Last summer, I looked forward to not having to commute to school anymore. My commute on the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) usually entailed taking the 6:08 a.m. train from Sea Cliff, my station, to Penn Station, which was filled to the brim for the final 20 minutes or so between Jamaica at Penn Station. In the evening, I took the 5:33 p.m. train home from practice, which was the most crowded train the LIRR would run all day.
On some particularly bad days when there was no standing room on the train, people would have to stand in the bathrooms to make room for other riders. Every few months or so, there would be something causing major delays: a tunnel stalled in an East River tunnel, signal problems, broken trains, or just about any other reason. When these major delays happened, Penn Station was often so crowded that the police would stop commuters from entering and tell them to go to another terminal in Queens or Brooklyn. This year, I am much more thankful to be dorming than I initially thought I would be because the LIRR is an absolute mess this year.
A quick Google search for “LIRR delays” will reveal that in the 31 days before I wrote this article, there have been seven days with major delays during rush hour: two days in January and five days in February. There have been 2,275 delayed or canceled trains so far this year, so if delays and cancellations continue a this rate, there will be 118,625 delayed or canceled trains by the end of this year. That’s roughly 5.7 times as many delayed or canceled trains as there were last year, and last year there were more delays than any year since before 2011. What’s even worse is that there is no way Long Island commuters can change this.
The good old boycott would simply be ineffective. Whenever LIRR riders have had to commute without the train, usually during an LIRR strike, it’s been even more chaotic than riding the LIRR itself. During the last two strikes in the 1987 and 1994, LIRR commuters had to drive to either Manhattan or Queens and take the subway for an equally painful train ride. In both cases, the MTA (the LIRR’s parent company) would still get commuters’ money from either subway fares or the tolls to cross the East River.Needless to say, the Long Island Expressway’s and the Northern and Southern State Parkways’ traffic scenes turned from the usual frustrating 15-30 mph on a freeway to pure soul-crushing, LA-status traffic. These problems would only be amplified if a boycott were tried today, as ridership has increased to 337,800 thousand passengers per weekday (I believe that there may have been 337,000 passengers on the aforementioned 5:33 train.)
Needless to say, the Long Island Expressway’s and the Northern and Southern State Parkways’ traffic scenes turned from the usual frustrating 15-30 mph on a freeway to pure soul-crushing, LA-status traffic. These problems would only be amplified if a boycott were tried today, as ridership has increased to 337,800 thousand passengers per weekday (I believe that there may have been 337,000 passengers on the aforementioned 5:33 train).
Governor Cuomo is seeking to add a third track on the Huntington branch in Nassau County (Long Island’s westernmost county). However, most of the delays that cause Penn Station to close temporarily are a result of incidents in Queens. Additionally, the Huntington branch is not even the most traveled line in Nassau County, the Babylon branch is. Many more commutes would be saved by installing a 3rd track there instead of on the Huntington branch. Regardless of which branch it is installed on, the MTA has a terrible record in regards to timely infrastructure improvements, constantly delaying projects.The East Side Access project, which seeks to connect the LIRR to Grand Central Terminal, was supposed to be completed before 2013, but as the MTA continued construction, they delayed the opening to 2023. The project was also $6-7 billion over budget as of last November. The 2nd Avenue subway line has a very similar story of the MTA going over budget and pushing back opening dates. There is little reason to believe that a third rail on any branch will run on schedule or within its budget.
The East Side Access project, which seeks to connect the LIRR to Grand Central Terminal, was supposed to be completed before 2013, but as the MTA continued construction, they delayed the opening to 2023. The project was also $6-7 billion over budget as of last November. The 2nd Avenue subway line has a very similar story of the MTA going over budget and pushing back opening dates. There is little reason to believe that a third rail on any branch will run on schedule or within its budget.
To be blunt, the LIRR can and must do better. A monthly ticket for the 28 mile trip between Sea Cliff and Penn Station is $287. Compare that to Metro-North. Port Chester is 26 miles from Grand Central Terminal, and a monthly ticket costs $279. There are four East River tunnels to carry LIRR trains to Penn Station, and there are four tracks under Park Ave. leading to Grand Central. Both rails have comparable infrastructure leading to their main terminal and similar prices, yet Metro-North provides much better service. Sure, infrastructure improvements may help the LIRR with its problems, but clearly they need to make better use of their existing resources before building new ones.
Despite all of the delayed or canceled trains, overcrowded trains, and transfers that LIRR commuters have to deal with, we still have one advantage that Metro-North commuters do not: the only Krispy Kreme in the city is located in Penn Station.
