How does the Long Island Rail Road stack up compared to other major commuter railroads across the country? According to a just-released survey, not very well.
The newly-released findings by the Citizens Budget Commission, a fiscal watchdog group, cast the LIRR in a harsh light.
Among America’s ten largest commuter railroads, the LIRR ranked at or near the bottom in several factors.
The LIRR came in eighth out of ten for operating cost per mile of service, ninth for operating cost per vehicle, and in last place for operating cost per passenger.
The LIRR also ranked below average in two of the study’s other indicators.
To passengers, none of this comes as a surprise. One fed up commuter entitled a Facebook page “The Late & Inefficient Railroad.”
Various LIRR service disruptions, many of them storm-related, infuriated customers, who at one point were paying full, peak fares for limited service.
The study also found the MTA’s bus operations were “relatively inefficient,” ranking last in three out of five cost indicators.
The one bright spot, however, was that the MTA’s subway system was the most efficient in the nation, operating with the lowest cost per passenger trip.
{CBS Broadcasting/Matzav.com Newscenter}
