MTA Board Members Considering MetroCard Extensions for Sandy Shutdowns

Although officials with the MTA have said that riders will not receive extensions or refunds for suspended service related to Hurricane Sandy, at least some discussion on the subject will take place at upcoming transit committee meeting.

MTA board members will demand that straphangers be reimbursed for time lost on monthly and weekly MetroCards while the subways were down, reported the New York Post.

“When the service is interrupted by no fault of the rider, the right thing to do is extend the card for the period that the service is out,” said Andrew Albert, a nonvoting board member who plans to bring the issue up at the transit committee meeting November 26. “The hurricane was not the MTA’s fault, but it shows good faith with the riders,” he added.

Allen Cappelli, a voting board member, said that the MTA should consider applying to the feds for the lost revenue, then passing along any funds to riders who lost MetroCard time.

It took about a week for the Q and B trains to return to full service but parts of the R, 1 and A trains are still down. The neighborhoods served by those trains include Coney Island and the Rockaways, some of the hardest hit by the storm.