Summer Saturday Discounts Returning for LIRR

LONG ISLAND, NY — Long Island Rail Road "Summer Saturday" discount programs that enable monthly ticketholders to travel anywhere the railroads go and bring friends or family for just $1 each will return in July.

"Skip the traffic and ride the rails," said LIRR President Robert Free. "Taking the train is the fastest and most convenient way to travel between the City and the Island."

The Summer Saturday discount program returns as the MTA is set to implement congestion tolls at the end of June in lower Manhattan. It is one of the series of efforts the MTA has made to encourage new customers to use the transit system, which also includes enhancing service on 11 different subway lines, increasing service on buses, and reducing fares for monthly railroad ticketholders within the five boroughs.

Between July 6 and Aug. 31, Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad will honor all monthly tickets for travel to and from all LIRR and Metro-North stations during weekends, regardless of what stations are printed on the ticket.

Monthly ticket holders traveling Saturdays will be able to bring up to two additional travelers for only $1 per person each way.

“The return of the Summer Saturdays means LIRR customers, and their families, can access all of what Long Island has to offer this summer at a great price,” Free said.

There will be no cross-honoring of these discounted tickets between the railroads, meaning LIRR customers cannot use their monthly tickets to travel on Metro-North, and vice versa.

Three Montauk Branch LIRR trains and one Ronkonkoma train and its Greenport connection are exempt from the program: the 7:13 a.m., 8:13 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. trains from Jamaica to Montauk, the 7:58 a.m. train from Grand Central Madison to Ronkonkoma and its connection, the 9:27 a.m. train from Ronkonkoma to Greenport.