2025 Ticket Sales Data

I think one of the most important pieces of data the LIRR can get is ridership patterns- it tells you where the most people are coming from and want to go so you can fine-tune your service to best meet everyone's needs. And while the data the LIRR gets (through the train-by-train ridership counts they refuse to give out for no good reason and the ticket sales data aren't perfect, they give a very good general idea of what the patterns look like).

I decided to anazlye the LIRR's ticket sales data, which I retrieved through a FOIL (Freedom of Law request). This data gives a general overview of ridership between two given stations, and when you put it all together it gives a general overview of the current ridership patterns.

I can't link the actual excel sheet I used to put together the tables, graphs due to it being too large, if you'd like to see that information, you can send me an email and I'll find a way to get it to you.

Station pairs

Shown on the top of the chart are the busiest station pairs in the system. Hicksville and Ronkonkoma tickets to NY-Penn Station continue to lead, however if intra-city travel continues to grow, I could see Hicksville being overtaken by Jamaica.

Surprisingly, this year, there were only two station pairs with over a million riders, mostly thanks to the effects of the pandemic. The average number of rides across all those were 4,356, and that’s about how many rides was taken between Port Jefferson and Stony Brook. Out of the pairs ticketed, Riverhead-Merllion Avenue and Yaphank-New Hyde Padk were ranked lowest at only one ticket. Not surprising.

Highest intra-island pairs

This included ticket-pairs that were to/from two stations that aren't city terminals (NYK, GCT, KGN, FHL, WDD, HPA, LIC, JAM, NAV, ENY, ATL). 

The top of the chart was almost entirely dominated by intra-island travel among Port Washington Branch stations, and that's a good thing considering it's easy to add intra-island stops on the two-tracked Port Washington Branch! For the most part, the rest of them were rather expected.

I was planning on including more information and information about the ticket types, however, this post took a long time to make since I had to plug all the information in to make the charts, compile the information, not to mention I'm still waiting for the FOIL request to comeback, therefore it would be much harder to compile the rest of the information, therefore, I decided to just skip out on the rest, this post took much longer than it was supposed to make, but I think this gives you a good idea of how things are going.

Oyster Bay Branch to receive two additional new evening trains

In a very odd twist of fate, the LIRR announced that on Monday, March 17th, the Oyster Bay Branch will relieve one additional evening eastbound following the peak and one additional evening reverse-peak. Not only is this odd considering it’s very unexpected, but, the railroad rarely updates its schedules so for them to just add an extra train in the middle of nowhere, that’s something you don’t see everyday. You'll notice that I'm trying to make even more, smaller posts in between the timetable releases, to spice things up and add additional content in between the bigger releases, so I hope you'll enjoy this smaller content that is actually covering some bigger things.

These new evening trains, with one being a reverse-peak westbound and the other being a post-peak eastbound, are being added to the schedule in hopes of decreasing gaps. These trains are targeted at those who need to go to or get home from Broadway shows, dining with friends and family, and for those attending concerts and sports events, these trains will help to loosen those gaps and provide more service before and afterwards. 

The trains

A brand-new train, titled #567, will depart Oyster Bay at 7:09pm, and will run to Jamaica, arriving  there at 8:05pm, under it's connection, it would arrive at Penn Station at 8:35pm

The eastbound, titled #578, will depart Jamaica at 11:43pm, and will arrive at Oyster Bay at 12:44am. In addition, the current 11:25pm departure towards Oyster Bay will now depart at 11:08pm, helping to close the 79-minute gap.

North Shore Riders have assemblyman Charles D. Lavine who has fought to give them more service, and is partly responsible for the second dual-mode getting added to the schedule.

Another odd thing about this weird and unexpected schedule change is that both the LIRR and the news source (there was only one) that covered it said these trains would depart Penn Station (oppose to saying that it was a connection) which it says in the TrainTime app. Originally, I thought maybe these new trains were dual-modes, which actually wouldn't be surprising considering the fact that the senators pushed for the 7:17am train to be a dual-mode. If that's confusing to me, someone who's very familiar with the LIRR's scheduling and service patterns, then it could be very confusing to someone who isn't...

