Along with a 23% fare increase, the MTA’s doomsday budget means serious service cuts for Long Island Rail Road, especially on the Port Washington and West Hempstead branches. Systemwide, the financial crunch means less money for maintenance, safety, and service quality issues like station and car appearance.
The agency’s plan to save $54 million in 2009 includes:
- Elimination of all weekend service on the West Hempstead branch, major cuts in off-peak and weekend service on the Port Washington branch (weekend and off-peak service would run hourly at times when it now runs half hourly), and elimination of trains to Belmont (except during the Belmont Stakes).
- Delaying some platform gap work (according to budget documents, work at “high risk stations” would be completed on schedule).
- Many cuts to maintenance, including personnel dedicated to power and communications maintenance, station maintenance, and graffiti removal. The LIRR would eliminate almost all bridge painting in the operating budget, dedicate less money to tree trimming around railroad tracks, and cancel plans to overhaul bathrooms and seating in its decades-old M3 cars.
Like the other MTA agencies, the LIRR is also making administrative cuts. In addition, it will raise $3 million by selling advertising on the sides of some trains.
If the MTA ends up having to pass its doomsday budget, LIRR riders will be paying more and getting less service, more crowded trains, more run-down stations, and more dangerous platforms. Couple that with severe planned cuts to Long Island Bus and it’s obvious that the plan would have major impacts on Nassau County, which has already suffered from the delay of important capital projects like the Third Track. As MTR has written before, few Long Island elected officials have stood up to support transit in the past. Well, there’s no time like the present.
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First off, our sincere thanks to Kate & Steven for keeping us in the loop via their extensive and inclusive monthly e-mail update’s. As the coordinator of a local, vocal, but unfunded community group I appreciate deeply and know first hand just how hard, and many times frustrating this meaningful work is.
With that I must state that the LIRR’s attention to commuter needs on Long Island is deplorable, especially for commuters using the Oyster Bay branch that somehow never gets mentioned. As well we have many people in this area that rely on an local bus service. It is absolutely despicable that there is not one proper bus shelter in our neighborhood.
Individuals here have to wait for delayed and often canceled trains, and bus users stand in the elements 24/7 as well, waiting for delayed bus service.
If our elected officials at the county and local level want to talk the walk, and walk the talk then they best be held accountable for the enormous amount of federal tax payer funds that have been wasted on useless projects that have provided no reprieve to area residents.
TSTC keep up the good work, as well we will do also!
Pamela Tamaddon
Coordinator
Prospect/Albin Traffic Calming Initiative
[…] — virtually everywhere in New York City. In addition, broad cuts to Long Island Bus, the LIRR, and Metro-North (as covered in MTR) mean that if elected officials don’t act, transit riders […]
Re: SERVICE CUTS TO THE PORT WASHINGTON BRANCH
What about the folks who have a medical appointment or such early on a weekday morning and would take the first or second am non-rush hour train to work? If I miss the “hourly” train because my doctor runs 2 minutes late, I’ll have to wait an entire hour for a train to get to work. By the time I get there, the day will be half over. Who is going to pay for the extra hour I miss at work? Also, those trains are running quite full. CUTTING NON-RUSH HOUR MORNING TRAINS IS NOT FAIR!!! THE SAME IS TRUE FOR THOSE TRAINS PRECEDING THE EVENING RUSH HOUR.
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