LIRR weekend ridership surges while weekdays remain down, state finds

After keeping their social distance from trains during the height of the pandemic, weekend Long Island Rail Road riders are back in a big way, and then some, according to a new state report.

According to the report by the office of State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, weekend ridership on the LIRR was 27% higher last year than in 2019 — a year in which the railroad set a modern ridership record. The boom in Saturday and Sunday demand has helped offset lagging weekday rush hour ridership, which remains nearly 40% down from pre-COVID levels, according to MTA data.

Officials and riders attributed the railroad's surging weekend ridership to several factors, such as the boost in service that came with the opening of Grand Central Madison, and the growing cost of driving.

"You've got gas. You've got tolls ... You've got congestion pricing. And then you've got to park, and the parking fees are outrageous," LIRR Commuter Council chairman Gerard Bringmann said Thursday. "People are crunching the numbers."

LIRR ticket prices have also recently increased — now costing $11.25 for an off-peak trip between Hicksville and Penn Station, up from $10.75 last year. But Bringmann noted new discount promotions have reduced the cost for families traveling on the LIRR on weekends.

The LIRR averaged 267,567 riders each weekend in 2025, up from 210,313 in 2019. The railroad's weekend ridership has been trending up for years, beating 2019 levels in nearly every month since 2023, when the railroad opened Grand Central Madison and significantly boosted service levels to accommodate a second Manhattan terminal.

Although the LIRR's overall ridership has bounced back faster than the MTA predicted, the railroad closed out 2025 still down about 8% from pre-COVID levels.

Among all Metropolitan Transportation Authority agencies, including subways, city buses and Metro-North, the LIRR on weekends is   "the only transit mode analyzed where ridership has fully recovered and even improved compared to the pre-pandemic baseline," the report said.

But weekend ridership recovery has outpaced the MTA’s expectations across all its agencies since the pandemic, when trains and buses were largely empty for months. After carrying 91 million passengers in 2019 — the most in 70 years — LIRR ridership plummeted to just 30 million in 2020. Last year, it was nearly 82 million, buoyed by particularly strong weekend crowds.

MTA officials did not respond to requests for comment.

The strong Saturday and Sunday numbers suggest the MTA should do more to serve weekend riders, the report suggested.

"Weekend ridership recovery has been a bright spot for the country’s largest transportation system," DiNapoli said in a statement. "The MTA should continue to focus on increasing the reliability and frequency of service on weekends to meet the ongoing rise in demand."

Calls for more service

At Penn Station Thursday afternoon, some riders echoed the call for more weekend service. 

"Coming from Long Island, if I miss the train, I can have to wait another hour and 20 minutes," Ricardo Fisher, 40, of Baldwin, said.

Taking the LIRR isn’t a daily task for Eric Rios, 39, of Oceanside. Before the pandemic, he bought a house right near the train station to make his commute easy. But things have been flexible with work, so he often works remotely and takes the train into the city on weekends — to see a show or to get his kids out.

The service is reliable, he said, and he doesn’t even consider taking a car given the hassle of parking and the cost of congestion tolls.

"And the kids get a kick out of being on the train," he said.

In January, LIRR president Rob Free told Newsday off-peak riders, including those traveling on weekends, are "obviously a good market" for the railroad, but noted ridership since the pandemic has also been growing among traditional rush-hour commuters, and so-called reverse commuters heading east in the morning and west in the evening.

Free said several factors could be contributing to growth, including the MTA’s congestion tolling program, which kicked off in January 2025, charging vehicles $9 for driving below 60th Street in Manhattan.

The LIRR also benefited from bringing fans to major sports and concert events last year, including the T20 World Cup cricket tournament and Ryder Cup golf tournament.

Brendan Donohue, 32,  of Brooklyn, said he regularly takes the train on weekends to attend events, like Forest Hills Stadium concerts, and to Long Island beaches. He also relies on the LIRR to get him to Sunday dinner at his family's Merrick home every weekend.

Donohue said although the $45 he spends on train tickets each weekend for him and his partner isn't cheap, "it's not enough for me to decide not to go," or to buy a car.

"I'm watching a movie or I'm reading, whereas, if I'm in a car, especially on that Queens-Nassau border ... my cortisol levels are spiked, my heart rate is up. Everyone is my enemy," Donohue said. "On the railroad, it's my time."