MTA holiday schedules: LIRR, NYC subway service expanded for New Year's

Need to get somewhere by public transit on the holidays?

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has announced extra train service on the Long Island Rail Road and New York City subway system on New Year's Eve — and, for a portion of New Year's Day — but said services will remain on a normal weekday schedule for Christmas Eve and will operate on a weekend schedule Christmas Day.

Among the additional service will be extra trains for fans attending the New Year's Eve Billy Joel concert at UBS Arena in Elmont.

For LIRR riders, there will be 11 additional trains on the Babylon, Ronkonkoma, Port Jefferson, Port Washington and Montauk branches to Grand Central Madison or Penn Station beginning in the early evening. There will be 12 additional early overnight trains from Grand Central and Penn headed to Long Island, officials said.

There also will be those extra pre- and post-event trains to and from Elmont-UBS Arena for the New Year's Eve show.

On Christmas Day and New Year's Day, the LIRR will operate on a Sunday schedule, officials said.

Access-A-Ride paratransit service will operate a full 24/7 service throughout the holidays, including on Christmas and New Year's Day, the MTA said — though, when reserving rides, officials said customers "should be aware of potential delays due to holiday traffic."

Alternate pick-up and drop-off locations may also exist in some cases due to holiday street closures, especially around Times Square.

While subways will operate on a normal weekday schedule on Christmas Eve and a Sunday schedule on Christmas Day, there will be additional trains in the evening and post-midnight hour on New Year's Eve into the early morning of New Year's Day on the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and C, D, G, L, N, Q and R lines, as well as the 42nd Street station, the MTA said.

The A train will run express until 2:45 a.m.

For drivers, temporary daytime road closures at all MTA bridges and tunnels will halt Dec. 23 at 1 p.m. and there will be no closures on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, though closures could return on Dec. 26, which this year marks the start of Kwanzaa. Hanukkah begins Dec. 25.

On New Year's Eve, closures end at 1 p.m. and the moratorium runs through Jan. 2.

For more information on schedule changes and other service alerts, consult the MTA app or TrainTime app, follow the MTA on WhatsApp or X, or refer to the "Service Status" box at mta.info.

Information also is available by dialing 511.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”