MTA to expand service to PW, through Mineola

Bill San Antonio

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Monday announced more than $40 million in service enhancements as part of its midyear operating budget update, including the restoration of half-hourly weekend service on the Long Island Railroad’s Port Washington line.

According to a Long Island Railroad service investment proposal that was obtained by Blank Slate Media, restoration to the Port Washington line will cost $2.225 million and is projected to net $1.5 million in revenue. 

Last year, the LIRR added half-hour service on weekday middays on the Port Washington line, which resulted in a boost in its ridership

“It’s a very high-demand line, and everything that we’ve seen after the service was increased and cut back indicates there’s plenty of demand for the service,” said Bill Henderson, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA. “If people want the train service, that’s half the battle right there. You don’t have to convince anybody to take that train, you just need more convenient scheduling so they have more seats available.”

The restoration is part of the MTA’s efforts to put back many of the services it cut in 2010 due to an $800 million budget deficit that has been stabilized in the last few years due to a series of internal cost containment efforts, in addition to biannual hikes in fares and state aid. 

According to a press release issued by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s office, the MTA is on track to reduce annual costs by $1.3 billion by 2017, and efforts to address pensions, retiree health care, and debt service are projected to reduce future deficits as well.

“In the last two and a half years, our administration has made real improvements to the nation’s largest public transit system, implementing reforms that have improved services and made the MTA more efficient by reducing costs, cutting waste and putting the needs of straphangers and commuters first,” Cuomo said in the release.

The LIRR is expected to begin phasing in its service additions in September and all changes will be implemented by March.

“We have listened to our customers, and we are responding with more bus, subway and commuter rail service as well as enhancements to make that service more reliable and more enjoyable,” said MTA Chairman and CEO Thomas Prendergast said in the press release from the governor’s office. “We are committed to aggressively reducing our costs, and to strengthening service whenever we have sustainable resources to do so.”

The LLIRR also recently announced a change to its Oyster Bay line as part of its “scoot” service initiative, in which riders would transfer at Mineola rather than Jamaica to free up congestion at the Queens station.

The plan is to run smaller, diesel-fueled shuttles between Oyster Bay and Mineola every 30 to 45 minutes, with passengers transferring to trains headed to Penn Station or the new Grand Central Terminal line set to open by 2019, according to reports. The change is expected to affect 20,000 riders daily.

Reach reporter Bill San Antonio by e-mail at bsanantonio@theislandnow.com, by phone at 516.307.1045 x215 or on Twitter @b_sanantonio. Also follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.

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