By Philip Newman
Both of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s commuter railroads reported modern ridership records in 2015.
For the Long Island Rail Road, its total of 87.6 million passengers was a 2.1 percent increase over 2014 for the nation’s biggest commuter rail line.
Metro-North reported an all-time high total of 86.1 million passengers, an increase of 1.6 percent over 2014.
The LIRR’s total surpassed the modern record set in 2008 when the railroad carried 87.4 million passengers. Metro-North’s total ridership growth means it has more than doubled the ridership it carried when it was founded in 1983.
“When ridership set records in 2008, many said it was because of high gasoline prices and that certainly is one factor,” MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast said. “But gas prices have sunk to low levels and the trend is continuing. We are seeing the confluence of a strengthening regional economy, healthier downtowns around the region, a new generation of millenials who value public transportation and greater productivity on board our trains through the proliferation of smartphones, tablets and laptops.”
Prendergast said Metro-North had also added more frequent trains, more more real-time information as well as new electric trains.
Ridership west of the Hudson River increased faster than east of it. On the Port Jervis Line and the New York State portion of the Pascack Valley line, Metro-North expects 2015 ridership will have increased 4.9 percent over last year to a combined total of 1.8 million customers. The Port Jervis and Pascak Valley line are operated by NJ Transit under contract to Metro-North.
Both railroads said they looked forward to even more growth because of investments included in the MTA 2015-19 Capital Program. The program will provide money for a major expansion of the LIRR’s main line between Floral Park and Hicksville, enabling significant reverse commuting to Long Island for the first time, and construction of new LIRR stations in Elmhurst and Sunnyside.
It will also underwrite construction of four new Metro-North stations in the Bronx and expansion of Metro-North’s New Haven line to Penn Station,
