"These service reductions will cause the least amount of inconvenience to the least number of riders," LIRR president Helena Williams said in a statement. "While these cuts are painful for employees and for our customers, they are necessary. The LIRR needs to be more cost efficient."
The cutbacks will be the subject of a public hearing next Monday night, March 8, at 6 p.m. in the Riverhead County Center's legislative auditorium.
The speakers are likely to include local elected officials who have roundly criticized the cuts that the Metropolitan Transit Authority proposed last month to help close a $400 million budget deficit. Southold Supervisor Scott Russell described the combination of the loss of local train service, except on summer weekends, and the MTA's relatively new business tax of 34 cents for every $100 companies throughout Suffolk County spend on payroll, "taxation without transportation." In response, the area's state lawmakers have introduced bills to set a referendum on the creation of an East End transit authority, which would replace the MTA and provide public transportation on the two forks.
In support of its case, the LIRR contends that its Greenport branch carried 69,986 riders east of Ronkonkoma last year, the lowest of its 11 branches. That generated $726,304 in revenues, which it said falls far short of its $6 million operating cost. The railroad also contends that while its expenses total $85.91 per customer, the average fare is only $10.36.
MTA officials have previously contended the authority stood to save about $900,000 with the cuts
Ticket sales cover only 12 percent of the cost of running trains between Greenport and Ronkonkoma, according to the LIRR. On the Babylon branch, the system's busiest, fairs cover 51 percent of what it takes to carry passengers between Babylon and Penn Station, according to the LIRR.
Critics say poor ridership on the East End comes from schedules unfriendly to commuters and an overall lack of trains.
tkelly@timesreview.com