Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

The new system just recently became operational and immediately proved its value, speeding up the sales process and making clear to customers which of 12 ticket windows were open for business.

Since March 7, 2007, nearly 1,000 employees working 24 hours a day, five days a week, have completed more than 2,400 controlled blasts — all without affecting the nearby operations of MTA Metro-North Railroad or the New York City Subway.

The need for additional revenue, which had been assumed in MTA budget forecasts beginning in 2009, was confirmed in July 2012. The MTA announced specific fare and toll increase proposals last October.

LIRR and Metro-North are seeking proposals from companies that can develop an app that will let customers buy tickets right on their mobile devices and display their tickets on screen for visual inspection by conductors and/or barcode verification. Responses are due by March 15.

Subway service has been restored to most lines, but work continues to restore full service to lines that are currently offering only partial service.

Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad are back in operation in some areas. Thousands of MTA workers are still out across the entire 5,000 square mile service region inspecting and repairing the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy.

The new train wash facility is located east of the Babylon LIRR Station, situated between the Babylon Village golf course and the LIRR tracks leading to the Babylon Train Yard.

The 41 stations will have their waiting room hours extended until 10 PM in the evening on weekdays. LIRR station waiting rooms typically open between 5 AM and 6 AM on weekdays. Prior to the pilot, most station waiting rooms closed by mid-afternoon.

In December 2010 the MTA abbreviated the validity periods to reduce revenue loss from uncollected tickets and imposed a refund fee of $10 to partially cover the actual cost of processing the refund.

Adding and extending service on almost 40 bus, subway and commuter rail lines. The investments will be phased in over several months and will cost an additional $29 million per year to operate when fully implemented. They are paid for with increased revenue generated by additional ridership and savings from the agency’s efforts to contain costs.