LIRR reverses schedule cuts amid concerns

Oceanside resident Dennis Herman said he was frustrated when the Long Island Rail Road’s amended schedule caused his commute from Oceanside to Brooklyn to take longer than usual, and that he felt unsafe on crowded trains.

“Every car was full and it was standing room only,” Herman said. “People were sitting next to each other and someone sat down next to me an inch away, which to my mind was a super spreader event.”

Herman has mostly been working from home since the beginning of the pandemic, aside from the few times he drove into his office, where he works as an attorney in Brooklyn. Because he is over 65, Herman said, he has been very careful about adhering to social distancing and other guidelines from health experts. On March 8, he returned to his office for the first time on a weekday, but said the number of trains going from Oceanside to Brooklyn were limited amid planned LIRR service cuts, and he had to take a crowded train from Baldwin instead.

“I felt very unsafe on the railroad,” he added.

Herman was one of many commuters who expressed their displeasure with LIRR cuts and over feeling unsafe on crowded trains. In response, the LIRR announced plans to amend its schedule.

“We heard our customers’ concerns about our new schedule loud and clear,” LIRR President Phillip Eng said in a statement. “As a result, we will restore our previous timetable on March 29. In the meantime, we will continue to strategically add additional trains and lengthen trains to meet evolving ridership levels. We continue to monitor seating availability with unprecedented clarity thanks to new technology.”

LIRR ridership had decreased rapidly at the height of the pandemic and continued to decline in the months following, but Eng said with Covid-19 cases declining and the vaccine being made more readily available, he anticipates more riders returning to trains as New York gets closer to reopening.

State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, a Democrat from Long Beach and member of the Senate Transportation Committee, was among those pushing the LIRR to reverse its schedule cuts, and he expressed his satisfaction after it was complete.

“The MTA’s decision to reverse cuts on the LIRR and restore normal service by the month’s end will provide Long Islanders with the sane, safe and dignified commutes they deserve,” he said in a statement. “This victory for riders happened because we worked together to make our voices heard. I will continue to fight for LIRR riders and hold the MTA accountable — our region’s recovery demands a high level of confidence in our public transit system, and with that confidence now shaken, the time to improve the railroad’s quality is now.”