The board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted on Tuesday to offer commuters on Metro North’s New Haven line a refund to compensate for service difficulties since a power outage on the line last week.
MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast told board members that he considers the current power failure a one-off event, in terms of its magnitude and duration.
“Transportation systems like ours do experience delays, we’ve heard them, you’ve been part of them," said Prendergast. "But this is in a range unto itself, which is why, in keeping with what the Governor asked, in terms of magnitude and duration, us to take a look at some form of relief.”
That relief will come in the form of a credit for people who bought weekly or monthly tickets during the period of the outage. For example, if the outage lasts two weeks, people will be get the cost of two weeks off their next ticket purchase. More information on the credits is online here.
Commuters on the New Haven line should hold on to their weekly or monthly passes during this period, to show that they're entitled to the refund.
Members of the board expressed their hope that Con Edison will reimburse the MTA for some of that expense. The railroad also announced that service on the line will be increased to about 65% of normal as of Wednesday. Metro North and Con Edison say they plan to be able to restore full service by next Tuesday.