Over 96% of Trains Arrived on Time
By Hank Russell
The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) shattered its post-pandemic daily ridership record twice this week, carrying 298,419 passengers on July 23, and 295,419 passengers on July 22. Both milestones contributed to the railroad’s busiest seven-day period since the pandemic, with a total of 1.72 million passengers riding between July 17 and July 23. Before this week, the previous post-pandemic ridership high was 287,437 on June 19. The pre-pandemic 2019 average weekday ridership of 316,692 was the highest since 1949, according to the governor’s office.
“So much for the slow summer season,” said Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chairman/CEO Janno Lieber. “The Long Island Rail Road is busier than ever, carrying more customers and with more trains and better on-time performance. Under Governor Hochul, the MTA’s delivering fast, affordable and accessible transit regionwide.”
LIRR President Rob Free added, “The LIRR is consistently delivering clean, safe and reliable service for all New Yorkers. Ridership numbers like this show that people know that the LIRR is the best way to travel to work, school and everything that Long Island has to offer.”
The ridership highs reflect the railroad’s increasing customer satisfaction rate and record-breaking on-time performance statistics. Through the first half of the year, 96.6% of trains reached their destination on time, the railroad’s best rate in its history outside of pandemic years, and nine tenths of a percentage point above last year’s rate of 95.7% covering the same period of the year.
Overall customer satisfaction with the railroad reached 81% in the spring of 2025, up five percentage points from the fall 2024, when it reached 76%, which was itself a six-point increase from spring 2024’s rate of 70%.
MTA Chief Customer Officer Shanifah Rieara said, “Riders are voting with their TrainTime tickets to use America’s busiest, and one of the most reliable, railroads as they tell us in the latest scientific survey that they are beyond satisfied with their experience. Whether it’s going to work, seeing friends, or heading for a summer afternoon at the beach, the LIRR is bringing New Yorkers together to get where they need to go.”
“New Yorkers know that the best way to get to and from Long Island is by riding the Long Island Rail Road. From Mets games to beach days and beyond, the LIRR connects riders to so much of what makes summer in our state special,” Governor Kathy Hochul said. “By delivering better, more frequent service since the opening of Grand Central Madison in 2023, LIRR ridership has grown considerably to near-record highs. I look forward to celebrating more milestones to come as New Yorkers continue to benefit from the ease and convenience of taking the train to get around.”