Five Towns commuters prepare for LIRR strike

Though negotiations between eight Long Island Rail Road unions and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority have resumed, commuters are preparing for the possible strike and shutdown of the railroad’s service that could happen at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday.
Should the trains that transport approximately 145,000 people on a daily basis not be running on Monday, Avi Dreyfuss, who takes the train from Cedarhurst to Penn Station to his job at a large hedge fund firm, said he would drive to Queens, park near a subway and walk 10 to 15 minutes to the nearest station to get to work.
Dreyfuss said he could work from home, possibly one day next week, but doing so for several days is not practical, he said. “I find it insulting and ridiculous that the LIRR’s contingency plan is to tell people take a vacation or work from home, Dreyfuss said.
Rabbi Yehiel M. Kalish, a Far Rockaway resident, typically takes the 7:22 a.m. train from Inwood to the Atlantic Avenue terminal in Brooklyn, then a subway to his job in the Wall Street area of Manhattan. Kalish said he already took a vacation and cannot really work from home.
“I’ve been waiting for an excuse to try the [Rockaway] ferry,” he said in explaining his alternative-commuting plan. “As it happens I will be in Chicago on July 20 and 21 for business. So I hope things are solved by the time I return.”

Part of one of the two groups of men who study the Talmud during their daily commutes, Woodmere resident Sholom Fried, who works in formation technology for Davis Polk, an international law firm, said that in case of a strike he would work from home. “There are many other Talmud classes in the neighborhood covering the same material, so our class participants have their options; we’ll try to put together a class for our group to keep our class together.”
Luck smiled on Yehoshua Marchuck. “I fortunately have a three-day conference next week,” said Marchuck, who takes the LIRR from Inwood into Manhattan. “I am quite relieved that it worked out that way. As well, I have purposely scheduled — necessary for the summer — out of the office/NYC meetings for the remainder of the week.”
Another commuter who uses the Inwood station, Jacob Adler, said he would walk to the A-train line that begins in Far Rockaway at Mott Avenue and take that to Manhattan. “I already have low expectations for the MTA accommodating more riders on the already crowded A [line] and am pessimistic that the MTA plans to bus riders to Howard Beach from Long Island, which will negatively impact an already crowded and poorly [serviced] line. I also do not anticipate the MTA providing extra service to any of the [other] lines that they are utilizing, which will result in even poorer service.”
Several others will either stay home, or drive or carpool, they said. Michael Lorch, who uses the Woodmere station, said he is unsure about what he will do, but he might drive to Kew Gardens and take the subway. “[I’ll] probably work from home, said Cedarhurst commuter David Zilberberg. “If I have to go in I’ll figure out a way to get to a subway station.”

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