Statement by Bradley Brashears, Planning Manager, PCAC
Atlantic Ticket Two –Year Anniversary: Make it Permanent
At the MTA Board Meeting
MTA Headquarters, 2 Broadway, New York, NY 10004
June 24, 2020
Good morning. I’m Bradley Brashears representing the New York City Transit Riders Council (NYCTRC). Today, I am addressing the exciting two-year anniversary of the Atlantic Ticket Field Study, which allows city commuters to ride the LIRR at a discounted rate with free transfers to NYC Transit subways and buses. By the end of March, over 1.7 million Atlantic tickets were sold, generating over $12 million in revenue for the Rail Road. While these numbers point to a successful program, further improvements would bolster this success while providing the safe and affordable travel that is so important right now as our region begins to reopen.
In order to provide and build from the program’s success, the Riders’ Council would like to see the following three items happen:
- First, make the Atlantic Ticket a permanent discounted program.
- Second, improve purchasing options, such as adding it to eTix, and ultimately to OMNY; providing monthly and one-way ticket options with transfers; and fixing TVMs and reprogramming them to better direct riders to Atlantic Ticket.
- Third, improve and expand Atlantic Ticket’s marketing campaign to let more riders know about this affordable riding option.
With all that is going on in our new world, riders need affordable travel options that support social distancing. Making the Atlantic Ticket program permanent, improving purchasing options and marketing will help these efforts. As we move forward in the reopening process, we would like to continue the conversation to identify additional areas where the Atlantic Ticket aka Freedom Ticket concept will help both riders and the MTA.
To all the MTA and its frontline heroes who have kept the system running during these very challenging times, thank you!