LIRR tests onboard credit card ticket purchases
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-ChiefThe Long Island Rail Road on Tuesday began testing an option allowing passengers to purchase tickets onboard trains with a credit card.
The testing occurred on a lesser-used portion of the system in Suffolk County, diesel train shuttle service on the LIRR’s Ronkonkoma Branch, linking Ronkonkoma and Greenport, N.Y.
Conductors will be carrying an Apple iPhone 4 equipped with a PaySaber cradle device that uses an application designed by the LIRR that enables train crews to make credit card sales and ‘debit-as-credit’ sales and print out tickets in one easy transaction. The device will be used to process onboard cash sales as well during the pilot program.
Despite the potential convenience, riders purchasing tickets onboard with credit card will have to pay a penalty fee if they were able to purchase tickets at a station.
LIRR officials say additional testing will take place later this month on the Montauk Branch, also largely within Suffolk County. If the pilot program is successful, it will be expanded to other portions of the system.
