A meeting of the Long Island Rail Road Commuter Council (LIRRCC) was convened at 4:30 p.m. on January 12, 2012, in the LIRR East Side Access Readiness Conference Room at 450 7th Avenue, 20th Floor, New York City.
The following members were present:
• Sheila Carpenter
• Matthew Kessler
• Owen Costello
• Maureen Michaels
• Mark Epstein
• Bryan Peranzo
• Ira Greenberg
• Larry Rubinstein
The following members were absent:
• Gerard P. Bringmann
In addition, the following persons were present:
• William Henderson – PCAC Executive Director
Approval of Agenda and Minutes
The agenda for the January 12, 2012 meeting was approved. The minutes of the November 10, 2011 meetings were approved as amended.
Chair’s Report
The Chair’s Report has been approved and is attached to these minutes.
Mark Epstein announced that Bryan Peranzo has been appointed to the Council by Governor Cuomo, representing Nassau County. Mr. Peranzo said that he currently commutes from Hicksville to Penn Station, but previously had commuted from Bellmore to Penn Station. He said that he wanted to do something to improve the commuting experience and approached Brian Nevin, an aide to County Executive Mangano, to ask how he could be more involved. Mr. Nevin recommended him to the County Executive, who in turn recommended him to the Governor for a position on the LIRRCC. Mr. Peranzo said that he had been surprised at the length of time the appointment process takes. Mr. Epstein said that long waits for the approval of new members are not unusual.
Mr. Epstein said that he had been told there may be a refund policy for tickets and therefore the Council’s ticket validity proposal cannot be implemented without a change in law. Ira Greenberg informed the Council that the MTA Board will receive a presentation on ticket policy in February.
Matt Kessler asked if we could establish a relationship with the Amtrak Community Advisory Committee on topics related to Amtrak properties that the LIRR uses. Bill Henderson said that he would contact the group and work on arranging contacts. Mr. Epstein said that the members who have been working on expanding station building open hours will have a conference call when we receive a formal response to our proposals from the LIRR. He said that we are expecting the information sometime after next Tuesday.
Mr. Epstein said that he would like to continue to advocate for the restoration of pre-tax mass transit commuter benefits to their previous level and proposed that the Council send a letters in support of legislative proposals to restore the higher benefit levels. The Council voted unanimously to support sending these letters.
Board Report
Ira Greenberg gave the Board report. He stated that Pat Foye, the Nassau County representative on the MTA Board, has resigned his position. A replacement has not yet been named, but a decision is expected to be made shortly.
Mr. Greenberg reported that Board members Mitch Pally and Allen Cappelli led an effort to set up a $20 million service restoration fund in the 2012 MTA operating budget. The proposal was stated as an amendment to the Budget at the December Board meeting and in addition to Mr. Pally and Mr. Cappelli, two additional Board members voted in favor of the proposal, Charles Moerdler and Fernando Ferrer. Mr. Greenberg noted that the additional votes from the proposal came from Board members appointed directly by Governor Cuomo. Despite the four votes, the proposed amendment was defeated.
In terms of the LIRR’s on-time performance, Mr. Greenberg commented that while the Rail Road’s 2011 on-time performance was better than 2010, they are still not meeting their performance goals.
Mr. Greenberg said that after the defeat of the service restoration fund amendment, the MTA budget was approved as presented. The budget is very tight and there are a number of financial challenges facing the MTA over the next year. Among these is that some categories of income from taxes are coming in below projections.
Sheila Carpenter said that riders have remarked to her that there is no service from Montauk at many periods in the day. She said that it seems as though trains are disappearing and suggested that the Council examine whether trains have been cut.
Mr. Greenberg reported that the procurement process for the M9 cars has begun. He noted that the design of the cars will likely follow from the design of the M7 cars and M8 Metro-North New Haven Line cars. Maureen Michael said that the design process for the cars includes considerable market research.
