Newsday: Several Long Island Railroad stations to close ticket offices

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Several LIRR stations to close ticket offices
BY ALFONSO A. CASTILLO | [e-mail]
December 20, 2008


Need a reminder on what return-trip train you should aim for? Dan Lichner is all too happy to highlight it on your schedule with his yellow marker. Just looking for a friendly face at the start of your morning commute? Lichner's got one of those too.

"I get it all the time. 'Thank you very much. You're very helpful,'" said Lichner, who has worked as a ticket agent at the Long Island Rail Road's Farmingdale station for two years. "I'm a big proponent of customer service."

And while no ticket vending machine can duplicate Lichner's personal touch, many LIRR customers may soon have to go without. As part of cuts in its 2009 operating budget, the MTA plans to close 20 of its 50 ticket offices, including 10 in Nassau, two in Suffolk and eight in New York City.

Doing so would eliminate at those stations what LIRR president Helena Williams calls "the first face of the railroad."

"When they get a warm response, and they get their questions answered, and their ticket purchases made as effectively and efficiently as possible, it starts their whole trip out on exactly the right note," Williams said. "Coming into what would now just be a waiting area with no customer representative there ... It's a big difference."

The measure, one of several planned service cuts on the LIRR, promises to save $2.2 million by 2010. But some riders, transit advocates and MTA officials said the move is shortsighted. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/saturday/longisland/ny-lilirr205971866dec20,0,5163097.story