Tough going for reverse commuter: 'I've been stuck here three days'
Buses parked at the Bay Shore LIRR station. Credit: Nicholas GRasso
A pair of empty Coach buses sat idle at about 3:30 p.m. Monday, parallel to the train tracks that run through the Bay Shore LIRR station.
An MTA customer assistance program employee — one of a half dozen workers in neon safety vests, standing on the platform or in the shade of the waiting area — told Newsday the two buses were being held past their scheduled departure time in case any stragglers were hoping to catch a ride toward the Howard Beach-JFK Airport subway station.
People couldn't be stranded, said the employee, who declined to provide his name as he was not authorized to provide any official statement. It's tough enough, he said.
Kristel Mondesir, a lone passenger, arrived at 4:20 p.m. With no easy way between her Brooklyn home and her Commack job, Mondesir, a certified nursing assistant, has been staying with a friend in between shifts.
“I've been stuck here three days now,” Mondesir, 39, said as she boarded the bus. When she spoke to MTA customer workers just before boarding, she said, she learned “I’m at the wrong location.”
“I was supposed to go to Ronkonkoma or Huntington to get to Jamaica,” she told Newsday, wearing her teal blue work scrubs. “Somebody dropped me off here and they left, so now I have to take this.”
When asked how she will get to work Tuesday, Mondesir said: “I don't think I’ll be able to.”
The Coach carried her away about 4:25 p.m.
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