The Council discussed several design issues having to do with the train cars. Ms. Carpenter commented that even though the double decker coaches are considered more comfortable than the multiple unit cars, the double decker cars do not have sufficient luggage space. Owen Costello said that the design of bathrooms on the LIRR cars is terrible and questioned why armrests were necessary on the M7 cars.
Larry Rubinstein asked what figure is assumed in the 2012 MTA budget for labor settlements. Mr. Greenberg said that the budgets assume zero net cost for any settlements. There could be an increase in wage rates, but they would have to be matched by savings from work rule changes or other labor related expenses.
The issue of parking for riders who have to use alternate stations because of holiday schedules was raised. Mr. Henderson said that he would look into the issue.
Staff Report
Mr. Henderson presented a Staff Report. He said that with regard to extra holiday trains, he had looked at the trains that were added over the past two months and that all of the additional holiday “getaway” trains were added in off peak hours, mostly on weekday afternoons, or else trains were added when the LIRR was operating on a weekend/holiday schedule, as with the extra trains for Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) Day. He noted that there was some confusion about whether the MLK schedule would include additional trains over a normal holiday schedule, and the schedule failed to accommodate some riders who were working that day.
Mr. Henderson briefly reviewed the emails that had been received since the last meeting, which addressed station and on-board conditions, reactivation of the Rockaway line, quiet cars, and LIRR communication.
Mr. Henderson said that he had attended a meeting with MTA Government Affairs staff on the current Capital Program and State’s 2012 budget. He noted several dates in the legislative budget and Capital Program approval process and said that the substantial increase in the MTA’s bond cap that had been included in the Executive Budget had been explained as providing a backup plan for East Side Access financing if a federal RRIF loan is not obtained. He also said that a series of town meetings to precede the fall 2012 fare hearings is being discussed by the MTA.
Old Business
Mr. Epstein reviewed several outstanding issues. He said that the design of accessibility improvements at the Pinelawn station is underway. He asked Hector Garcia of the LIRR about the status of needed repairs on stairs at the Mastic-Shirley station, and Mr. Garcia reported that new stairs are being fabricated and should be finished in the next week or two. Mr. Epstein said that there would be a presentation on winter weather preparations in the room where the Council is meeting at 4:30 p.m. on January 18. He also noted that a tour of the LIRR’s new Passenger Information Office is scheduled for January 26 at 5:00 p.m. and asked that members let Mr. Henderson know if they would attend. Ms. Michaels requested that appointments for these and other meetings be forwarded to members via Outlook, as it would simplify putting them in her calendar.
Ms. Michaels said that she had seen news accounts of riders being arrested for putting their feet on subway seats and asked if LIRR riders be arrested for this. Mr. Henderson said that he would look into this and that the topic would be included in Old Business for the next council meeting.
Mr. Epstein recognized a visitor to the meeting, Donovan Richards, who serves as Chief of Staff to NYC Councilman James Sanders.
Matt Kessler presented his initial observations on the quiet car pilot that the LIRR has been conducting on the Far Rockaway Branch. Mr. Kessler stated that he has taken the quiet car approximately six times and that in his opinion the main issue with the quiet cars will be enforcement. He said that the best case that he observed was when a conductor told a quiet car rider on a cellphone to take the conversation to another car or end the conversation. The customer turned off the phone, but returned to talking on the phone after the conductor left the car. The worst case involved a conductor and a rider within the quiet car laughing about the “Shhh” Card. He said that he also observed that there was a quiet car with four people engaged in a conversation and no train crew members present to challenge them.
Mr. Kessler said that there were several other issue that he wanted to raise, including whether the MTA Police will become involved in enforcement, what changes will be made to quiet car policies in situations when trains are standing room only or in emergencies, and what can be done if riders fail to take the quiet car program seriously. He said that adequate signage should be provided to inform riders of the program and that the Council should be ready with a position by the end of the pilot program.
