Long Island Rail Road [LIRR]
reviews and complaints

My daughter is 11 years old she was on the train leaving Baldwin going to penn station to meet me. My daughter took a screen shot of her ticket she didn’t know it had to be on the app still the conductor was very nasty, my daughter said I’ll log back in and show you. The conductor then said your steeling, my daughter said I’m not steeling I have the ticket on the app, she shows the conductor and the conductor says that’s a child ticket my daughter said I’m 11 she then tells my daughter she is calling the police. At the next stop the police come I am now terrified for my black daughter, my daughter explained to the police officer while I was on the phones I told my daughter to get the conductors badge number which is 6602. The conductor told the police she wanted my daughter off the train. For what she didn’t do anything, I then told the officer on the phone this was race discrimination. The officer let my daughter stay on the train. This was a horrible experience. My daughter was afraid when multiple white officer came on the train for her over a ticket that was purchased due to this rad it’s conductor. I will be filing a discrimination law suite against LIRR

Todays date: January 2, 2023, late evening.

Since the last week of 2022 the LIRR has been closing all the Waiting Rooms on all the Platforms in Jamaica Station at approximately 11pm.

This decision leaves customers, whose fair prices only get higher, no option but to stand outside in winter weather conditions. The elderly, the younge and families with small children are forced to wait outside a heated waiting room. Unacceptable!

Today 12/19/2022 there was no announcement as to where the train was going and I was confused. The train just opened and closed its doors. On the app it said the train was coming on the opposite track? I would have been late for work. It was the train from valley stream to Atlantic terminal at 9:59 and it left early. Please make the announcements it is very helpful. Also the train did not indicate Atlantic terminal. Perhaps a mechanical problem?

I was onboard a 714 pm eastbound Port Washington train. As I was exiting my left leg fell in between the train car and the platform. I fell and was injured. Three passengers helped me and not one conductor or MTA employee came to my aid. A unknown passenger had to yell out to the conductor to not move the train. The train continued on its run. This is so infuriating as I ride this train to and from work everyday. Thank god those unknown passengers helped me. I could’ve lost my leg. Unacceptable.

Today 11/23/2022, my 83 y/o aunt called to arrange transportation. She called well before 5:30pm but the representative was acting as if she can’t understand her. By the way my aunt speaks clear English and Spanish. She dragged it so long she ended up putting on man on the phone to tell her it’s past 5:30 pm they can’t help. After keeping my aunt on the phone so long. My aunt begged for help because she wants to go to church for thanksgiving. And he blatantly told her access-a-ride is not for church use! Can you believe this nonsense. This is all in addition to he being left.Even when she standing in the cold and no one shows up. Little do they know I work in para transit too and I know all the right people to contact. This is absolutely disgusting

During the NY Marathon Weekend and while staying in Mineola, I had two occasions to be concerned and complain.

Let's begin with my being disabled and difficult to quickly move from one track to another.

Issue 1: At Mineola, twice the monitors reports a TRAIN on Track 2 and at the last minute changed it to TRACK 3. Normal people had to "run". The ADA provides that YOU MUST provide accommodations. You failed. I missed my train because LIRR can't tell the difference from Track 2 and 3 until the last minute This happened twice.

Issue 2: At Penn Station. As I recall, I'm at TRACK18, again, last minute, LIRR changes to TRACK 17. Am I to "leap" across the tracks; How am I to go to an upper level platform to get to the other side when there is insufficient elevators and escalators? Glad the renovations took into account handicapped people.. How hard is it to know in advance where a dam train is going?

And speaking of the new DP Moynahan Hall, which is quite nice, there isn't a simple spot where someone disabled, or old, or tired can sit and wait. I found myself on the floor, and unable to get up. Hello ADA?

There is a rat problem at Huntington Station. This morning, 10/31/22, there was a rat in the northern parking garage blocking the stairs. There was another one, dead, in the access road between the garage and the track. And I believe there more in the grass next to the track.

There seems to be a lot of garbage around that is attracting them. Please address this problem quickly. It is upsetting to negotiate with a rat about who has right of way in the stairs.

