tram, bike share programs and others—some of which

have already started OMNY rollout. The MTA should accompany its commitment to

expand OMNY to the commuter railroads in the coming years with a strategy that

takes advantage of its features to increase seamlessness between its transportation

systems. As such, these recommendations fit into two categories:

RECOMMENDATIONS

The “OMNY On-ramp.”

In advance of the OMNY rollout, planning and preparation to

streamline ticketing options and make fare payment easier before

the contactless card’s debut on railroads, with implementation on

a rolling basis to initiate both change and transition to OMNY; and

The “OMNY Environment.”

Once OMNY is widely available on the commuter rails and to all

riders, implementation of On-ramp recommendations to advance

seamless user-friendly fare payment.

Rationalizing Inter-Railroad Fares

With the completion of Penn Access, trains from the LIRR and Metro-North will run

into both Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station. In advance of conclusion of that

long-awaited project, both railroads should approach ticketing with usability in mind to

expand the potential of bringing the two railroads closer together.

Currently, the LIRR and Metro-North have distinct distance-based fares grouped into

fare zones; this is further complicated by West-of-Hudson service which shares

operations with NJTransit. Tickets sold between the railroads are not

interchangeable. There are literally dozens of different ticket types available on the

railroads depending on origin and destination zones; time-of day and direction;

passenger-eligible discounts; special fares based on rider categorization; etc. There

is also no way to compare price-per-mile figures across the railroads.

To make it easier for riders to know how much they should pay – and will pay – for

their trip, whether on one railroad or two, the MTA should invest in steps to

communicate, coordinate, and consolidate ticket pricing.

Phase 1: Communication

On Metro-North, single-ride, round trip, and 10-trip tickets for the Harlem and Hudson

line are not valid on the New Haven line, and vice versa. However, monthly and

weekly tickets are valid between all three lines within New York. Cross-honoring of all

fares between Metro-North’s East-of-Hudson lines should be offered in New York.

This disparity between lines isn’t present on the LIRR, where all tickets are valid for all

branches and lines.

THE OMNY ON-RAMP:

How the MTA can simplify fare payment

leading up to OMNY rollout

Simplify Cross Honoring Policies Between Railroads

RECOMMENDATIONS

The existing MTA TrainTime app allows for ticketing on both railroads and live feeds

of train and schedule information. These feeds can and should also be supplemented

with live schedule and train information from other transit partners. Historically,

information sharing between the West-of-Hudson Metro-North lines and the rest of

the MTA network has been incomplete– both on the TrainTime app and the official

MTA website. Schedules, tickets, and information for those lines should be integrated

directly into future MTA web pages, apps, and branding.

The newly developed MTA app in beta testing includes route and destination

planning for all MTA modes. This includes LIRR, Metro-North, and New York City

Transit scheduling, trip planning, and transfer information. While it’s currently still

undergoing testing and improvements, it allows users to plan trips that cover other

transit agencies including PATH and NJTransit. This feature should be maintained

and expanded to cover all regional transit agencies, including Amtrak, CTDOT, NICE,

SCT, Bee-Line, and TOR. The MTA should also negotiate ways to offer other

connecting transportation providers’ tickets (or ticketing information) through their

own apps and points of sale, and offer the same for other railroads.

THE OMNY ON-RAMP:

How the MTA can simplify fare payment

leading up to OMNY rollout

Continue to Incorporate Live Scheduling Information from Partner

Agencies into TrainTime and the new myMTA app

Use a Clearly Communicated Pricing Formula for Tickets on Both

Railroads

The MTA should consider renaming or renumbering its fare zones to better

communicate how ticket prices are calculated. For example: the LIRR has eight

fare zones, but they’re numbered 1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 12, and 14. Riders would better

Ticket options should be as consistent as possible between railroads, while reflecting

the unique commuting patterns of their riders. This would make it easier to calculate

trip costs between railroads. Tickets valid for the LIRR and Metro-North’s Harlem and

Hudson, West-of-Hudson, and New Haven Lines should be visually distinct to

communicate their validity to conductors and riders.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Ticket types that offer discounts (e.g., off-peak or ten-trip) should clearly

communicate the percent value of the offer. Weekly and monthly tickets

should communicate the “break-even” points at which they offer a better deal

than pay-per-ride or ten-trip tickets.

