Statement by Bradley Brashears, PCAC Planning Manager
Extension of the Atlantic Ticket Pilot Program
At the MTA Board Meeting
MTA Headquarters, 2 Broadway, New York, NY 10004
June 26, 2019
Good morning Board members, I’m Bradley Brashears, Planning Manager at the PCAC, speaking on behalf of the New York City Transit Riders Council regarding the extension of the Atlantic Ticket Pilot Program. The program was generated from the Council’s Freedom Ticket concept, and we could not be happier about its continued success. Atlantic Ticket has been able to discount fares by as much as 51% and has drastically reduced 2+ hour commutes down to just 45 minutes for thousands of outer borough commuters.
Atlantic Ticket has paved the way for equitable fares in far-flung areas of the city that are priced out of commuter rail service and not close to subways. This is especially important as fares have recently risen and much-needed congestion pricing is on the horizon. Riders need options, like that embodied in the Freedom Ticket model.
Since its June 6, 2018 launch, Atlantic Ticket has increased daily ridership at Atlantic Terminal by 5%, providing much needed revenue in a corridor that was operating over half empty during peak hours – getting more out of an underutilized asset. Over 600,000 tickets have been purchased, resulting in over $4.3 million in revenue, and continuing to grow – now at about 17,500 tickets sold per week.
With this success, we would like to look beyond Atlantic Ticket in order to address commuting needs elsewhere in the region. We understand that right now there are capacity constraints going in and out of Penn Station, therefore we are looking to advance the program to Metro-North in the interim. Once East Side Access (ESA) is complete and the East River tunnels are repaired, Penn Station must too have a Freedom Ticket type fare structure. Until then, contextualizing the Freedom Ticket model for the Bronx will help improve commutes by reducing fares and saving commuters valuable time.
We welcome the opportunity to advance discussions regarding a pilot program for the Bronx. Thank you for your time, and let’s keep the fare equity drum beating. It is time to pay-it-forward!
Download here: 6.26.19 Atlantic Ticket Extension