By Lindsay Press
The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) achieved its highest year-to-date on-time performance this year at a rate of 97%. This is better than the same time last year, which had a 95.65% performance record.
“Record levels of on-time performance, delivering safe service, and a greater customer experience increases ridership and that’s exactly what the LIRR provides,” said LIRR President Rob Free. “The LIRR is helping to ensure Long Island remains a place where people want to live and work by providing excellent service.”
In February, the LIRR set an all-time monthly record of 96.4%, with the three best performing branches being Port Washington at 98.7%, West Hempstead at 97.6%, and Babylon at 97.0%.
The LIRR also shared the following statistics:
- In January, 6.1 million people rode the LIRR, which is an increase of 617,096 customers, or 11.2%, in comparison to January 2024.
- That same month, commuter ridership was also up 8.4%, and non-commuter ridership increased 13.3% compared to January from last year.
- The LIRR now carries 85% of 2019 (pre-COVID) ridership with an average Monday to Friday weekday ridership of 247,708.
- Over 1.4 million people rode the LIRR the week of February 24 to March 2.
The number of riders of the LIRR in January could have been increased due to the impact of congestion pricing, which began on January 5, according to an article from PIX11. The article goes on to state that, after congestion pricing went into effect, the agency saw a 19% increase in ridership.
“We are delivering a faster and consistently reliable mode of public transportation to riders with each milestone the commuter railroads achieve,” Governor Kathy Hochul said. “New Yorkers know that they can depend on the … Long Island Rail Road trains every single day – whether it’s for their daily commute to work, or for a trip to a different part of New York State.”
“Even with surging ridership and hundreds of trains running every day, MTA’s commuter railroads keep delivering better and better service,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “LIRR … continue[s] to set the national standard for safe and reliable mass transit.”