My daughter took 8:42pm train Saturday night to Jamaica than had to transferred to a Bus. She waited for the Queena Village Bus for over 15 minutes than a Yellow Bus arrived. The bus driver didn't know how to get to Queens Village Station so a woman on the bus gave the driver direction. Customer wasn't happy. I wasn't happy myself. Who are you hiring to do this type of job and are they professional drive? A big weekend for the city and the trains had to be in a limited service,

I am a commuter that travels from Westbury Station to Penn station a few times a week during peak hours. Pre-Covid I never had any issues and there were plenty of trains available roundtrip. However, since I have returned back to work since January 2021, the availability of trains to and back from Penn Station and Westbury have been very limited. I think it is unacceptable that there is over an hour wait time during rush hour. There are no trains between 5:33 and 6:36 to Westbury. If I recall correctly there were 2-3 additional trains before the pandemic. When will this be resolved?

sad - lacking customer service - arranged for pick up and delivery airport - tampa fl - one rider senior and needed wheel chair assistance - showed up was help getting him in or out - never got porter for us and then afte taking down our itinerary and exchanging phone numbers our cells and our families cell who would be hosting us while in maine - she informed us she would be farming the pick up to someone else - who does htese things > she does I guess Alice Merre - the owner - we tried to just put it aside - had fligth to get any way - went on our way - called per her instruction on day four to let them knwo we were in the airport - and were told they arrived last nite and called us to let us know - they informed us our flight info was or had disapeared - huh ? they called our home phone and left no such message afte arriving home hours latesm who leaves a senior citizen in an airport without transportation - she does Alice Merre - then they blamed us for the misshap - our mistake one pick up - four days away -one more pick up - who does she think she is ? leavig a senior in a wheel chair in an airpor twith no way home

dispicable behavior - disgusting lack of customer service all together - fellow riders beware - use another source - or end up like us - we will be sharing and posting this on other sites so as no other 78 yr old in a wheelchair has to go thru this - awful simply awful

disatisfied customer - stranded customer - senior customer - wheelchair customer

This morning at approximately 5:15 AM my wife and I entered the waiting room to catch the 5:22 train to Atlantic avenue. It appeared to have been cleaned a few minutes before. Both rest room doors were left opened. I did a quick look inside and found tissue paper stuck on the newly tiled walls. I took photos with my cell phone and unfortunately, I don't know hot to attached them for your review. If you provide me with an e mail I'll happy to send them to you.

The waiting room was upgraded less than a year ago and, at times, it's disgusting to look at. What is going on? Last year, due to a snow storm, my wife and I had to go to Farmingdale to catch a train to get to work. Their waiting room is spectacular. Their waiting room put's the Lindenhurst waiting room to shame.

Why the drastic difference between the two stations? We all pay the same high fare but, the service in Lindenhurst is poor.

Driver was over 500 feet from the pick up location. I walked to 41st and 12th street to inform him that my elderly, mobility compromised mom is waiting at the pick up stop, which is 12th street and 41st road. Having to back up, he became irate and disrespectful to me and the community I live in. I’m a hard working tenant, who lives in Queensbridge Houses. He said, “Nobody know where you people live, there are buildings everywhere, I live in a home and when I call a cab they come straight to my door”. I told him, to not judge people by where they live and he should make every effort to ensure riders are objectified by stereotyped by folks like himself. He then said again, “ I have my own home”. This driver shouldn’t been picking up riders he feels should be picked up at locations he deems appropriate and ignore specific pick up locations simply because they live in development where all the building are the same. This driver, drove a black Honda/Accord, assigned car#4957, reservation #4526, driver phone # [protected], Broker IVR #[protected] and my mom pick up time was scheduled for 13:00. This driver appears to grasp the sociocultural difference of Americans and how his derogatory his statements were.

I have been taking the LIRR for several years and tonight I was taking the 11:08 LIRR to Kew Gardens. Seated next to me was a young African American man who was glued on his cell phone. As the train pulled away from Penn Station, I observed several people pull out their tickets and cell phones to activate their digital tickets. I did the same. The conductor asked all of us to present a ticket...and I noticed all did, but a few, namely the guy sitting next to me...he just ignored the conductor--pretending not to hear him. WELL...THAT conductor did not request payment at all...He let him ride FREE OF CHARGE! Why is this being allowed? Because conductors are now scared of asking certain people to pay? As I followed the conductor, I noticed he WAS requiring another passenger to pay with his credit card. This passenger was an older caucasian man.

Friday, October 14th, 2022- 5:25 a.m.

