Musings: LIRR's taking parking spots is shortsighted
A train at the Port Washington LIRR station. The plan to take valuable car parking spaces away from Port Washington commuters is shortsighted, a reader writes. Credit: Newsday / J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Having commuted on the Long Island Rail Road for over 25 years, I have learned that whatever the LIRR wants, it gets. The plan to take valuable car parking spaces away from Port Washington commuters is shortsighted.
When you are a monopoly, you apparently can do this. The LIRR claims it needs more train-car parking because of the new Grand Central Madison station. Where will commuters park? Politicians have said service will be improved, but the LIRR hasn’t committed to this promise.
With more companies abandoning the remote work model, the LIRR has become more crowded. Once these valuable parking spots are lost, they are lost for good.
Perhaps a solution is to have more trains stop at Woodside rather than Citi Field and utilize a shuttle system from Woodside to and from Grand Central Madison. I know the new station has helped some commuters, but it is not the huge success that the LIRR had envisioned.
— James Maguire, Port Washington
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