LIRR Customer Satisfaction remains lower 10 months into East Side Access

Satisfaction among LIRR riders increased slightly this fall, but remains considerably lower than before East Side Access opened and the new service plan and schedules were implemented roughly one year ago.  70% of LIRR riders reported that they are satisfied with LIRR service overall, a two-percentage point improvement on the very low marks seen in May's survey but still lower by double-digits compared to prior surveys before the schedule changes for East Side Access went into effect.  The MTA unveiled the results of its Fall 2023 Customers Count survey at Monday's meeting of the MTA Board LIRR and Metro-North committee (the presentation at 53:25 in the video).

LIRR riders mill about at Jamaica waiting for their
"transfer opportunity" to show up (Photo: The LIRR Today)

The LIRR's satisfaction ratings plunged to 68% in the Spring 2023 survey (conducted in May about two and a half months after the new East Side Access service plan launched and the railroad was still struggling to get the most acute issues under control).  At the time, MTA officials tried to claim that the low marks were the result of the newness of the service and the bumpy adjustment period, but that they had subsequently addressed the problems and everything is now going great.  But the voices of more than 23,000 riders ten months into the new schedules pose a strong rebuke to the MTA's puff, and show clearly that there remain significant issues that LIRR needs to address.  Riders are clearly expressing that they do not feel the current progress of tweaking and gradual change is adequate, and that more serious action is needed to address the problems facing LIRR.

The Fall 2023 survey was conducted between November 6 and 20, 2023.  Similar to prior surveys, the MTA counts you as "satisfied" if you score them a 6 or higher out of 10.  A score of 1 or 2 counts as "very dissatisfied"; a score of 3, 4, or 5 is considered "dissatisfied"; a score of 6, 7, or 8 is considered "satisfied"; and a score of 9 or 10 earns the top mark of "very satisfied".

Satisfaction marks changed from branch to branch, though the trend was generally one of very slight improvement.  The West Hempstead Branch saw a 1 percentage point decline, but the Port Washington Branch fell a further 8 percentage points.  All branches continue to score significantly lower than the marks seen around 2010 (where all branches were within a few points of 90% satisfied).

The MTA attributed the steep decline on the Port Washington Branch to a series of boneheaded changes that gutted most morning peak service to NY-Grand Central.  The changes too effect on November 13, part way through the survey, and drove riders mad until the railroad undid them a few weeks later on November 27.  In this particular case, the railroad made some very poorly thought-out changes to these schedules, and despite boisterous complaints from riders were announced, LIRR ignored them and went ahead with the changes anyways.  So they definitely deserve that lower score.

Branch	2010-19 Avg	2021 Fall	2022 Spring	2022 Fall	2023 Spring	2023 Fall	Δ vs. 2023 S	Δ vs. 2022 F	Δ vs. 2010's
LIRR Overall	82%	79%	81%	81%	68%	70%	2%	-11%	-12%
West of Babylon	80%	78%	78%	79%	64%	68%	4%	-11%	-12%
City Zone	N/A	85%	87%	85%	73%	78%	5%	-7%	N/A
Far Rockaway	84%	82%	85%	87%	76%	77%	1%	-10%	-7%
Hempstead	83%	84%	84%	82%	68%	75%	7%	-7%	-8%
West of Huntington	81%	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Long Beach	83%	82%	81%	80%	63%	63%	0%	-17%	-20%
Montauk	82%	75%	77%	77%	73%	76%	3%	-1%	-6%
Oyster Bay	82%	66%	70%	76%	52%	55%	3%	-21%	-27%
Port Jefferson	78%	79%	77%	77%	67%	71%	4%	-6%	-7%
Port Washington	86%	78%	85%	81%	68%	60%	-8%	-21%	-26%
Ronkonkoma	78%	75%	78%	79%	66%	72%	6%	-7%	-6%
West Hempstead	82%	78%	82%	82%	72%	71%	-1%	-11%	-11%

Of the branches that posted improvements, all were between 1 and 7 percentage points, with the Hempstead Branch seeing the largest increase (likely the result of restoring more through service from Hempstead to Brooklyn over the last few months).  The Long Beach Branch saw no change.

The Oyster Bay Branch continues to have the lowest scores across the railroad.  That branch was the only diesel branch to lose service compared to pre-pandemic, with 1 AM Peak, 1 PM Peak, and 1 off-peak train eliminated on weekdays—further thinning what was already a very bad schedule to start with.

Looking at satisfaction scores depending on what city terminal riders use, overall satisfaction saw modest improvements to riders who travel through NY-Penn Station (increasing five percentage points to 69%) and Brooklyn (increasing ten percentage points to 51%).  The LIRR's many schedule tweaks have kept the overall level of service at NY-Penn Station the same since the initial launch, but they are utilizing those slots better with busier trains from the higher ridership branches (and running longer trains) and relegating lower ridership trains to NY-Grand Central or Brooklyn—but satisfaction overall remains lower by double-digits compared to before East Side Access.  The railroad has been slowly restoring through service to Brooklyn and are now up to 10 through trains in the AM Peak period and 7 through trains in the PM Peak period.  This coupled with the extra service added in March to stabilize the significant crowding issues encountered after LIRR dramatically cut capacity to Brooklyn at the peak-of-the-peak has brought modest improvements to the service, and that is reflected in the improved satisfaction marks.  But overall satisfaction among Brooklyn riders remains 31 percentage points lower than it did before the start of East Side Access.

