Permanent Station Closures ???

HI all, I'm a regular LIRR rider out of Merrick and I was wondering if anyone had information on the future station closures I've been hearing about. As I was purchasing my monthly ticket this week I was informed by the ticket agent that Freeport, Merrick, Massapequa and about 5 other LIRR stations are scheduled to be permanently closed sometime next year. Is this just a scare tactic ?

Oh and I'm assuming that when they say "station closing" they mean that there won't be ticket agents on the premises anymore, BUT trains will still stop at these platforms. Am I correct in assuming this?

Anyone have any info ???

Thanks everyone
Avidprime

With all the rhetoric thats flying right now, that probably means ticket offices closing, not stations.

Agency closing is a big difference from station closing.

The ticket clerk probably meant to say the ticket agency would be closing, but said the station would be closed.

Many people associate the word "station" with "ticket office."

Just as many people associate the word "station" with "depot."

Not the same! Depot is the building. Station is the actual stop. You can have a station without a depot.

You can have a station without an agency.

Many stations lost their agencies but remained station stops with depot buildings as much as 30 years after the closings such as Union Hall Street, Hillside, Hollis, Rego Park, Parkside, Greenport and Riverhead to name but a few!

Some lost their agencies and remained station stops for years but lost their buildings eventually, before actually being discontinued as station stops (i.e. Holtsville, Center Moriches, Bridgehampton, etc.)

Dave Keller

Dave Keller wrote: ...Some lost their agencies and remained station stops for years but lost their buildings eventually, before actually being discontinued as station stops (i.e. Holtsville, Center Moriches, Bridgehampton, etc.)Dave Keller

Bridgehampton is still a station stop. Well I hope it is cause I've been stopping there everyday

Sorry . . . . .

I knew that . . . .

Just chalk another one up to DBFS (dinosaur brain-fart syndrome).

Dave Keller

bluebelly wrote:

Dave Keller wrote: ...Some lost their agencies and remained station stops for years but lost their buildings eventually, before actually being discontinued as station stops (i.e. Holtsville, Center Moriches, Bridgehampton, etc.)Dave Keller

Bridgehampton is still a station stop. Well I hope it is cause I've been stopping there everyday

Bluebelly, i was just wondering, the crews that do some of the Westbound trains out of Montauk, are they forced to drive all the way to montauk in order to start their shift? or is there a train say in Bayshore that they can dead head on. that seems like an awfully long commute to get to work. and then after you finish your shift your car is in montauk, do you have to wait for a train out there THEN drive all the way home?
i'm really interested in how the logistics of the RR work in situations like that.

I'm pretty sure I've seen RR crew members dead heading out to places like Montauk and PJ to start their shift.

Merrick is one of the highest ridership stations east of Jamaica -- if the LIRR is running, the trains will be stopping at Merrick.

I noticed this week that a newsstand has finally opened at Rockville Centre -- just 4 years after the station renovation was completed!! And, of course, starting soon the ticket office (and presumably the waiting room where the newsstand is) will be closed on weekend mornings.

I'm sure the ticket agents union would balk, but I don't see why they don't just sell tickets from the newsstand and close the ticket windows. Perhaps that's in the cards.

Solve the whole problem by using tokens.

Seeing that the subway system no longer uses them, the LIRR could probably acquire them from their MTA cousins at a bargain price!

After all, they do run those rapid-transit-style cars, so why not go all the way?

Just kidding, guys. I wouldn't want all you clerks and ticket collectors to get laid off. Seriously!

Dave Keller

Check out the "bargain price" for subway tokens on the link below. Do you think the LIRR would have to pay the $50 processing fee?

http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/nyct/materiel/ ... index.html

Wow!

Whadda deal!

A collector can obtain 10$ worth of out dated tokens, which you STILL have to buy, for a handling fee of $50.00!!!

I'll bet they're just knocking the doors down at the MTA for that deal!

Forget the tokens.

Use color-coded paper tickets collected at the platform like the NYW&B did for all their 25 years of service! They also used a zone system long before the LIRR ever dreamed of that feature!

Stations crossing zones were 2-toned so they could be readily spotted by the ticket collector at the station platform gates.

Dave Keller