LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD COMMUTER COUNCIL
MINUTES OF OCTOBER 11, 2012
A meeting of the Long Island Rail Road Commuter Council (LIRRCC) was convened at 4:30 p.m. on October 11, 2012 in the Transportation Conference Room, Penn Station, New York.
The following members were present:
Owen Costello Matthew Kessler
Mark Epstein Maureen Michaels
Michael Godino Bryan Peranzo
Ira R. Greenberg Larry Rubinstein
The following members were present:
Gerard Bringmann Sheila Carpenter
In addition, the following persons were present:
William Henderson -PCAC Executive Director
Hector Garcia -LIRR
Patrick Gerakaris -LIRR
Scott Carpman -Concerned citizen
Approval of Agenda and Minutes
The agenda for the October 11, 2012 meeting was approved and the minutes of the August 9, 2012 meeting were approved as amended.
Chair’s Report
Mark Epstein gave the Chair’s report, which is attached to these minutes. Maureen Michaels asked whether the LIRR has means of tracking incidents that could be attributed to leaving station waiting rooms open longer. Hector Garcia responded that the LIRR has monitored the situation and has found no increase in vandalism or crime in stations where waiting room hours were extended. He said that the impact of leaving the waiting rooms open longer is confined to some issues of station cleanliness. Patrick Gerakaris of the LIRR agreed with this assessment.
Mr. Epstein noted that the pricing plan under discussion for station parking operated by the Town of Huntington is that the cost for surface lot parking would rise to $75 per year and the cost for a permit to use structure parking at the station would rise to $600 per year, but that this fee would include a guarantee of a garage parking space for each permit holder. The Council discussed the parking situation at Huntington and in other locations.
Mr. Epstein said that he thought that it would be useful for the LIRRCC members to attend State legislative candidate debates and to ask a question on behalf of the Council. He asked members to let him know of any candidate forums in their area and their availability to attend these sessions.
Board Report
Ira Greenberg gave the Board report. He said that the LIRR’s Customer Satisfaction Survey has recently been released and noted that the issues that seemed to generate dissatisfaction revolve around a lack of information. Maureen Michaels pointed out that the question about the LIRR service being a good value for the money resulted in the lowest proportion of “satisfied” or “very satisfied” responses.
Mr. Greenberg reported that Metro-North Railroad is studying service to the Bronx that would originate in Penn Station. He said that there has been a great deal of tension between the railroads in the public discussions of this potential service and there is potential for conflict between the LIRR and Metro-North on this issue.
It was noted that there is still no member representing Nassau County on the MTA Board. Ms. Michaels said that the Council should send a letter to the Governor addressing this vacancy and asking that a member be appointed prior to any vote on fare increases. Mr. Epstein said that he and staff are working on this issue.
Mr. Greenberg said that the September Board meeting was a contentious one, as there was conflict over a proposal to reduce the number of regular Board meetings from eleven to eight and to institute two “Chairman’s Forums,” where members of the public could address questions and comments to the MTA Chairman and Agency Presidents, who would respond to that person. Several members commented that the challenge would be to get ordinary riders to the Forums. It was noted that the LIRRCC had sponsored President’s Forums for a number of years and attendance was typically low and was not representative of Rail Road riders.
Matt Kessler asked when the Forums will be held. Mr. Greenberg said that the schedule is yet to be determined and that the Forums are not designed to be Board meetings. He said there remain questions about the Forums and whether they would trigger requirements for public notice. Larry Rubinstein said that rather than setting up an involved process, the MTA would be better served by stationing the Chairman and Agency Presidents at a table in Penn Station. Ms. Michaels said that there should be some screening of participants to ensure that the meetings resulted in a rational discussion.
Staff Report
Bill Henderson discussed communications that riders have sent to the LIRRCC since the last meeting. He said that the response to the LIRRCC’s efforts to extend the open hours of station waiting rooms had been all positive, although the tone of the messages received varied considerably. He also updated the members on the progress of the PCAC visualization project and announced that Jan Wells would be retiring as Associate Director effective December 5.
Member Report
Mr. Rubinstein said that, separate from his involvement with the Council, he has been working on having some of the parking at the Bellmore station set aside for Town of Hempstead residents. He said that the process had been taken over by the Town and that he knows that there will be a trial permit parking system put into place at the Bellmore and Merrick station parking lots owned by the Town, that the trial will involve 220 spaces, and that there will be a $3 charge for the permit. He said that he is not sure how long the program will last. Mr. Rubinstein said that the Town did not make use of the input of those who had been working for years to establish such a system when it put the program in place.
