LIRR president says weekend riders returning to railroad in big numbers

Weekend travelers are returning to the rails in big numbers, and the Long Island Rail Road is looking to give them more reasons to leave their cars at home.

For the second week in a row, the LIRR’s Sunday ridership reached 80% of pre-pandemic levels, with more than 75,000 passengers. The railroad also carried 76,600 riders on Saturday.

On Friday, 126,700 took the LIRR — the most of any day since the COVID-19 outbreak began in March 2020. LIRR president Phillip Eng said the recent ridership figures are "a really good sign of things to come."

"We are seeing very robust discretionary travel. It’s showing that if there’s a place to go … people are riding," Eng said.

After bottoming out at around 3% of pre-pandemic levels, the LIRR’s weekday ridership has gradually climbed, coinciding with the reopening of Manhattan businesses. The LIRR is now carrying about 43% of its 2019 average weekday ridership.

The increase in ridership has extended to other modes of transit, too. The New York City Transit subway system carried 2,585,965 customers on Friday, beating a pandemic-era record set the previous Saturday.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the LIRR’s parent organization, has projected that ridership may not exceed 80% of pre-pandemic levels even by 2025.

Eng said the latest numbers give him "tremendous optimism, not only for the railroad, but for Long Island and the economy."

Eng’s remarks came as he announced the railroad's return of incentive programs for weekend travel. On Saturdays — between July 3 and Aug. 28 — any monthly LIRR ticket can be used for travel to and from all stations, and ticket-holders can bring up to four additional travelers for $1 per person each way.