MTA cuts lead to less LIRR service

As a series of public hearings addressing proposed mass transit reductions throughout the New York metropolitan region came to a close on March 8, concerned commuters anxiously awaited news of what would result.

The hearings, held over an eight-day period across Long Island and New York City, were hosted by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to solicit input on its proposed service changes, made in response to a nearly $400 million budget gap that was announced in December. Among them were cuts in Long Island Rail Road service, which would save an estimated $11 million annually and affect approximately 17,000 daily commuters.

"We are trying to be as transparent as possible as we embark on a painful round of staff cuts and service reductions," LIRR President Helena Williams said in a statement. "These service reductions will cause the least amount of inconvenience to the least number of riders. While these cuts are painful for employees and for our customers, they are necessary. The LIRR needs to be more cost-efficient."

Included in the MTA's aggressive plans to reduce costs is the elimination of more than 600 administrative positions. The agency would also lay off up to 500 New York City Transit station agents.

Changes were proposed for each of the LIRR's 11 branches, some as extreme as complete discontinuation of weekend service. Other changes, like those proposed for the Long Beach and Babylon branches -- which annually see around 6.5 million and 19.7 million riders, respectively -- consist mostly of eliminating or combining one or two peak trains.

While removing one peak train from the West Hempstead branch would not save the MTA that much money, discontinuing another on the Long Beach branch would save about $583,000. The agency proposed eliminating the 5:40 p.m. eastbound train that departs from Atlantic Terminal, which would affect some 390 riders. As an alternative to that train, riders would have to catch a 5:23 p.m. train at Penn Station or a 5:49 p.m. train at Atlantic Terminal.

The agency would save an additional $236,000 if it combines two eastbound afternoon peak trains on the Babylon branch -- one at Atlantic Terminal, at 4:39 p.m., and the other at Penn Station, at 4:37 p.m. The change, which would be implemented in May, would affect close to 1,000 riders. Those at Atlantic Terminal would have to use an earlier train and change at Jamaica, while riders departing from Penn Station would either continue to use the 4:37 p.m. train and endure additional stops, or wait for a 4:40 p.m. train that becomes express after the Jamaica stop.

Apart from a decrease in service, the greater concern is for mass transit in general on Long Island, according to Sheldon Fackstein, chairman of Action Long Island, a nonprofit group that works to promote business and economic development. "We do not really have the kind of transportation network that we need on Long Island," Fackstein said. "The railroad really needs more resources rather than less."

The ALI is hosting a forum on March 19 that will feature Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch, a former MTA chairman. The main topic of discussion, according to Fackstein, will be the financing of Long Island's transportation infrastructure. "Maybe if there was more money there, we wouldn't have these kind of cuts," he said.

In the meantime, the MTA board will digest the public's input on the service changes, and will vote on how to proceed as soon as March 24, according to an MTA spokesman. If the board approves the service changes, they will take effect in either May or September.

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