I just found out about this yesterday, which turned out to be the day I released my sample Oyster Bay Branch timetable and when I roll-out the timetable upgrades I've made already for this branch, I'm going to modify it a bit and possibly add these trains in if I can!

In my opinion, I'm very happy to see the LIRR continuing to add trains, esspecilaly considering the westbound was most likely one of the deadheads from Oyster Bay to Jamaica Storage Yard. It's great to see the LIRR answering commuter and senator complaints, while also minimizing deadheading. I strongly believe that the LIRR should continue to reduce deadheading, and continue to find unique ways to utilize equipment. If they do, I'm confident it'll go a long way in the long run. 

In conclusion, this shows that if the LIRR tries, they can make improvements, and while I don't think this was the most necessary improvement as of right now, I think this is nice for tthe Oyster Bay Branch which has been long-neglected and I'm ecstatic to see what else is in store for the Oyster Bay Branch and the rest of the railroad... for the May 18th service changes. I feel this will be a big one!

The Great Port Washington Branch Terminal Mess of 2023

In today’s post, I will be telling a tale of LIRR scheduling— a story that is crazy on many levels (well, not really)

It all started when the LIRR noticed ridership feedback suggesting people wanted more express trains to Penn Station, so with the fourth round of major changes to the timetables came GO 203- which had quite a lot in store for the Port Washington Branch! The LIRR announced that based on “community feedback”, they’d be making several changes to morning rush hour service to provide more express trains from Nassau County to Penn Station.

They announced these changes on the Port Washington Branch:

• Train 415, the 6:47am from Port Washington to Grand Central would be renumbered to train 315, would depart 5 minutes earlier at 6:42am, and be rerouted to Penn Station. This train would also now run express from Great Neck to Mets-Willets Point, dropping stops at Little Neck, Douglaston, and Bayside. Riders at these local stations would either have to depart 29 minutes earlier or 5 minutes later. Riders for Grand Central would either have to depart 32 minutes earlier or arrive 42 minutes later. 
• Train 1413 (the 6:28a from Great Neck to Grand Central) would add stops in Little Neck and Douglaston to fill the gap in service. 
• Train 1315 (the 7:03a from Great Neck to Penn Station) would depart 1 minute earlier at 7:02am and add stops in Little Neck and Douglaston to the fill the gap in service. 
• Train 419, the 7:19am from Port Washington to Penn Station would be renumbered to train 319 and would run non-stop from Great Neck to Penn Station arriving there at 7:54am. This train would no longer stop at Little Neck, Douglaston, or Bayside. Riders looking to travel to Grand Central would have either have to depart 37 minutes earlier and transfer at Great Neck and Woodside or drop back at Great Neck to a local train and arrive 12 minutes later. 
• Train 1319, the 7:38am train from Little Neck to Penn Station would be renumbered to train 1419, would add a stop at Great Neck at 7:35am, and also be rerouted to Grand Central. Riders looking for Penn Station would either need to depart 33 minutes earlier or arrive 43 minutes later.

Now, chances are, after reading this, your wondering whether or not this was really a good idea. And, I can assure you, it wasn’t.

The LIRR claimed they gutted all morning rush hour service to Grand Central based on calls from riders for more fast express trains to Penn Station. But, the truth is, the LIRR still cannot understand that commuters want more trains, not the reshuffling of existing trains. And as you can see, this made riders furious.

For riders traveling via the North Shore to Penn Station during the morning rush, this new GO offered 9 PEAK trains (8 direct, 1 transfer at Woodside, and 2 useless trains with no connections). For those unlucky travelers looking to get from the North Shore to New York via Grand Central, the November service plan offered riders from the busiest part of the Port Washington Branch just 6 trains— one of which only 3 of those were direct, and 3 of those require transfers. The other 55 were useless with no viable connections.