Mike Godino said that there remains a problem with locked platform waiting rooms at the Lynbrook station. He said that the local police hold the keys and keep the platform shelters locked to prevent their use by vagrants, but as a result they are not available for use by riders.
Old Business
Mr. Epstein said that he has a tentative date of November 1 for the tour of the East Side Access project. He said that we would touch base with members and see if this date is workable or if the tour needs to be rescheduled. Mr. Epstein said that he is working on a November date for a briefing on developments at Hempstead and Huntington Station.
The Council discussed the MTA’s upcoming fare increase proposals. Ms. Michaels said that she is absolutely opposed to a fare increase until tickets are collected on trains. She said that until the practices that allow for substantial numbers of riders to go without paying, she will not support a fare hike. Mr. Greenberg said that the MTA is proceeding with fare increases designed to increase revenues by 7.5 percent every two years because of an understanding that was reached with the State Legislature at the time of approval of new MTA funding sources in 2009.
Mr. Epstein said that he received an email from Gerry Bringmann saying that he would be unable to attend the meeting but asking that the Council ask what will be done about people who claim not to have enough money to pay their fare three or more times and then fail to send payment when they are billed for the fare. Mr. Bringmann’s message said that the Rail Road maintains a list of these individuals. Mr. Garcia said that these persons are forced to leave the train. Mr. Epstein said that he has seen riders forced to leave the train for as little as failure to have the step-up fare for a ticket.
As Sheila Carpenter was unable to attend the meeting, Mr. Epstein asked Mr. Garcia to update the Council on the status of the effort to change reduced fare eligibility standards. Mr. Garcia said that LIRR staff has developed language for changing reduced fare eligibility standards to ensure that reduced fare is available for those unable to drive as a result of disability.
Mr. Epstein asked Ms. Michaels for an update on the Cold Spring Harbor clock. Ms. Michaels said that the clock at the station was replaced, but it is already not keeping proper time. She said that there has been no reliable clock there since February. Mr. Gerakaris said that the Rail Road places Station Appearance Maintainers in stations to keep them in acceptable condition. He said that stations are staffed with Appearance Maintainers according to the volume of passengers using it. Level 1 stations have a full time Maintainer, Level 2 and 3 stations receive visits from Appearance Maintainers in the morning and evening, and level 4 stations are visited once a day. In addition to the Appearance Maintainers, Foremen perform a weekly check of station conditions. Ms. Michaels said that the general maintenance of stations is acceptable, but there are items that fall through the cracks.
Ms. Michaels raised the issue of customer communication during recent service disruptions. She said that there are not enough alerts made and that they are not made on a timely basis. She said that alerts should be issued as soon as the LIRR knows that it will make a service change. Mr. Garcia said that the practice is to issue an alert on a train cancellation about 30 minutes prior to its scheduled departure. Ms. Michaels said that an announcement should be made as soon as a decision to cancel is made and that it should be followed with further announcements. Mr. Garcia said that the decision to cancel a train is sometimes reversed and so the Rail Road does not want to announce a cancellation too early.
Mark Epstein said that a conference call would be arranged to discuss the fare proposals.
New Business
Mr. Epstein said that the date for the next Meet the Commuter Council event had been set for November 26 and that the event would be held at the Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn.
Mr. Henderson said that staff has been working with the PCAC’s website consultant to determine what would be required to give each Council an individual page to which visitors could be directed. He said that there are also some problem areas, such as the need to use FTP sites that are inaccessible from the MTA network to upload content that should be addressed in an update of the website.
Ms. Michaels said that the website development should be pursued from the standpoint of determining what the website should accomplish and basing a design upon these goals. Bryan Peranzo said that the LIRRCC should have an independent website. Mr. Henderson said that there is a need for linkage between Council and PCAC pages, as many actions taken by the MTA are addressed by the PCAC but fundamentally affect the operation of the LIRR.
Mr. Henderson said that there has been some recent discussion of MTA functions moving 347 Madison to 2 Broadway, which would also result in PCAC offices relocating Downtown. He said that while MTA Board and committee meetings are expected to move to 2 Broadway next year, followed not long afterward by the MTA Executive Offices, the bulk of the functions currently housed in 347 Madison, including the PCAC, will not move until the fall of 2014.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 6:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
William Henderson
PCAC Executive Director