MTA chief tells WINS that refunds are planned for riders impacted by LIRR strike

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber told 1010 WINS on Monday that the MTA is planning to reimburse LIRR riders for services days lost to the strike.

“Will folks who have a monthly or a weekly train ticket get some kind of refund or credit?” asked 1010 WINS anchor Susan Richard.

“Yes, we are going to calculate exactly what kind of refund people are entitled to based on the number of days that have been lost, whenever this deal settles,” Lieber said.

The LIRR expanded on the plan in a social media post: "We intend to issue prorated refunds to May monthly ticket holders for each business day that service is suspended due to the strike, pending approval from the MTA board. We will post more details as soon as we have them. Visit mta.info/lirrstrike for the latest updates."

Lieber also said waving congestion pricing during the strike isn’t an option.

"I understand it's an election year and people want to make politics out of — but this is a serious situation, not time for political grandstanding,” he said.

“The governor dealt with it very clearly yesterday,” he continued. “There is no avenue under federal law that allows us to just turn off congestion pricing. We have to adhere to the federal approval that was given to us. So it’s not an option.”

LIRR workers were picketing outside of Penn Station again Monday as the strike entered its third day and talks continued.

Unions representing rail workers and the MTA, which runs the railroad, negotiated through much of Sunday and early Monday after some prodding from the National Mediation Board and Gov. Kathy Hochul.

The two sides came up short, but the talks went well enough that negotiators agreed to return to their work early Monday morning.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.