"Due to a very robust holiday season coupled with the fact that the TKTS Discount Booth at South Street Seaport is currently closed due to flooding from Hurricane Sandy," the pilot program will be suspended until after the holiday season.
Victoria Bailey, TDF's executive director, said in a statement, "It seemed that during very busy matinee days during this holiday season, many patrons were just barely making their matinee curtains. TKTS Times Square has absorbed some of the business from the TKTS Seaport Booth, which is closed as a result of Hurricane Sandy. This has made TKTS Times Square more crowded than usual, and obviously not the best environment in which to test out a new program."
Before the pilot, the priority patrons of the day on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sunday were matineegoers. Under the pilot, evening and matinees were made available at the start of business, offering better access and choice.
Here are the new terms of sales: Between Dec. 11-Jan. 6, 2013, matinee tickets will be sold from 10 AM-2 PM for Wednesday and Saturday matinees, and 11 AM to 3 PM for Sunday matinees. Evening performances for those days will be sold beginning at 3 PM for those days.
TKTS Times Square will continue to have a "Play Only" window for tickets to non-musical productions and a "Full-Price" window for full-price tickets to future performances or same-day performances for shows that are not at a discount at the other TKTS windows. Beginning Jan. 6, TKTS Times Square will put the pilot program of selling matinee and evening tickets simultaneously back into effect. TKTS Downtown Brooklyn has expanded its hours to Monday-Friday from 11 AM to 6 PM for discount tickets to same-day evening performances and next-day matinee tickets. For more information, visit tdf.org/tkts.