Combo Ticket and the enhanced CityTicket should be visually distinct and

marketed specifically to through-commuters and intra-city travelers, respectively.

Feasibility and field studies should be conducted in 2024 to determine how best

to bring back a weekly option to CityTicket that includes transfers to subways and

buses.

understand the fare zones if they were instead numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so forth. All

ticket types should be available on the TrainTime app, Ticket Vending Machines, and

staffed ticket booths.

THE OMNY ON-RAMP:

How the MTA can simplify fare payment

leading up to OMNY rollout

Sample color-coded and visually distinct tickets so that riders can more clearly show

ticket collectors which ticket they’ve used

RECOMMENDATIONS

Phase 2: Coordination

THE OMNY ON-RAMP:

How the MTA can simplify fare payment

leading up to OMNY rollout

Identify a Core Set of Ticket Types with Easy-to-Understand

Conditions

Single ride

Children between the ages of 5-11 may travel for $1 with an adult during off-

peak hours, and for half price during peak hours.

Round trip

10-trip

To replace the 20-trip ticket and provide additional options to hybrid

commuters, the 15% discount should also be extended to peak 10-trip tickets.

Weekly

Monthly

CityTicket

CityTicket Weekly

Combo Ticket

Combo Ticket Weekly

Rather than offering new discounts and deals as separate pilot programs, leading to

over two dozen different types of single-ride and round-trip combinations, the

railroads should focus on integrating special discounts, including the existing senior

and disabled fares, into a core set of tickets. For example, these could include:

Senior

Disabled/ADA

Youth aged 12 to 17 (currently excluded from the $1 family add-on)

Fair Fares, which should also be expanded to LIRR and Metro-North within New

York City

Half-price fare discounts should apply to all of the above tickets for the following

categories, and available at all times:

RECOMMENDATIONS

Currently, peak fares are charged on non-holiday weekday mornings outbound on

from New York City on Metro-North from 6-9 AM, and inbound from 6-10 AM, while

peak fares are only charged on non-holiday weekday mornings on the LIRR from 6-

10 AM inbound to New York City. This differs from the PM peak, which is consistent

from 4-8 PM on both railroads. Both railroads should share the same definitions of

“peak” and “off-peak” times to increase clarity and consistency between the two, and

discounted tickets like senior, disabled, and family tickets should be valid during the

AM peak.

When are peak fares charged?

THE OMNY ON-RAMP:

How the MTA can simplify fare payment

leading up to OMNY rollout

Identify Zones on the Railroads where Fares are Similar, and Bring

Prices into Alignment.

Certain LIRR and Metro-North trips that are about the same distance have differing

prices. The MTA should work to align fares between the LIRR, and Harlem/Hudson

and New Haven lines in the fare zones where prices are already similar. For example,

one-way peak tickets sold to/from zone 4 of the LIRR and zone 3 on Metro-North cost

$13 and $12 to get to Grand Central, respectively. These two zones are the first

outside the five boroughs and cover the most commuter-dense suburbs. Future

changes should consider bringing prices like these into alignment, which will better

position the two railroads and their fare options as one common system.

Unify both Railroads’ AM Peak Hours

Time

LIRR

Metro-North

AM Outbound

Off-Peak

Peak from 6AM-9AM

AM Inbound

Peak from 6AM-10AM

PM Outbound

Peak from 4PM-8PM

PM Inbound

Off-Peak

RECOMMENDATIONS

Once fare prices for similar distances across railroads are brought into alignment,

cross-honoring of tickets between the LIRR and Metro-North could become a

possibility.