Traveling from Staten Island to arrive at Stony Brook before 9:00 a.m. with a 7:40 a.m. arrival schedule. I was here in the station waiting for 15 minutes before the the Long Beach Train was set to depart. All doors were closed. The conductor comes in about 5 minutes before its departure time and only opens the door for himself. Since the doors are closed I sit down thinking that it’ll open or there is a delay. The train leaves in front of my eyes with all its door closed and no announcements to board or whether the doors are opened. I asked the police later why this situation might’ve occurred and they said that maybe only the middle doors were open. How am I supposed to see from far distances that one middle door is open? Now that I’ve “missed” the train I had to wait more than an hour for a train to Jamaica, and still at Jamaica I will have to wait more hours to get a Port Jefferson line. It is ridiculous that you have to wait hours for the next trains. The MTA LIRR needs more employees that can cater at least 30 minute intervals if not 15 minutes or less. You miss one train, and you’re ruined for the entire day, regardless of the effort of waking up at 3 a.m. The MTA especially need to prove lines to Stony Brook, there are hundreds of students that commute from Stony Brook University to New York City or vice versa and have to wait hours just to get home or to get to a class. Ridiculous how I now hear announcements for the 6:37 a.m. Far Rockaway Beach Branch but not the Long Beach Branch.

9 am Long Beach to Penn

Car 7549

Conductor 6115

Group of LIRR employees gathered in first car, yakking loud, enjoying breakfast, bragging about big salary at taxpayer expense. I asked conductor if this was quiet car, as in the past I’ve been required to pay step up fare from usual senior. The conductor ranted and raved saying I needed to speak quieter because he didn’t like my tone. I pointed out that I was the customer, taking a full price train and expected him to enforce quiet rules, especially for LIRR employees. He told me that I could move to another car. Nice customer service…

On the 433 out of Jamaica to massapequa park, before Baldwin, a man sat next to me and was masturbating. He was between me and the aisle, so I had to scream at him to gets past him. I continued to scream at him and got past and away from him, with several people between us. The man refused to leave the train car. Someone must have pressed the emergency button, while someone else was telling me to press it, but before I pressed it an announcement came over telling people to stop pressing the button. No help from LIRR came. Several minutes went by as he kept yelling back at me until we were closer to Baldwin when Luckily for me, there were Some NYPD officers on their way home in street clothes who intervened and got him off the train. Only then, after they put him off the train, did a conductor get in the car and ask if there was a problem. At no point did he check on me, or in with me. He left the car immediately. I was comforted by other passengers.

Hello MTA LIRR,

I understand on time schedule every day is not something that can be guaranteed but something needs to be done about the Hempstead line. Commmute I’m the morning isn’t bad but the afternoon is horrible. No express trains all local and the train is always late. I have made numerous complaints and nothing has been done. Today the train didn’t reach Hempstead until 6:08pm. That’s 11 minutes late.

This nasty highly combative piece of work is on the 5:01 everyday with his bike.. taking up 5 seats and will not move to let anyone sit down. He fixes his bike and does nothing but [censored] and complain. The whole ride... so glad his bike has 3 seats and the elderly are standing. He's in the 6th car every night. If a conductor dares to tell him bikes aren't allowed he flips out and starts screaming and cursing... something has to be done. This is an every day occurrence.. will not move when asked so that someone else can sit down.

On 8/22/2022, I was on the train from Woodside to Bethpage that departed at 4:06PM in the second or third car and I would like to write to bring to your attention the actions of the conductor who was on duty in that car during that trip. The car became crowded after passengers embarked in Jamaica. This was the day that the My MTA app updated during the day to TrainTime and numerous passengers (including myself) had difficulty in finding our electronic tickets. The conductor checking tickets was not knowledgeable on how the app worked so it was a stressful situation. When we arrived at Bethpage, the conductor was checking the ticket of a young man who was frantically trying to find his electronic ticket with no help from the conductor. The conductor kept all of the train doors closed until this one passenger produced a ticket for several minutes. The several passengers began shouting for the conductor to open the doors so they could disembark which he didn’t. Instead he started yelling for undercover police as he felt “threatened”. No one at any time conveyed a threat to the conductor. The young man could not figure out the app and bought a ticket and at that time the conductor opened the train doors.

I understand the need to check tickets of all passengers to prevent people from stealing rides but what this conductor did by keeping a train of several hundred people hostage for the sake of a $10 fare is ridiculous. He could have taken the young man to the side and allowed people to disembark. He could have asked a coworker to assist in operating the app.

The 8:04 am Babylon LIRR train out of Massapequa this morning consisted on eight (8) cars. On a regular day, 10 cars is tight - I can see that *maybe* on a Monday and/or Friday post Covid since many people have work from home days those days, but 8 cars is far too little for a normal work day rush hour train. I've complained on the site about this several times already, including the fact that no one wears masks anymore. The conductor sounds bothered and rushes through the announcement regarding mask wearing to the point of boredom and annoyance. Either enforce mask wearing or give it up.

Please, please, *please* increase the number of cars during rush hour to at least 10, preferably 12 Tuesday through Thursday. The train was full at Massapequa and it had 4 more stops before it went express to Penn. Thank you.