In Transit Newsletter: Rider discontent extends beyond LIRR's new ticket policy

When the LIRR's latest customer survey came back with the lowest rider satisfaction level in two years, Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials were quick to blame the railroad's restrictive new ticket policies. But a look at the survey's details show that growing discontent is about more than ticket surcharges and expiration dates.

Ever since COVID-19 robbed public transportation providers of their customers and their fare dollars, the MTA has been struggling to return ridership to 2019 levels. The Long Island Rail Road is closer than any other MTA agency to doing so, but it comes with a downside. In the years leading up to the pandemic, the LIRR was regularly carrying more riders, but also regularly posting its worst on-time performance numbers in decades.

Now, LIRR ridership seems to be entering another boom period, with the railroad carrying more customers in June than it did in the same month in 2019 and more off-peak passengers than at any time in recorded history. But after steadily improving its punctuality in recent years, the LIRR's on-time performance fell in each of the first six months of this year.

And, wouldn't you know it, the combination of more delays and less room on trains coincided with customer satisfaction tumbling to 73%, 7 percentage points lower than in the previous survey last fall, and the lowest level in two years.

Undeniably, the survey shows that unpopular new ticket policies — including one that can charge e-ticket users an $8 penalty for late activations — have a lot to do with riders' discontent. MTA officials have said that satisfaction scores will rebound as riders adapt to the new rules.

But it's not just ticket policies rankling riders. In categories including on-time performance, frequency of delays, seat availability, train cleanliness and "safety from crime or harassment," the LIRR saw what its own pollster called "significant" decreases in rider happiness. Satisfaction was down among both daily and occasional riders, regardless of which New York City terminal they used, and on 10 of the LIRR’s 11 branches — West Hempstead being the exception.

In presenting the survey results to the MTA board last week, Tatyana Levina, the MTA's senior director of market research, did her best to look on the bright side. She noted that customer satisfaction with service reliability and on-time performance remains "very high" at 80% or above, and that "transfer experience" has fallen from being riders’ No. 1 to No. 7 concern — suggesting that recent efforts to ensure riders make their connections at Jamaica are working. 

Hopefully, LIRR officials have a plan to address riders' other frustrations. Achieving 100% satisfaction among customers is probably unrealistic, but I imagine they’d want to at least get within striking distance of the 81% reached last year — or, in railroad parlance, be "on or close."

Transportation news:

• To the LIRR's growing number of delays, add Monday morning's disruptions caused by a train hitting a tree near Smithtown.
• If you got a red-light camera ticket in Suffolk County between 2013 and 2023, you're in for a refund. Here's how to get it.
• Controversies around Flock license plate readers seem to be growing. Now Suffolk is installing Flock gunshot detection sensors.
• Police say a 68-year-old Shirley man stole two license plate readers.
• The settlement reached to end the LIRR's first union strike in 32 years is costing the MTA an extra $180 million a year and contributing to a deficit that could reach the $900 million by 2030.

Travel watch

• Two eastbound lanes of Sunrise Highway will be closed between Harrison Avenue in the Town of Hempstead and County Line Road in the Town of Babylon overnight from Sunday through Thursday for approximately four weeks for a repaving.
• The LIRR's ongoing signal upgrades near Elmont will once again impact service this weekend, particularly on the Hempstead branch. More information is here.
• The right lane and shoulder of the Staten Island-bound Brooklyn-Queens Expressway will be closed from the Brooklyn Bridge to Columbia Heights from 1 to 5 a.m. until Friday for the relocation of barriers and restriping.

Did you know?

Have you ever wondered how the LIRR keeps track of ridership? For years, it did so by sending surveyors onto a small sample size of trains and extrapolating those numbers across the whole system. But a few years ago it shifted to a system of using load-weight sensors in trains' suspension systems to calculate an estimate of how many people are on board in each train car.

Reader speak out

Once again, the state and Gov. Kathy Hochul have bypassed the East End residents. The paving of the L.I. E. stopped at exit 62 and forgot about the rest of the L.I.E. to Riverhead with all the cracks and potholes

-Francis Humanick, Aquebogue

Do you think the state DOT is doing enough to keep the roads by you in good shape? Let us know, and share your other thoughts, questions and tips to transit@newsday.com

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.