LIRR commuters call on conductors, MTA police to enforce mask mandate

Fewer Long Island Rail Road passengers are masking up while riding the train — despite still being required by law to do so — and, with the delta variant continuing to spread, riders want the LIRR and its police force to do more about it.

After reporting that 98% of riders were wearing face coverings as recently as April 28, LIRR officials acknowledged they have seen a dropoff in compliance in recent weeks, coinciding with mask mandates being lifted in most places. An audit conducted Thursday and Friday found 88% of passengers wearing masks, LIRR officials said.

But several riders said the actual compliance rate is far lower than that. They blame the problem on authorities not enforcing the rules, and have even spotted LIRR train crew members and MTA police breaking them. Since the state adopted a law 11 months ago allowing police to hand out $50 fines to people not wearing masks in the MTA system, 41 summonses have been issued, officials said.

New York State — following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — still requires masks to be worn in indoor public transportation settings, including onboard trains. A federal requirement that masks be worn in transit facilities will remain in place through at least Sept. 13.

Nevertheless, maskless passengers have become commonplace on the LIRR, according to several regular commuters who have posted their photos and experiences on social media.

"I am on the 8:07 Hicksville to Penn and I am pretty sure I’m the only one in my car wearing a mask," Aryeh Jasper tweeted on Thursday.

"How are three people next to me unmasked when there’s an LIRR mandate punishable by fine?!! They don’t care," Katie Vance Forte tweeted Wednesday.

LIRR president Phillip Eng confirmed a "decline in mask usage" coinciding with the relaxation of several mask requirements, and an increase in COVID-19 vaccinations. Eng said he also has observed a gradual increase in masks in recent weeks, as riders become increasingly concerned about the delta variant.

The LIRR and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority — its parent agency — said they’ve increased efforts to encourage mask usage, including through more frequent audio announcements and signs on trains and at stations, and through digital communications. The MTA’s "Mask Force" of employees and volunteers also have handed out more than 750,000 masks to date at various stations.

"I am confident that people will start to wear masks again as we continue to ramp that effort up," Eng said. "I know that you can ride the trains safely. I do it every day."

Those assurances aren’t enough for some riders, who want the MTA to put some teeth into the enforcement of mask rules.

Forest Hills commuter Anne-Marie Marion said that despite seeing as many as half of her fellow passengers on some train cars not wearing masks, she "can count on my hands" how many times she’s witnessed a train crew member confront anyone about it.

"I think it’s gotten to a point now where they’re almost afraid to do it, because it’s gotten so bad. You’re not talking about the occasional passengers. Now, you’re talking about so many passengers, it’s become sort of the default position," said Marion, 61, who works for a custom banner company. "They let it slide to the point that it’s so bad, that I don’t know how you start to fix it, unless you bring the police in."

Anthony Simon, who heads the union representing LIRR conductors, said his members do encourage passengers to follow the policy, but are also mindful about the consequences of escalating such incidents.

"What happens is, when the conductors approach, it begins a confrontation, which we’re trying to avoid, which then brings police into the mix, which then gets a little confrontational for them," said Simon, general chairman of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers.

Simon urged riders to set aside their personal views on masks, and respect their fellow passengers and MTA employees. The MTA has lost 168 from the coronavirus.

"These front line crews, they have to go home to their families. They want to stay healthy," Simon said.

Some passengers have said that even train crew members and MTA police regularly flout the mask mandate. MTA Police Chief Joseph McGrann, speaking to the MTA Board in July, acknowledged the department has run into compliance issues "not just by the general public, but also by some of our own employees." He attributed that to a "little but of confusion" over the MTA’s mask policy.

McGrann said cops do approach unmasked LIRR riders and offer them masks, but said there’s not much they can do if a person claims "some type of medical issue."

"We do not ask them for any type of proof of their medical condition. We just make sure that they are aware that, if they are able to, they should have the mask on," McGrann said.

MTA officials said there have been more than 57,000 "positive interactions" between police and riders involving mask requirements since September, and that the "the overwhelming majority of times" when cops approach people and ask them to put on a mask, they comply.

Baldwin commuter Joseph Jahn has his own message for fellow passengers: "Mind your own business." While declining to address whether he goes maskless on trains because, "It’s illegal, you know," Jahn said vaccinated riders like him need not worry about getting infected on a train.

"If you want the extra protection of a mask and you’re vaccinated, good for you. But me not wearing a mask ... or anyone else not wearing a mask, if you are wearing a mask, it isn’t going to affect you, whatsoever," said Jahn, 55, an electrician. "If you’re not vaccinated, and you’re not wearing a mask, then you’re a moron. But, to each his own."

Long Beach commuter Brian Lewy, an eye doctor, said he’s less concerned about his own health riding a train among unmasked passengers, and more bothered as a "rule-follower" that so many people are allowed to violate the policy unchecked.

"If you don’t enforce the rule, then why have the rule to begin with?" said Lewy, 63, who acknowledged there are no simple solutions to the problem, including stepped-up police enforcement.

"The reality is, if you hold a train up at a station to give someone a ticket for not having a mask, everybody on the train — myself included — is going to say, 'I need to get home,' " he said.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.