I hadn’t really thought about this.  Probably because I haven’t routinely ridden the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) in some 50 years.  (And, the last time I took a random trip on the carrier was some 20 years ago.)

Back when I was a regular on the LIRR, the governor of New York was Nelson Rockefeller.  Who averred (about as truthfully as TheDonald when he avers he won the Presidency in 2020) that this was the finest commuter railroad in the nation.  At the time, it’s on-time performance was abysmal and many of the trains failed to heat in the winter or cool in the summer as required.

But, let’s jump forward to today.

As a commuter railroad, it would be typical for folks to buy monthly commutation tickets- which offer the lowest transportation costs per trip.  (Weekly and biweekly tickets were also available, but a lower discount from the one way fares. A monthly pass becomes breakeven at 22 peak trips a month. These tickets range in price from $ 197 to $ 500.)  But, it is the sale of ten trip tickets (15% discount off list price) that have increased- 27% more were sold in 2021 compared to the same 5 month period in 2019- and 149% over the comparable period from 2020.

Due to the pandemic- and the fact that we are all working from home (WFH)- the monthly commuter pass sales have decreased by almost 85% since the 2019 collections.  (During May 2019, some 103K monthly passes were purchased, This past May, only 15,433 unlimited ride monthly passes were purchased).  Another way of looking at the situation- monthly passes were 50% of LIRR revenue in 2019; now it’s about ¼.  Which about matches total revenue- In 2019, January to May revenue exceeded $ 300 million; now it’s not even $ 85 million.

This lack of ridership is also why the LIRR has abandoned ‘peak pricing’ during the pandemic.  (It’s not alone- Washington Metro has also removed this surcharge during the pandemic.  Or, maybe, the agencies have realized that there is NO peak during the pandemic.)

Moreover,  it is becoming clear that most of those commuters are not likely to return to the office on a five day a week basis.  The LIRR is only carrying some 40% of its 2019 riders- and fears it won’t be until 2025 that even 80% of pre-pandemic ridership will return.

As a comparison to the LIRR, the DC Metro also offers passes. (1,3, and 7 day unlimited passes, as well as monthly unlimited passes.)  But, in DC, only 18% of prepandemic ridership obtains.  And, it’s considering mimicking what other cities are considering- that is to  make ridership free.

That concept hasn’t earned much currency in the boardroom of the LIRR.

Without new sources of revenue, much of our mass transit – not just in NYC and DC, but across this great land- may simply disappear.   (God knows what is happening to maintenance with this dearth of funds.)

Where is that infrastructure bill?

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