Nearly 300,000 New Yorkers who rely on the Long Island Rail Road every day are now stranded as a result of a LIRR workers strike. Those who are forced to drive into Manhattan for their daily commute will be hit with a $13.50-per-day congestion pricing tax just to get to work, New York State Attorney General candidate Saritha Komatireddy today noted.
How much money is in dispute? Hochul and the unions are haggling over a few million per year in salaries – about one half of one percent in salary increases in the fourth year of the contract.
Meanwhile, the MTA loses approximately $1 billion each year because the New York Attorney General and DAs in the five boroughs refuse to enforce laws against fare evasion. In a September 2025 report, the Citizens Budget Commission stated that fare evasion cost the MTA $1 billion in 2024: $568 million in unpaid bus fares, $350 million in unpaid subway fares, at least $46 million in unpaid commuter rail tickets, and at least $51 million in unpaid tolls. The MTA’s $918 million loss to subway and bus fare evasion in 2024 was triple the $305 million lost in 2019. Every minute during 2024, 330 subway fares and 710 bus fares were evaded.
“If the AG did her job — made sure every New Yorker paid the fare when taking public transit and defended the MTA in litigation instead of paying private law firms to do so — the MTA would have an extra billion dollars,” Ms. Komatireddy, a former top federal prosecutor said.
“Fare evasion has tripled under AG James. That burdens New Yorkers’ safety and their wallets. Hardworking, law-abiding New Yorkers are paying the price for the state’s failures, while criminals get a free ride. The cost of that evasion is being shifted to workers who can’t get a raise, rule-following riders who must pay higher ticket prices, and taxpayers.”
In addition, the MTA has hired expensive private law firms to defend it in litigation, Ms. Komatireddy said. The New York Post recently reported that the MTA paid more than $10 million to six law firms in recent years and has increased such outsourcing over time. This is despite the fact that MTA has its own legal division with a team of nearly 60 staffers paid an average of $121,000 a year, and the New York Attorney General is charged with the legal defense of all actions and proceedings in which the state is interested, and with charge and control of all the legal business of all state agencies, departments, and bureaus.
The New York State Comptroller estimated Friday that a strike would cost up to $61 million in lost economic activity each day.
“The state is fighting tooth and nail over a tiny gap with the unions, while losing roughly $1 billion a year to fare evasion — all because the AG doesn’t believe in enforcing the law and farms out work to private law firms that her office is paid to do. Hochul and James’s handling of the issues on mass transit is penny-wise, pound-foolish. Moreover, it makes New Yorkers less safe — the criminals who rob, grope, and assault other riders in the trains don’t pay the fare and could be stopped at the gates — if only we enforced the laws.
“As Attorney General, I will end the lawlessness in public transit. Enforcing fare evasion laws, and removing repeat and violent offenders from transit systems entirely, will make our subways, buses, and commuter rails safer and save taxpayers money.”