Letter: Add trains to other places
This view looking west, shows the stretch of single-track main line between the Pinelawn and Wyandanch stations on the LIRR's Ronkonkoma branch, April 16, 2012. Credit: Newsday / John Paraskevas
It’s no surprise to anyone on Long Island that the railroad stations with the best access to New York City have the worst parking [“Jammed,” News, Nov. 29]. However, simply building more parking lots and garages is a terrible solution.
Instead, as Nassau Legis. Judith Jacobs (D-Woodbury) said, the Long Island Rail Road should invest in increased service to underutilized stations, such as in Oyster Bay, which Newsday cites as having a parking lot that is just 22 percent full on weekdays. Adding lines to this station would help alleviate crowding at Syosset, one of the packed stations mentioned in the article, and perhaps even at Hicksville and Cold Spring Harbor.
According to Newsday, only one-third of the LIRR stations on Long Island are at 90 percent parking capacity or more. That leaves plenty of room for commuters at the many other stations that have suboptimal schedules but wide-open parking. Increasing service to these stations with express lines to Manhattan and Jamaica must be less expensive, less divisive and more eco-friendly than simply building more parking.
Why is LIRR president Patrick Nowakowski not discussing this before offering to spend money on unwanted parking garages?
Denise Long
Oyster Bay
