More LIRR schedule changes are still needed

Long Island Rail Road riders are in luck: A new schedule is coming this September. But will this round of changes address the issues commuters experienced after the opening of Grand Central Madison?

The short answer: We’re getting there.

In the spring, the Long Island Rail Road Commuter Council conducted a survey on what riders liked and didn’t like, and what worked and didn’t work with the opening of Grand Central Madison in January and the schedule changes that came with it. We received nearly 500 responses, and riders reported that their commute times rose by an average of 11 minutes, from 57 minutes to 1 hour, 8 minutes.

The percentage of riders who needed to change trains after Grand Central Madison opened jumped from 34% to 59%. While some commuters were pleased with the new terminal, others had objections. Among the improvements they want to see are more direct service to Brooklyn's Atlantic Terminal from Long Island, fewer “up-and-over” changes at Jamaica, less crowding on trains to and from Penn Station, more express trains for riders on the Ronkonkoma and Port Jefferson/Huntington branches, and the return of timed connections, where riders could count on pulling in to a station and transferring to another train waiting or arriving shortly after, usually across the platform, for a seamless trip.

To its credit, the LIRR has been incorporating rider feedback into its service adjustments. Over the last few months, extra cars were added to crowded trains, express service was reintroduced on the Huntington and Ronkonkoma branches and between Jamaica and Penn Station, and Penn Station was rebalanced with additional trains. In September, direct service to Atlantic Terminal will be expanded to the Far Rockaway, Long Beach, Hempstead and Huntington lines, which will help reduce the number of “up-and-over” transfers. While some glaring issues have been addressed, riders still want one more important change — the restoration of timed connections.

For as long as any Long Islander can remember, changing trains was straightforward — but that got upended with the advent of “transfer opportunities,” which don’t guarantee making a connection if your first train is late. Trains now arrive and depart as soon as they finish loading passengers. We’ve heard countless horror stories of riders left waiting — sometimes as long as an hour — until their next train comes. Combined with rush hour delays and the need to navigate the stairs and concourses, many transfers are impossible to make — or, more frustratingly, just narrow enough to watch your connection leave as you pull in. A train holding for two minutes for a connection could mean getting home 30 minutes earlier.

The LIRR can make the best use of its network and make riders happier by restoring timed connections and cross-platform transfers wherever possible. That's even more imperative going eastbound versus westbound — especially in diesel territory — when there are fewer trains and a missed connection could mean missing your kid's game.

Future timetables should combine the flexibility of the new schedule and the availability of Grand Central Madison with cross-platform transfers and timed connections. As the LIRR continues to refine its schedules to respond to rider demands, we urge officials to restore timed connections, more direct trains and reliable transfers, especially with congestion pricing on the horizon. Getting riders back onboard, and keeping them there, is more important than ever.

This guest essay reflects the views of Gerard Bringmann, chairman of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA and the LIRR Commuter Council, and a member of the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.