Interestingly, overall satisfaction among LIRR riders who use NY-Grand Central declined sharply, dropping twelve percentage points to 68%, now the second lowest after Brooklyn.  The MTA has attributed this to the many rounds of schedule tweaking which have marked a modest retreat from NY-Grand Central, cutting 17 peak trains and shifting off-peak service at key times over to NY-Penn Station.  This decline was driven most significantly by lower marks for riders coming from the Port Washington Branch, Montauk Branch, and West of Huntington/Port Jefferson Branch.  But I suspect this is also being driven by the newness and shine of NY-Grand Central wearing off and riders realizing that being delivered to a cavern 150 feet below ground and having to spend several minutes per day riding escalators and backtracking to their offices/Subway is not saving all that much time off their commute after all.  These figures show that the actual service provided is considerably more important than the shine of the marble or the expansiveness of the corridors and hallways.  

The MTA did not report on satisfaction figures for those using Hunterspoint Avenue (presumably LIRR is so confident in its quest to make those of us who use HPA as miserable as possible they don't need the data to confirm it).  But in a separate discussion about satisfaction scores with station facilities, Hunterspoint Avenue got a dishonorable mention as being one of the worst-rated stations on the LIRR, with only 54% of users saying they were satisfied with the station conditions overall.  The conditions and rider sentiment here certainly stand in stark contrast to the extravagance of East Side Access two stops west on the 7 train.  The MTA has included funding to completely renovate Hunterspoint Avenue in several past Capital Programs dating back to 2005, but they keep dropping the project as station conditions get worse.  East New York station received the lowest marks, with only 43% of riders satisfied with conditions there.

LIRR's poor management of transfers continues to be a major driver of dissatisfaction among riders, with those who have to often or always transfer trains during their trip reporting markedly low satisfaction.  The general stabilization in on-time performance and operations through Jamaica means that transferring trains there is not the disorganized clown show it was in the early weeks of the new schedule—but as the numbers tell clearly, it is still very bad.  Just a bit more than half of LIRR rides who say they always need to transfer reported they were satisfied with LIRR service overall.

Only 60% of riders reported that they were satisfied with the "quality of the transfer", a 7 percentage point improvement from the spring.

An interesting data point mentioned during the presentation is shown in the figure at the left—the number of people who responded that they "always" transfer during their trip by city terminal.  Riders who are travelling to NY-Penn Station and Brooklyn-Atlantic Terminal report that they are transferring less than they were in the spring, while NY-Grand Central passengers are more likely to need to make transfers.  While the redistribution of service is likely helping reduce the number of transfers, these figures also suggest that an aversion to transferring is beginning to cement, with people going out of their way to take through trains to their destination—even if it means waiting for a later train (which reduces travel options and makes it more difficult to balance crowds out among trains).

When looking at the key drivers that people report are important and influence whether people travel more often.  "Quality of transfer" rocketed to the top, with it being cited as a very important key driver of satisfaction, along with peak service frequency.  While both of these marks are improving, they are still quite low, especially after we spent $17 billion on capacity improvements to improve peak service...

Key Driver	2022 F	2023 S	2023 F
Quality of transfer	N/A	53%	60%
Peak service frequency	71%	63%	66%
Service reliability	82%	75%	79%
Value for money		60%	60%
On-time performance	81%	71%	76%
Seat availability	75%	67%	71%
Frequency of delays		62%	68%
Off-peak service frequency	66%	63%	68%
Cleanliness onboard trains	76%	74%	80%
Fares	54%	50%
Personal security in stations	68%	69%
Erratic people in stations	66%	63%
Personal security onboard	81%	78%
Homelessness in stations	54%	57%

The PCAC, which is the coordinating body for the Long Island Rail Road Commuter Council, put it quite well that bringing back timed and guaranteed transfers at Jamaica will be key to improving overall satisfaction:

One of the most important drivers of @LIRR rider satisfaction: the quality of their transfer experience.

That’s why it’s so critical for the railroad to bring back timed connections, so riders can count on making their next train. “Transfer opportunities” should be guarantees! pic.twitter.com/PAcjq9myTW

— Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA (@PCACriders) January 29, 2024

Interestingly, the key drivers from the spring survey included several safety and security drivers (including personal security at stations and on trains, and homelessness/people behaving erratically in stations).  None of these factors made it onto the top list in the fall.  I guess LIRR riders are over the hullabaloo over crime on the transit system and just want the MTA to know they think the service stinks...

Acting LIRR President Rob Free did not address the poor satisfaction scores at any point during Monday's meeting, nor did MTA Board members (who did not show up in sufficient number to establish a quorum for the second straight month) press any questions on the troubling results.  In what has perhaps been the closest thing so far to an admission from the MTA that things have not been going great, MTA Board Member Sammy Chu said at the very end of the discussion "I think we all probably have resigned to the fact that we can't make everyone happy, but we can try to make as many people happy as possible, and having a through handle on this data is the way to get there..."

This certainly reinforces the fear that the MTA and LIRR have no concrete path forward to improve LIRR service after it spent $17 billion to make the trips for many riders worse.  Despite attempts of officials to link a progressive ridership recovery as people travel more following the COVID-19 pandemic to more people taking advantage of the new service, LIRR ridership recovery remains in close lockstep to Metro-North, which neither opened a new terminal nor changed service.  Reports of riders cutting out rail travel altogether (working from home, retiring/changing jobs, moving, etc.) seem to outnumber those of brand new trips being generated.

I am retiring early due to the @LIRR poopshow. They will be losing my business. They took the BEST line (PW) & turned it into absolute garbage. I work from 8-4 & all I take are transfer trains now or wait close to an hour for next train. Just awful what @MTALIRR has become.

— Jill Burk (@JillBurk974868) January 27, 2024

As I said last week, the LIRR's situation remains very serious, and these latest figures show clearly that riders do not feel the current level of tweaking and change is adequate and more drastic action is needed.