THE OMNY ON-RAMP:

How the MTA can simplify fare payment

leading up to OMNY rollout

Allow for Cross-Honoring of Tickets between the LIRR and

Metro-North

Offer an Intra-city Combo Ticket Fare

The existing Combo Ticket’s off-peak fare plus a flat $8 transfer surcharge costs

more than purchasing two separate CityTickets. A lower flat rate for an intra-city

Combo Ticket would reduce the cost of travel across railroads and encourage greater

railroad usage within city limits.

Expand and Enhance Fair Fares, Including to Commuter Rail

Fair Fares, the existing half-fare program for subway and bus riders at 120% of the

Federal Poverty Level (FPL), should be expanded to 200% of the FPR. Fair Fares

should be expanded to the commuter railroads within New York City with half-fare

CityTickets available to eligible users for travel in the five boroughs. Additional funds

to pay for the program expansion should come from either New York City, as with the

rest of the Fair Fares program, or as a separate funding line from New York State.

RECOMMENDATIONS

New Ticketing Possibilities with OMNY: Use OMNY to integrate LIRR, Metro-

North, and NYC Transit Fares

Ticket machines at major stations and terminals should allow for ticket purchases and

trip planning between Long Island and Metro-North stations, along with the purchase

of joint tickets that offer subway and bus fares. The MTA TrainTime and upgraded

myMTA apps should be expanded to include a transit fare option, in addition to the

ability to purchase through-travel on LIRR and Metro-North. The introduction of

OMNY will introduce allow for online ticket purchases that should allow for system-

wide travel, while also ushering in new Ticket Vending Machines (TVMs) at commuter

rail stations. These machines should remedy the shortcomings of the current TVMs’

confusing interface and limited support for trip planning.

Connect OMNY with TrainTime and the New myMTA App to Expand

Transfer Options between MTA Modes Prior to Full Rollout

THE OMNY ENVIRONMENT:

How OMNY implementation can consolidate the MTA’s

fare systems and improve user-friendliness

An expanded weekly CityTicket, including transfers between the LIRR, Metro-North,

and NYC Transit– similar to the existing Atlantic Ticket weekly option – should be

offered during the transition period, even before a full OMNY rollout. A back-end

connection could link the TrainTime or myMTA purchase with OMNY to provide a

seamless system for riders.

Create a Weekly CityTicket with Available Transfers to Subways/Buses

The MTA’s fare changes, approved by a Board vote in July 2023, included merging

Atlantic Ticket with the broader CityTicket, which will now also be offered during peak

hours at a premium cost of $7. Undeniably, this change expands railroad discounts to

all city stations 24/7 and helps shrink the number of ticket types offered to riders.

However, the updated CityTicket lacks the option to purchase a weekly MetroCard,

with transfers to subways and buses, that the Atlantic Ticket offered and that

thousands relied on.

Given the overwhelming support for the weekly option pre-pandemic and its return

RECOMMENDATIONS

Atlantic Ticket was priced at $5 for one-way LIRR trips between Atlantic Terminal and some Southeast Queens and Brooklyn stations. There was

also a $60 weekly option that included a weekly unlimited MetroCard.

uptick post-pandemic – despite not being offered via the TrainTime or eTix app – the

MTA should conduct feasibility and field studies in 2024 to analyze the potential of a

weekly CityTicket with the option to purchase free transfers to subways and buses:

PCAC’s Freedom Ticket concept. This concept has already proven attractive to riders

on the LIRR where it was initially offered, and the success of CityTicket indicates a

market waiting to be tapped.

Adopt a Common Price-per-Mile and Unified Fare Zone System

THE OMNY ENVIRONMENT:

How OMNY implementation can consolidate the MTA’s

fare systems and improve user-friendliness

Ideally, the LIRR and Metro-North would adopt a common price-per-mile metric,

abolishing the differences between the two railroads’ tickets. A common price-per-

mile would inform the creation of a unified fare zone system, in which riders in the

Hudson Valley and on Long Island would be grouped into common fare zones.

