At Hicksville, complaints and resignation

Veronica Muzek of Farmingdale works in the city as a teacher and said her commute was about two hours longer than it usually is.

“It was pretty smooth, all things considered. Very obnoxious, having to go through all the hoops, but it is what it is,” Muzek said.

Muzek said she got on the bus at JFK Airport at 3:30 p.m. before arriving at Hicksville Train Station at 5 p.m. She expressed support for the strike, saying “as long as the unions get what they need, I’ll do what I got to do.”

“The bus was comfortable — it was a Coach bus, can’t really complain,” Muzek said. “You get to sit back and relax a bit, so I can’t say it was the worst.”

Farmingdale’s Rose Pina arrived at Hicksville Train Station at 7 a.m. and reached Howard Beach at about 8:30. It took “roughly another hour and a half” to arrive in the city. Her commute usually takes an hour.

“It's Long Island, so traffic is always crazy,” Pina said.

Pina works in midtown and said her trip into work was smoother than her ride back, describing the latter as a “little more bumpy.” She usually takes the train twice a week and does not drive in.

“Obviously it's inconvenient, but there's a reason why they're doing this,” Pina said. “One of my concerns is fares going up, but I know they're going to raise it anyway no matter what.

Levittown’s Mario Echavez, a construction worker for Local 28, expressed frustration on the current shuttle schedule upon his return to Hicksville Train Station. His commute can differ depending on where his job in construction takes him across the city.

“The trains got to run differently this time along with the shuttles, because two and a half hours coming home, three hours going, it's crazy,” Echavez said. “I hope everything works out as soon as possible. We definitely need the MTA back.”
 

By Michael Sicoli

michael.sicoli@newsday.com

Michael Sicoli covers high school sports for Newsday. He graduated from Quinnipiac in 2022 and left with a master’s degree in sports journalism in 2023.