MTA Customer Savings Surpasses $100M

Governor Hochul today announced that Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) customers have saved more than $100 million since March 2022 by using CityTicket to travel within New York City on the Long Island Rail Road or Metro-North Railroad. The savings are measured against the cost of regular one-way peak and off-peak tickets. This milestone comes after Governor Hochul and the MTA expanded the CityTicket program from a weekend-only option to being available on all peak and off-peak trains in recent years.

“The results are in and it is clear: expanding CityTicket has been a huge affordability win for New Yorkers,” Governor Hochul said. “For years, residents of the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens had high-quality rail service right at their doorsteps, but the fare was just too high. Not anymore. By making LIRR and Metro-North service more affordable for city riders, we have welcomed millions of new customers, getting New Yorkers out of their cars and onto fast, reliable rail service in and out of Manhattan.”

MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said, “Thirty million customers can’t be wrong – the City Ticket is a smash success, saving New York City residents $100 million, plus a faster commute. It’s another proof point that low cost, reliable transit is one of our most important solutions to the affordability crisis, especially for folks outside Manhattan.”

The savings analysis is based on ticket sales from March 2022 through August 2025. Tickets are $5 off peak hours and $7 during peak hours anywhere within New York City on either LIRR or Metro-North, significantly less than the cost of point-to-point tickets prior to the start of the program. For the Long Island Rail Road, 30.4 million CityTickets were sold, totaling a cost savings of $83.2 million. For Metro-North Railroad, 6.8 million CityTickets were sold, totaling a cost savings of $17.6 million – achieving a combined $100.8 million in savings for customers.

CityTicket was originally introduced in October 2003 for weekend travel. On Feb. 25, 2022, the MTA expanded the CityTicket to all off-peak trains, including those on weekdays, providing more riders with an affordable option. On Jan. 10, 2023, Governor Hochul announced that the MTA would further expand the ticket’s validity to include peak travel, with further details provided subsequently by the MTA.

Between March 2022 and August 2023, the MTA collectively sold 7.5 million CityTickets. When the program was expanded to include peak trains in August of 2023, 29.7 million CityTickets were sold between September 2022 and August 2025.

At a time of surging railroad ridership across the MTA network, CityTicket expansion has seen ridership grow at city stations faster than systemwide baselines. From 2021 to 2025, monthly average ridership across the LIRR has grown 179%, while ridership grew by 183% at Rosedale, 215% at Queens Village, and 224% at Jamaica. Over 766,000 monthly riders now travel to and from Jamaica Station on the LIRR, which includes connection to the JFK AirTrain and the 168 St Bus Terminal, with connections to 10 New York City Transit and five NICE bus routes.

Bronx riders are also benefitting from more affordable Metro-North service. While overall monthly average railroad ridership grew 126% from 2021 to 2025, ridership was up 163% at Tremont and 152% at Spuyten Duyvil.

Today’s announcement comes as the railroads continue to deliver strong performance and reliability, while breaking post pandemic ridership records. The ridership highs across both railroads reflect the increasing customer satisfaction rates and record-breaking on-time performance statistics.

For this year so far, 96.4% of LIRR trains reached their destination on time, the best rate in its history, even surpassing pandemic years. Customer satisfaction with the LIRR reached 81% in the spring of 2025, up five percentage points from the fall of 2024, when it reached 76%, which was itself a six-point increase from spring 2024’s rate of 70%.

On Metro-North, 98.0% of trains have reached their destination on time this year. Metro-North continues to be the MTA’s highest-rated service with 89% of customers reporting being very satisfied or satisfied with Metro-North overall, an increase from 85% in Fall 2024. Satisfaction increased across all lines, up four points to 90% on the Hudson Line, four points to 89% on the Harlem Line, and five points to 89% on the New Haven Line.b