Albany, NY - October 25, 2013 - Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that there will be no charge for MTA riders entering stations on the A subway line between Howard Beach and the Rockaway Peninsula and stations on the R subway line between Bay Ridge-95th Street and Court Street on Tuesday, October 29, the one year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy.

"On the one year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy we want to thank New Yorkers who made it through the storm with both resilience and good spirits," Governor Cuomo said. "Superstorm Sandy was particularly difficult for New York City and Long Island, but the patience, the kindness, and good nature of New Yorkers helped our state in the immediate aftermath and over the past year as we have been rebuilding our communities. These free rides are a thank you to the MTA riders in the Rockaways in Queens and those who use the R train in Brooklyn for taking the hardships of the storm in stride and for their understanding in the months since."

From 12:01 Tuesday morning until 11:59 Tuesday evening, riders entering stations on the A line between Howard Beach and the Rockaway Peninsula and riders entering stations on the R line between Bay Ridge-95th Street and Court Street will not be charged a fare.

The Montague Tube on the R line was completely flooded by Sandy storm surge, and is closed for an extended outage as repair work proceeds so the tunnel can be reopened as quickly as possible. Residents of the Rockaways in Queens were without subway service for seven months after Sandy as the entire A line south of Howard Beach was rebuilt and fortified against future flooding.

There are an estimated 65,000 daily riders on the R train in Brooklyn and an estimated 30,000 daily riders on the A train from the Rockaways.

A video of the ongoing work to rebuild the Montague Tubes is now available on the MTA’s YouTube page here: http://youtu.be/rwXFjunqEAs. Go to http://youtu.be/-KWFo5x2hK8 to view a video of the Tubes before rebuilding efforts commenced.