Suburban commuters — i.e., workers Gotham desperately needs to return to their city offices — are fed up with Penn Station. If the new teams in Albany, City Hall and at the MTA don’t clean it up fast, those commuters may never return.
A recent Long Island Rail Road survey reveals the disgust: Running into panhandlers or people who are mentally ill or homeless at the station was the primary reason riders cited for rating the service at an all-time low.
“You can barely get off the trains without seeing somebody that’s in need and/or somebody that’s panhandling,” commuter Tom Killeen fumed.
Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-LI), who’s running for governor, says he was “scared” when he passed through the station recently. “It’s never been this bad,” he added. “There’s literally people that are using drugs shooting up right outside.”
The survey, conducted between Sept. 20 and Oct. 4, found that of 22,000 respondents, 4,800 identified as “lapsed customers.” How many would come back if Penn Station were more welcoming?
And remember: Penn Station doesn’t just service LIRR riders but also commuters from New Jersey via NJ Transit, as well as Amtrak riders. These are the workers the city needs to return, to pump up the economy (and city coffers).
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees the LIRR, says it’s moving to address quality-of-life issues at Penn, like assigning police officers to known dingy areas and closing off parts of the station. And Gov. Kathy Hochul has a plan to revive the area, but it’s not likely to be ready nearly soon enough.
Clearly more needs to be done and faster. Hochul, Mayor Eric Adams and MTA Acting Chairman Janno Lieber need to get on top of the situation ASAP, or work-from-home out-of-towners may decide they simply don’t need the city anymore.
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