One of the main issues of that service change was the fact that of these trains, 7 don’t even have viable connections! If your going to run more trains to one terminal, at the least almost all those trains should have viable connections to the other terminal. The fact that the Port Washington Branch doesn’t pass through Jamaica had actually been celebrated until East Side Access, when it became a big problem. Without Jamaica, Port Washington Branch riders have many less transfer opportunities. In many cases, their only options are to either drop back to an earlier train on the Port Washington Branch (i.e drop back to a local train at Great Neck or Bayside) or make a very irritating up-and-over at Woodside. The first case is normally the better option but it adds lots of travel time since not only do you have to sit through all those annoying local stops, but you also have to wait out in the cold, snow, rain, sleet, heat, etc.

Soon afterwards, the LIRR riders noticed how badly things were getting and demanded changes. A Change.org petition was started on October 26, 2023 to run more trains to Grand Central and got over 1,000 signatures. However, the LIRR ignored this and my guess for this is that they wanted to see the damage being done before they decided to correct it.

One frustrated rider recorded the nonsense and frustration onboard the 7:19am train right after the November 2023 service changes began. Feat. a trainload full of cold and pissed passengers disembarking onto the cold platform at Great Neck to wait for the local while their 12-car train that was nearly empty pulled away. If you’d like to view the video, here’s the link.

Now, for the part of the tale that will keep you on the edge of your seats (not really). The LIRR decided to schedule two express trains from Port Washington to Penn Station 5 minutes apart!!!!!! These trains, 315 and 319 would depart at 7:14 and 7:19am respectively, and only the second one had a 6-minute wait for a Great-Neck local connection. When’s the next train you ask? 36 minutes later. And yet the LIRR boasted about how it’s new schedules would make wait times more consistent across the rush hour.

To make matters worse, this second 7:19am train still ran with 12 cars and barley averaged 15-20% loads after people got off at Great Neck to transfer to other trains. And spoiler, even to this day, I still quite often see this train with barely anyone on it thanks to how close they are.

@LIRR congrats, you’re running a virtually empty 12 car westbound 7:19am express train from PW to Penn just 5 minutes after another Penn bound express departed! This as the GCM bound is packed after the GN xfer. This is absurd. Please explain your rationale. pic.twitter.com/vF5wTY4zM7

— Biz (@ebisman) November 13, 2023

After mounting pressure from local officials including one of the NYS senators, the LIRR finally reverted two of those trains to go back to Grand Central. 

Of those changes, these are the ones that have been modified or reverted:

• Train 415, the 6:47am from Port Washington to Grand Central would be renumbered to train 315, would depart 5 minutes earlier at 6:42am, and be rerouted to Penn Station. This train would also now run express from Great Neck to Mets-Willets Point, dropping stops at Little Neck, Douglaston, and Bayside. Riders at these local stations would either have to depart 29 minutes earlier or 5 minutes later. Riders for Grand Central would either have to depart 32 minutes earlier or arrive 42 minutes later. 
• Train 1413 (the 6:28a from Great Neck to Grand Central) would add stops in Little Neck and Douglaston to fill the gap in service.
• Train 1315 (the 7:03a from Great Neck to Penn Station) would depart 1 minute earlier at 7:02am and add stops in Little Neck and Douglaston to the fill the gap in service.
• Train 419, the 7:19am from Port Washington to Grand Central would be renumbered to train 319 and would run non-stop from Great Neck to Penn Station arriving there at 7:54am. This train would no longer stop at Little Neck, Douglaston, or Bayside. Riders looking to travel to Grand Central would have either have to depart 37 minutes earlier and transfer at Great Neck and Woodside or drop back at Great Neck to a local train and arrive 12 minutes later.
• Train 1319, the 7:38am train from Little Neck to Penn Station would be renumbered to train 1419, would add a stop at Great Neck at 7:35am, and also be rerouted to Grand Central. Riders looking for Penn Station would either need to depart 33 minutes earlier or arrive 43 minutes later.

In conclusion, if this was happening in 2025 it would be a huge problem, and even then, I believe it was poor service planning, but considering the LIRR was still a bit disoriented after the opening of ESA with all these changes, complaints, comments still going around, I think it should be a lesson learned. 

The rest of the posts this week will focus on the Port Washington Branch as we lead up to unveil of our first timetable!

