LIRR commuters take longer rides in stride

Robyn Teplansky has finished one book, and started a second, during her three-hour commutes this week from Manhattan to her Melville home.

She has stood on a platform waiting for a train that never came, and rushed out of her home early to catch a train because her regular train has been canceled.

On Thursday, on the fourth day of train cancellations and delays caused by an electrical fire that caused switching problems, Teplansky was one of hundreds of commuters on the 5:16 train bound for Farmingdale that left from Jamaica, Queens. An earlier train, the 4:54 to Ronkonkoma, which also stops at Farmingdale, was canceled.

"It's just making the day longer than it normally would be," said Teplansky, 40, a market researcher in Manhattan.

Teplansky said she'd rather be at home with her two children, ages 9 and 7, than catching up on her reading on a late train.

"They go to bed around 8:30. If I'm walking in the door at 8 o'clock, I'm not making lunches or just sitting talking with them. I'm more stressed, so it's less quality time for them."

As Nyrekia Mayers of Hicksville rode home Thursday from her advertising job on Wall Street, she tried to keep the Long Island Railroad's troubles in perspective.

"It was a 20-minute delay," Mayers said of her morning commute. "It wasn't that bad."

During the worst of the LIRR crisis, Mayers said she skipped the commute, but not the work.

"Yesterday and the day before, I worked from home," Mayers said. "I was afraid of what the update was."

The fact that an electrical fire could cause so much disruption didn't fluster Mayers.

"It happens," she said. "A lot of people were frustrated. I kind of took it with a grain of salt."

On the fourth day of the commuting conundrum, Lenny Zanni, 47, of Westbury, also took the delays and cancellations in stride. Zanni, who works as a finance manager for an Internet company, said the delays haven't been as bad as he thought they would be.

He faulted the LIRR for not posting enough notice of schedule changes.

"There wasn't a lot of information at the stations and platforms about whether the trains were running or were canceled," Zanni said.

On Thursday, Zanni listened to his digital music player, which he said contained everything from the Rolling Stones to Prince, and stared out the train's window. He and other commuters just have to deal with the trouble because it's their way of getting in and out of the city, Zanni said.

"I guess I'd be more angry if I had to go see my son play baseball," Zanni said.

Tony Palermo, 56, a court clerk in Brooklyn who lives in Hicksville, said, "I've been riding this train for 30 years. You just cope."