NEW YORK — On Tuesday, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that Long Island Rail Road exceeded one million paying customers traveling to or from Grand Central Madison Terminalwhich began its full service on February 27.
The milestone was passed on Friday, April 7. In addition, the LIRR announced several pandemic-era passenger records achieved since Grand Central Madison opened for full service.
On both Saturday, April 8, and Sunday, April 9, the railroad saw record ridership over the pandemic-era weekend as New Yorkers used public transportation to get around over the holiday weekend: 108,740 passengers traveled on Saturday and 98,030 traveled on Sunday. On Tuesday, March 21, 213,026 customers took the LIRR, surpassing the previous pandemic-era record of November 2022.
“We have made historic investments in transit on Long Island, making it easier for travelers to connect throughout the region,” said Governor Hochul. “With the millionth passenger traveling through Grand Central Madison just months after the terminal’s opening, it shows how essential this service has become for New Yorkers in just a short period of time.”
The LIRR also announced several milestones achieved since the opening of Grand Central Madison. In March, the LIRR sold 358,609 City Ticketswhich offers off-peak rides within New York City for $5, an increase of 118.5 percent over the previous March.
He Combo Ticketan opportunity for customers to purchase discount tickets when traveling on both the LIRR and Metro-North Railroad on the same trip thanks to the opening of Grand Central Madison, has been used by more than 4,000 customers since its launch.
As of April 18, 2023, 15,503 LIRR trains have arrived or departed from Grand Central Madison. The popular app TrainTime The MTA has seen more than 370,000 tickets purchased for travel to or from Grand Central Madison.
“The opening of full service at Grand Central Madison is enabling a never-before-seen connection while enabling generational increases in service,” said LIRR Interim President and Metro-North Railroad President Catherine Rinaldi. “As promised, we listen to our customers and improve service to better meet their needs. With the changes we’ve introduced, we’ve dramatically reduced delays and crowds, and customers have responded by taking the train in record numbers in the era of pandemic.”
In recent weeks, longer trains and schedule adjustments have been introduced, increasing comfort and reliability, and increasing on-time performance above 93.5 percent. Since February 27, the LIRR has surpassed 200,000 riders in 16 days, a threshold the railroad had only crossed twice during the first 57 days of 2023.
The highest daily ridership at Grand Central Madison was achieved on Tuesday, April 11, with approximately 32,060 customers traveling in and out of the new Manhattan terminal.
To mark the milestone of surpassing one million rides, the LIRR welcomed two Grand Central Madison customers to join the celebration: Ray Ragunauth and Karen Hamilton. Ragunauth is a Long Island resident and physical therapist who was able to pursue new career opportunities in the East Side from Manhattan thanks to the shorter commute brought by Grand Central Madison.
Hamilton is a resident of Laurelton, Queens, which has benefited both from the introduction of more frequent service to stations within Queens and from the opening of Grand Central Madison, where he frequently travels with his mother for medical appointments in NYU Langone Health.
“During 2020, my wife and I decided to leave the city and go to Long Island and get a house there, but my heart always belonged to the city. And in the last six months I had the opportunity to return to work on the Upper East Side in a hospital up there,” said LIRR customer Ray Ragunauth. “And, once my wife, who already commutes to the Upper East Side, started using the Grand Central Line, her commutes dropped to about 20-30 minutes and it became a no-brainer for me to come back to the city and be in a city I love.”