Track Calling Patterns at Penn Station

For those of you that have ever traveled eastbound from Penn Station, the ritual you follow is probably well known. You stand in the concourse, semi-patiently waiting, eyes glued to the departure board, and then all of a sudden the track number for your train is posted, and then, along with dozens of others, you scurry towards the staircase to your respective track.

Photo: The LIRR Today

No matter if you take an Amtrak to Chicago or a LIRR to Mets-Willets Point, every single rider is familiar (but not happy) with this ritual. In many occasions, people question why stations like Hoboken & Grand Central Terminal manage to have their track numbers posted sometimes even hours before departure, yet at Penn, you have to suffer thru this cumbersome routine. It all boils down to operations. There is much much more breathing room at stations (i.e Grand Central or Hoboken),so things can be much more consistent and they can post much earlier.

Honestly, most of you know that Penn Station is a madhouse, people going to all over the country (yes, the country!), are all confined into damp, dim conditions, that are crowded, and there’s so many trains on so many tracks. With trains coming in from places as close as Rahway or Jamaica, to trains arriving in from places as far as Miami, Chicago or New Orleans, it’s very difficult to fit everything together especially during the crazy rush hours, so, one late-arriving long-distance train in the middle of the rush hour could result in last-minute changes or shufflings of the track assignments.

For some reason, even when things seam to be going well on a quaint weekend, the ushers at New York Penn are rather reluctant to post track numbers for trains any sooner then 5-10 minutes before given train is set to depart. However, they’re are many patterns one can observe if you travel frequently enough and know what to look for, but the general rule of thumb is that track numbers are generally posted around 5 minutes before departure. By posting them closer to the departure, this can sometimes help with crowding, especially when their are events (such as at MSG) or during the peak.

Photo: The LIRR Today

However, one of the major disadvantages of waiting till last minute is that people will feel rushed, they think that since the train is going to leave so soon, the best thing for them to do is to dive down the first door seen, that way they have the best chance of making the train. Therefore, people will think that if they don’t immediately dive down the first open door they see, then they’ll not get a chance of getting a seat. These two combined reasons tend to lead to fairly uneven load distribution, and this can be common at staircases at the headend of the train such as 7th Avenue.

Another advantage of not waiting to post track numbers is that one, it loosens up the concourse, and during the peak of the peak, that is very helpful. And, if they do post them early, people can leisurely stroll down to the platforms and not feel rushed since “How can the train leave without me if the train hasn’t even made it to the station yet?”, and if people come early they’re more likely to spread themselves along the platform which really helps with loads on the train, because, if people all rush down the staircase into the first 3 cars, then, it’ll be very uneven and people could get a seat if they weren’t rushed.

So, if posting track numbers proves to be so beneficial why don’t they do it? Well, due to the cramped nature of NYP, there are a very limited number of platforms that trains can pull into and discharge on, furthermore, discharging onto a platform with people waiting on it proves to be a very messy thing. It’s also important to note that not every train that leaves Penn Station comes in empty from West Side Yard, a handful of trains during the peak come into Penn Station, discharge, then immediately turn around and head out for places on Long Island (sometimes even not from the OG terminal) without even going to West Side Yard. And, I can only imagine the chaos that could be caused if a busy westbound train during the peak arrives at Penn after the track number has already been posted and there’s tons of people already waiting on the platform…. It would be a fight for the arriving passengers to be trying to get off the train while the eastbound passengers would be trying to get on to get a seat.

While posting track numbers is definitely beneficial for trains that originate in West Side Yard/deadhead into NYP empty, but calling trains to early, despite seaming helpful to passengers, can get pretty messy very quickly. Luckily, the ushers know this, and let’s hope that they continue to call the tracks to trains at the right times.

Interestingly, a little-known secret of Penn Station, is that track numbers vary a lot more during the off-peak periods, and this can be expected since there’s much more wiggle room + there’s constantly construction going on in Queens and all over the place.

In conclusion, while in some cases, posting track numbers early is a very convenient treat, in other cases, by going wild with the posting of track numbers, it can cause heavy crowding and other problems. I’m hopeful that one day Penn Station will become less of a mess, but at this point, it’s anyone’s guess as to what will happen.