Mr. Kessler noted that there is an issue with quiet car enforcement when a conductor makes the quiet car the first stop on his or her rounds. He said that the quiet car should be the last car that crew members visit, as once crew members leave the quiet car some passengers assume that they will not return and the quiet car regulations will not be enforced. There also may be an issue with the position of the quiet cars, as at some stations the first or last cars in consist may not have access to the platform. If the quiet car was moved to the middle of the train, it would always platform and riders would not have to walk through a number of cars in order to use the quiet car
Maureen Michaels asked whether there were audio announcements made about the smart car program on the trains that he rode. Mr. Kessler stated that he did not hear audio announcements on all of the trains that he rode, but he did not ride the trains from end to end of their runs so that he could maximize the number of trains that he was able to monitor. He said that some announcements were made, that they indicated the location of the quiet car, and that some even provided the car number of the quiet car to identify it to riders. There was substantial variation in the announcements made; every train was different.
Mr. Greenberg questioned whether people care about having a quiet car on a trip as short as those on the Far Rockaway branch. Ms. Carpenter said that the quiet car program was spending lots of time legislating what should be generally accepted manners. She said that the quiet car rules would be more enforceable if commuters became involved by reminding their fellow riders to comply with the program.
Owen Costello said that while loud conversations are annoying, enforcement of the quiet car program will be challenging. Mr. Garcia reported that the LIRR had surveyed riders about the quiet car program. He said that they had gathered 81 responses, 41 of which were from quiet cars. The response from the quiet car was a substantial share of the 159 riders in the quiet cars while the survey was being administered. He said that the preliminary results indicated that riders in the quiet car were very positive toward the program, and that the sample of all respondents, including those not riding in the quiet car, also gave the program high marks. Mr. Costello said that the survey was distributed on the Port Washington Branch and questioned why this was done.
Ms. Michaels commented on the inconsistency between the policy against walking between cars and the need for riders to walk through the train to get to and from the quiet car. She noted that if the end cars of the train do not platform, riders will have to walk through the train to access the quiet car and that people sit in different cars for different reasons. Ms. Michaels asked why the LIRR would not focus on courtesy in general rather than only on quiet cars.
Mr. Rubinstein said that Conductors should handout “Shhh” cards to people who are too loud. Ms. Michaels said that on crowded Amtrak trains, when there are no seats available, people ignore quiet car rules. She said that it is difficult for riders to accept that they will have to unwillingly travel in a quiet car after they have paid so much for a ticket. Ms. Carpenter suggested that the LIRR add discussion of manners during conversations to their signs about courtesy.
Mr. Epstein said that because Mr. Richards would have to leave shortly, he would like to hear his comments at this point. Mr. Richards said that among Councilman Sanders’ priorities with regard to the LIRR is finding a way that riders at the Far Rockaway station can take advantage of the CityTicket discount. He said that there is also a need for more seating at stations. He also discussed a recent sexual assault incident at the LIRR Laurelton Station and said that there should be discussion about adding surveillance cameras to the stations.
Mr. Garcia presented the new modified storm recovery schedules that the LIRR is releasing to the public. He said that there are four tiers of modifications that depend on conditions. At the first level, there is a list of 20 trains that may be cancelled or combined as needed. At the second level, trains will run on the modified weekend schedule that is also used for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. At the third level, trains will be scheduled to provide hourly service on the main branches only, and at the fourth level, trains will be scheduled to provide service every two hours on the main branches only.
Ms. Michaels stated that she did not see a workable strategy in the modified schedules and that people still have to come to work in winter weather, which will lead to major overcrowding. Mr. Costello agreed that when few trains are running overcrowding can be severe. He said that the trains become packed after a few stations and no one down the line is able to board.
Ms. Michaels said that the Rail Road’s announcement that there are services operating will draw people out to the stations and gives them a false confidence. She said that it would be better to provide riders with an estimated delay than implying that adequate service is available.
Mr. Rubinstein suggested that there should be real-time reporting of loading information with regard to trains. This would allow riders to make a more informed choice about their likely commuting conditions. Mr. Epstein said that real time information may not solve all problems and that people are commenting that Coo-Coo is more useful than the new real time information system being piloted on the Port Washington Branch.
