Home Service Advisories Sandy Update: Fares return at midnight, sadly

Sandy Update: Fares return at midnight, sadly

by Benjamin Kabak

A brief late-day update: The MTA issued what has become simultaneously a sad and light-hearted message on fares this afternoon.

Beginning at 12:01 a.m., fares will again be collected on city buses and subways and on the commuter rail network, and that emoticon makes it all better. Off-peak fares will be in effect on LIRR and Metro-North until further notice. Meanwhile, as parts of the Manhattan power grid come back online, the subways inch closer to a return. We still need the Lower Manhattan grid to come back, and after that, the MTA can restore subway service within around two hours.

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14 comments

BrooklynBus November 2, 2012 - 6:47 pm

Does anyone know if the MTA still issues block tickets? If not, it seems to me many will have to pay multiple fares as long as there are no trains running through most tunnels with fares returning.

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Roxie November 2, 2012 - 7:04 pm

It can happen. Usually only in emergency situations, though.
I get the sense that the MTA feels it’ll be able to restore enough service by tonight or tomorrow to justify charging fares again.

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Kai B November 2, 2012 - 8:33 pm

Every once in awhile I’ve gotten one when transferring to a G-Train shuttle bus at Court Square. The bus operators aren’t even interested in collecting them, so I end up just staring at these relics of a former era.

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Jon November 2, 2012 - 7:07 pm

2 hours? Don’t they still need to pump stations, check for salt water corrosion, etc? (I hope 2 hours is not a typo).

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Benjamin Kabak November 2, 2012 - 7:08 pm

It’s only for the Joralemon St. and Rutgers St. Tunnels, respectively. (That’s the 4/5 and F trains.)

All that work you mention has already been completed. They just need to run test trains. They’ve been working throughout the week on inspecting and repairing what needs attention.

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John-2 November 2, 2012 - 8:11 pm

Are they going to run the A via the F from West Fourth to Jay? Seems to make more sense than split Eighth Avenue-Fulton service.

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BBnet3000 November 2, 2012 - 9:44 pm

Its not that unfortunate. They could use the money (though the feds are supposedly covering the loss) and a majority of riders have unlimited cards that are going to waste anyway.

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Phantom November 3, 2012 - 9:01 am

What will happen with those unlimited MetroCards? Will value be restored for the time lost?

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D-train November 2, 2012 - 9:46 pm

Until Brooklyn to Manhattan service is restored on at least 4 distinct lines, charging fares is unethical at best.

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Frank B November 2, 2012 - 10:56 pm

I think it’s unethical that Cuomo made the MTA collect no fares despite the fact that anyone who lived in Uptown Manhattan, The Bronx and a good number of people who lived in Queens and worked in Midtown (had no change in service.)

Will the State provide MTA with the lost revenues for running these trains for free? Unlikely. Maybe funds for bringing the system back online, but likely not for lost revenues; running even half of the system costs quite a chunk of change…

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Clarke November 3, 2012 - 7:27 pm

If it’s any consolation, the MTA collected fares throughout the evacuation zones despite having not during Irene. Surely some of that must make up for the free fare days.

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Mike November 3, 2012 - 9:59 am

Power has been back for way more than two hours. Why are we still waiting for subway service to even be announced?

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mike d. November 3, 2012 - 1:01 pm

It is a long process to test and check if its working safely or not.

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Matthias H. November 4, 2012 - 8:15 pm

Some buses were actually a bit faster than usual without fare collection delays. Now that we’re back to normal, we can enjoy the long waits while riders queue to dip their MetroCards…one…by…one…

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