Instead of the current structure where the LIRR, Harlem/Hudson, and New Haven

lines all offer different prices for traveling similar distances, a common price-per-mile

would allow for increased flexibility and ease for riders who are through-riding. It

would also reduce the necessary amount of information for riders calculating the price

of a ticket; rather than communicating fare logic through multiple, complicated tables,

a common price per mile would be more understandable and easily readable on a

map.

The existing fare zones

for MTA’s commuter

railroads are divided

between the LIRR

(PURPLE), the New

Haven line (RED) and

Harlem and Hudson

lines (BLUE) of Metro-

North. Ticketing for

West-of-Hudson lines

(BLACK) are sold

through NJTransit

points of sale.

Existing MTA Fare Zones

RECOMMENDATIONS

OMNY integration with the TrainTime and new myMTA app should automatically

apply discounts like CityTicket conditions and senior or disabled fares (if applicable),

even if the rider hasn’t specifically purchased such a ticket, by allowing riders to

create a profile in the app to validate their senior or disabled qualification. Currently,

many intra-city riders overpay for trips by purchasing a regular off-peak ticket

because the option is available to them towards the top of the list of purchase options,

instead of a CityTicket, which may be on another screen on a TVM. Riders should

automatically be shown the best deal available to them when selecting a station pair,

both on the TrainTime/myMTA app and on new OMNY machines.

This is a conceptual depiction of what unified fare zones across Metro-North and the LIRR could look

like in the future. Communicating fare information would be simplified, and tickets could be used on

and across all various lines and trips.

Proposed Unified MTA Fare Zones

Automatically Show and Charge Riders the Best Fare Available to

them

THE OMNY ENVIRONMENT:

How OMNY implementation can consolidate the MTA’s

fare systems and improve user-friendliness

RECOMMENDATIONS

Simplifying the fare structure goes hand in hand with improving fare collection. New

options and opportunities that will come with the rollout of OMNY can be looked at vis

a vis the recommendations from the report issued by the Blue Ribbon Panel on

Payment Evasion once discussions and communications with stakeholders have

identified appropriate paths forward.

Communicate and Work with Riders and the MTA Employees

Directly Responsible for Collecting and Selling Tickets

The lived experience — and customer service aspects — of railroad ticketing must be

the first and foremost priorities. A ticketing system which cannot be properly enforced

is no system at all. Outreach should be conducted to find the most equitable and

effective solutions for the future of fare payment, which should include the opening of

a rider forum and an employee forum for discussing fare policy, fare evasion, and

generally the experience of commuter rail fare policies at present. The collection of

qualitative data from focus groups as this initiative progresses should inform its

rollout. In addition to their feedback, they can also serve as resources to test these

proposals before they are implemented or to make an argument to implement them.

OMNYʼS POTENTIAL:

How OMNY can be used to improve the

MTA’s fare collection

Modernize and Improve Both Railroads’ Ticket Collection, with

Input from Stakeholders

Both railroads should work together and with labor, riders, advocates, experts, and

other key stakeholders to identify ways to modernize and improve the railroads’ ticket

collection operations once OMNY is rolled out to the LIRR and Metro-North. OMNY

will allow the MTA to greatly improve inter-service cooperation, enhance user

friendliness, and permit conductors to focus on their primary missions of safety and

train operations.

The railroads have already successfully implemented fare gating at events such as

Mets and Yankees games. A contactless system like OMNY and the prospect of its

integration with mobile phone apps would allow for more effective enforcement of off-

board ticket activation.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Technical solutions made possible with contactless fare media allow for off-board

validation of tickets, automatic ticket verification and payment, and a user-friendly

interface for riders. The MTA should evaluate these options – in addition to

streamlining the fare structure itself – as ways to simplify fare collection. OMNY’s

rollout must be paired with an intensive communication strategy between rider,

employee, and agency stakeholders to ensure that OMNY will help simplify and

improve the rider and worker experience.

OMNYʼS POTENTIAL:

How OMNY can be used to improve the

MTA’s fare collection

RECOMMENDATIONS