New Business
Beth Sullivan presented the smartphone-based fare payment system that is being piloted on the Port Washington Branch in connection with the MTA’s New Fare Payment System initiatives. The pilot uses Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, but it does not require that the smartphones used in the system have cell service at the time that fares are recorded. Initially, all the phone needs to do is to register a target located in the LIRR system, and the data can be transmitted later.
Ms. Sullivan explained that NYC Transit is exploring a smart card system for fare payment, but that this works best in a gated system. The commuter railroads are looking for technologies that would work best with the characteristics of their systems. Near Field Communication technologies are being successfully used by Deutsche Bahn for its ticketing. The system that the LIRR is exploring requires the rider to tap in at a target located in the train station, and when the rider is on the train conductors inspect the phones to ensure that a tap has been made. Ms. Sullivan demonstrated the use of the system with a NFC-equipped phone and sample target.
Casey Erasa presented the changes that have been made in the LIRR’s Customer Assistance Program (CAP) to the Council. He said that the CAP Program had been in existence since the mid- 1990s and that the concept of the program is that non-operational staff assists with customer information functions during emergencies or incidents. Because they would likely be busy resolving the incident at hand, Transportation and Engineering Department personnel are exempted from CAP duty.
Mr. Erasa said that there are 440 Managers on the CAP roster, but the program had two major flaws as it was previously constituted. The first of these is that there typically not many non-operational management staff are in the Penn Station area. If there is a disruption at 5:00 p.m., there will be few managers available to CAP at Penn Station. Secondly, non-operational managers may not necessarily have the skills or knowledge necessary to assist people in cases of service disruptions or emergencies. As a result, managers working as part of CAP have had problems dealing with customers.
In response to these shortcomings, the 440 managers were formed into teams of ten members. One team will be assigned to Penn Station and another will be assigned to Jamaica Station, on a rotating basis, between the hours of 4:00 and 7:00 pm. While they are on duty with CAP, the managers will leave their regular duty stations in the late afternoon and travel to their CAP assignment. If there are no disruptions that require activation of CAP, the teams receive training through a development program designed to help them assist riders. Mr. Arasa noted that, in the four weeks that the new system has been in place, CAP has been activated four times, and the first activation was the time that the Soleri information boards in Penn Station went out of service.
Mr. Epstein asked whether there will be CAP members at the gates when entrances to Penn Station are closed on account of overcrowding. Mr. Arasa replied that there will be staff at these entrances and that there will also be new announcement hardware at the 34th Street entrance to the LIRR concourse of Penn Station. He said that although bullhorns have been used in the past, they are not an effective means of communication and they will only be used in limited circumstances, such as in communicating to riders on the Amtrak level, where the LIRR is unable to override Amtrak or NJ Transit announcements.
Mr. Epstein asked how the Council can make it easier for the LIRR in its relationship with Amtrak. He requested that the Rail Road let the Council know how it can help.
Mr. Rubinstein said that during service disruptions he has asked LIRR personnel whether to go to Jamaica and has sometimes been told that he should go. Mr. Arasa said that the LIRR personnel are at a disadvantage because they can never be as well informed as a tuned-in commuter who is monitoring service alerts and third party information sources.
He said that, nonetheless, there are problems with commuters going to Jamaica when service at Penn Station is limited. The infrastructure at Jamaica is limited and the station is not capable of handling a large number of commuters. Even though going to Jamaica may not be optimal, Mr. Arasa said that customers want to know if there is service from Jamaica, and the LIRR is telling them what it knows.
