LIRR credits boost in ridership to surging economy

Commuters took the LIRR to work in big numbers in October -- a sign, officials said, of Long Island's improving economy.

With 7.43 million people packing trains, the Long Island Rail Road recorded its second-highest monthly ridership total in four years, behind only August 2012's 7.48 million passengers.

Adjusted to account for the 400,000 customers the LIRR lost in October 2012 because of superstorm Sandy, which struck on Oct. 29, ridership increased 5.6 percent in October compared to the same month last year.

The biggest gains came in customers taking the LIRR to go to work, railroad officials said.

Sales of monthly and weekly tickets -- those most often purchased by regular commuters -- grew 19 percent compared to October 2012.

"It's a good sign," said Joseph Calderone, LIRR customer service vice president. "Generally speaking, people are not buying a monthly or even a weekly ticket unless they're going to a job."

Through the end of October, the LIRR carried 69.5 million riders -- 0.4 percent more than in the first 10 months of 2012. The railroad is on pace to close out 2013 with its second consecutive year of ridership gains, following a three-year decline that began with the economic collapse in fall 2008.

SEE PHOTOSLIRR trains and commuters through the years

John Rizzo, chief economist for the Long Island Association, the region's largest business group, said Thursday that the LIRR's strong October showing is in line with other local indicators of economic recovery. Also in October, Long Island's jobless rate dipped below 6 percent for the first time since the recession.

"The data on a variety of fronts has been showing that the national economy, in general, and Long Island's economy, in particular, has been improving and is continuing to do so," said Rizzo, an economics professor at Stony Brook University. "So it really doesn't come as a surprise that commuting on the Long Island Rail Road continues to grow."

MTA board member Mitchell Pally of Stony Brook said he believes some recent service restorations and improvements, including during off-peak hours on the Ronkonkoma line, have lured back some riders who might otherwise drive into Manhattan.

While some people have to use the LIRR, "many other people don't have to use it but are making that choice," said Pally, who has pushed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to invest more money in adding service.

"The more options you give people, the more willingness they have to use the railroad as their transportation vehicle," he said.

October was also a big month for the MTA's subway system. On Oct. 24 it carried 5,985,311 riders -- the most for a single day since the agency began keeping records in 1985. In all of October, 156.5 million people rode the subways, the MTA said.