Community Corner
LIRR Cuts Mostly Spare Syosset
Only one train is nixed when new schedule debuts Monday.
New schedules for the Long Island Rail Road are set to go into effect Monday and they include budget-related service cuts across the entire system.
Fortunately, Syosset riders won't be affected very much.
According to the LIRR, a train from Hunterspoint Avenue in Long Island City, Queens that used to depart at 5:11 p.m. and arrive in Syosset after 6 p.m. will no longer be running.
An LIRR spokesman says riders who used to take that train can now take a train that leaves Hunterspoint at 4:59 p.m. The customers will have to change in Jamaica and take a second train that is scheduled to arrive in Syosset at 5:56 p.m.
LIRR spokesman Salvatore Arena told Syosset Patch, "In determining what cuts to make, the goal always was to make sure the changes would affect the fewest number of customers possible."
Other stations are facing more serious cuts than Syosset. For example, the LIRR plans to cancel a weekend train from Jamaica to Oyster Bay that leaves at 1:35 a.m., and a train that leaves from Oyster Bay to Jamaica at 7:20 a.m. The MTA says those two trains have about 80 customers, combined, each day. They are also reducing trains to Port Washington and cutting the length of trains by two cars each on the Ronkonkoma branch.
It's all part of a budget-cutting package the MTA board recently approved. MTA officials say they are trying to fill a nearly $800 million budget shortfall for 2010. Before making the service changes, they held a series of public hearings and received thousands of e-mails, letters and petitions. Many riders expressed dismay that the cuts are happening, depute a fare increase in 2009.
MTA officials also announced that to save money, they are laying off some workers, cleaning the cars less frequently and closing some LIRR ticket windows. More budget-related service cuts are scheduled to go into effect in September.
