Grand Central Madison TIMETABLES AND RIDERSHIP THREAD

[cpontani]

It's been a while since I've been on here, and even longer since I commuted on the LIRR.

Few points.

I understand the LIRR wants people to change at Jamaica, and the riders never want to change at Jamaica. I understand the LIRR has done away with timed transfers at Jamaica. I understand that the LIRR wants people to use the TrainTime app to plan your route. But why for the love of god does the LIRR not show connecting train departure/arrival at Penn/Grand Central? The average person looks at the timetable and sees a blank and thinks they can NEVER use this train. I know the connection isn't guaranteed, but put in the time they use on the TrainTime app and put a J next to it. It's that simple.

I know the LIRR doesn't want to guarantee connections at Jamaica. And I haven't seen things in practice, but from what the schedules look like to me, trains come into Jamaica and leave one at a time. Would connections there be better if things were better coordinated so one Penn and one Grand Central train are scheduled to hit Jamaica at the same time? Then (going westbound), send one express to the terminal, and the other hits the three intermediate stops in Queens.

[Head-end View]

I think you've pretty much echoed what many of us have been thinking and hoping will happen eventually.

[ExCon90]

Some might think this is the sort of thing that should have been thought through while the construction was going on; I don't mean the scheduling itself, but how to show connections in the timetables.

[geico]

You would have think they would have figured out that having a train heading west from Jamaica making local stops in Queens would not show up on track 3 & 4 and express trains on tracks 1 & 2. They then have to cross over each other causing 1 train to wait.

[R36 Combine Coach]

The response had been quite ad hoc, with new revisions almost every week.

[Allan]

It is as if they can't get a good reading of commuter usage day by day.

[Jeff Smith]

https://www.railwayage.com/passenger/tr ... crta-lirr/

...
LIRR on April 18 announced that the agency has surpassed one million paying customers traveling in or out of Grand Central Madison Terminal, which opened with full service on Feb. 27. The milestone was surpassed on Friday, April 7.
...
LIRR also announced several additional milestones achieved since the opening of Grand Central Madison. This March, the LIRR has sold 358,609 City Tickets—which provides off-peak travel within New York City for $5—a 118.5% increase over the previous March. The Combo Ticket, an opportunity for customers to purchase discounted tickets when traveling on both LIRR and Metro-North Railroad in the same journey made possible through the opening of Grand Central Madison, has been utilized by more than 4,000 customers since its launch, according to LIRR. Through April 18, 2023, 15,503 LIRR trains have arrived at or departed from Grand Central Madison. The MTA’s TrainTime app has seen more than 370,000 tickets purchased for trips to or from Grand Central Madison.
...
In recent weeks, LIRR says schedule adjustments and lengthened trains have been introduced, increasing comfort and reliability, and boosting on-time performance above 93.5%. Since Feb. 27, the LIRR has exceeded 200,000 riders on 16 days, a threshold the railroad had only crossed twice during the first 57 days of 2023. During the seven days between April 9 and April 15, the LIRR carried an average of 168,726 daily customers, the best seven-day average since March 2020. 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.
...

[eolesen]

That infers they're averaging 180-200 customers per train system-wide on the 200K days.... with trains designed to carry 1000-1200 ?

Color me a fiscal conservative, but running at 20% load factors AFTER
the big push for Return To Office policies were announced says perhaps its time to reduce trainset size or the schedule.... this is financially unsustainable. It's also a waste of electricity and labor.

[Traingeek3629]

Tell that to the geniuses who decided half hourly inbound service on all major lines from 8pm to 1 am was a great idea...Running those empty trains is a total waste.

[ExCon90]

Not if the cost of the round trips is covered by the combined in- and outbound revenue; and with the dizzying schedule changes coming so quickly, has there really been time for the public to become aware of them?

[checkmatechamp13]

Not if the cost of the round trips is covered by the combined in- and outbound revenue; and with the dizzying schedule changes coming so quickly, has there really been time for the public to become aware of them?

Plus, with the general push for more housing and transit-oriented development, having trains run at a reasonable frequency all day is important. It makes it easier for people to make intra-island trips (If someone works second shift at a location on Long Island and finishes at 10-11pm, that half-hourly service might mean the difference between them driving or not...the same for anyone leaving around that time to start an overnight shift).

[Commuter X]

Add congestion pricing into the mix,and Gov Hochul will make a bad situation intolerable

[R36 Combine Coach]

The revised (as of 5/8) Port Washington timetable has 24 hour service at Willets Point back except for some peak
expresses. Is this permanent?

[daybeers]

Add congestion pricing into the mix,and Gov Hochul will make a bad situation intolerable

[citation needed]

[Traingeek3629]

Heart of Thursday rush (the new Friday) and not a 12-car train on the LIRR in sight. 1105 people (105% capacity) on a 10-car Babylon run, and the most crowded train on the system is one that's been cut from 5 cars and 2 locos to 4c/1L since the summer schedule began.

All the busiest trains are Penn runs. The busiest GCT run is #266, which is a very comparable run to the most crowded train on the system, and yet it has a third of the ridership.