Ms. Carpenter asked if independent websites, such as CleverCommute are reliable. Mr. Arasa said that there are many false reports on CleverCommute and that the LIRR alerts are more accurate. This is not surprising as riders post items to CleverCommute based on their own experience and often are not aware of all aspects of a diversion or delay.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 6:40 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
William Henderson
Executive Director
Long Island Rail Road Commuter’s Council
Chair’s Report
January 12, 2012
I want to start off by wishing all of you a Happy New Year and welcoming you back for another year of work on behalf of Long Island Rail Road commuters. Once again, we face a very challenging year, with uncertain MTA finances, labor contracts under negotiation, and the prospect of fare increase hearings in the fall. The MTA has a new Chairman, but LIRR leadership remains largely the same. Of course, we continue to face the range of service and communication issues that are all too familiar to us. We’re looking forward to raising our public profile and working more closely with local and state officials to advance the interest of riders in the coming year, so we’ll have a very full agenda and many opportunities for members to be involved.
As the Council starts a new year, we also have a new face at the table. Bryan Peranzo was recommended for the Council by Nassau County Executive Mangano and appointed by Governor Cuomo. I’d like to go around the table and have each member introduce him or herself, including your home station. Then Bryan can tell us a little about himself and the LIRR issues that interest him.
On January 9 I attended the State of the State address in Albany on behalf of the Council. I was able to speak with a number of elected officials about our priorities and am hopeful that we will be able to follow up on these contacts to make our voices better heard in Albany.
You should soon begin to notice the LIRRCC’s new poster in stations throughout the Rail Road. Those of you who were at the Meet the Commuter Council event saw the poster there, but I also have a copy here today. The LIRR has agreed to display the poster at stations throughout the system and we’ve sent them an initial supply of posters. Please let staff know whether you’re seeing the poster as you travel and if there are any issues with the way that it’s displayed.
Also, as a result of our Meet the Commuter Council event we were able to add over eighty names and emails to our mailing list. As we build this list, it can be an important part of our communication with LIRR riders. Also, in your packets today is a list of the issues that were raised at the event and the letter that we sent to Helena Williams asking the LIRR to respond to some of these issues.
On December 5, the LIRR began a quiet car pilot program on four morning rush and six evening rush trains on the Far Rockaway Branch. Members were sent information on the program early last month. Matt Kessler rode a number of these trains and will give us a preliminary report on his impressions later in this meeting.
The LIRR is also conducting a pilot of LIRR Train Time, which provides real time train status information to personal computers and mobile devices. The pilot is being conducted on the Port Washington Branch and began December 19. The LIRRCC assisted the Rail Road to find commuters to participate in a previous limited phase of testing the system. LIRR President Helena Williams has referred to this service as the next step beyond the CooCoo system to provide digital train information.
A third pilot program that the LIRR is conducting, a test of the use of Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled smartphones for fare payment is even more limited in scope. The pilot, also conducted on the Port Washington Branch, is initially using employees to simulate riders using a tap-on tap-off fare payment system. If the initial phase is successful, the trial will expand to 100 volunteer riders to simulate fare payment using a tap-on tap-off system. The results of the first two phases will feed into the planning of a pilot where the phone is actually used for fare payment. We will have a demonstration the NFC technology later in this meeting.
At our last meeting we voted to support a change to the LIRR fare policy to make individual and ten-trip tickets non-refundable, but to retain their value indefinitely. Shortly after our meeting, we sent a letter to MTA Board members stating that the ticket policy implemented in December 2010 has not worked and asking them to actively support our position on this policy. We have had a number of positive comments on our proposal and we understand that options for a change to the ticket policy are being explored at the MTA.
I also mentioned our issues with the new ticket policy in my op-ed column that Newsday published on November 17. The op-ed raised the Council’s profile considerably, and I got many positive comments on the piece. We should continue to use op-ed pieces to get our message out and I encourage any members with suggestions about topics that we should address in future columns to speak to me or staff about them.
Finally, as you know the maximum pre-tax transit benefit available to workers fell from $230 to $125 per month on January 1. I appeared with Congressman Steve Israel to call for the restoration of the higher limits, which would have risen to $240 per month if they had been extended. We also issued a press release expressing our disappointment in Congress for its failure to address the expiration of the higher limits and I was interviewed on News 12 on December 22 on the issue. We continue to be in contact with our federal elected officials to urge them to make this issue a priority.
January 12, 2012