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Meeting Minutes July 9, 2009

A meeting of the Long Island Rail Road Commuter’s Council (LIRRCC) was convened at p.m., July 9, 2009, in the 5th Floor conference room, Jamaica Control Center. The following members were present:

Ira Greenberg
Mark Epstein
James L. McGovern
Gerard P. Bringmann
Maureen Michaels*
Sheila Carpenter
*Via telephone

The following members were absent:

Ron Breuer
In addition, the following persons were present:

William Henderson – PCAC Executive Director
Jan Wells – PCAC Associate Director
Ellyn Shannon – PCAC Transportation Planner
Karyl Berger – PCAC Research Associate
Holli Dunayer – LIRR
Scott Howell – LIRR
Matthew Kessler – Concerned citizen
Approval of Agenda and Minutes
The agenda for the July 9, 2009 meeting was approved. The minutes of the May 14, 2008 meeting were approved.

Chair’s Report
The Chair’s Report is attached to these minutes.

Sheila Carpenter, the newest member from Suffolk County and a social worker, was introduced, and she indicated that she travels on the LIRR, NYC Transit and Metro-North for her work. Ms. Carpenter commutes out of Ronkonkoma.

Board Report
Ira Greenberg noted that he attended his first round of monthly MTA Board meetings in June. He reported that at the LIRR Committee meeting, he raised the issue of the performance of the diesel fleet. He said that the LIRR acknowledged that they have substantially lowered the Mean Distance Between Failures (MDBF) goal because it is unobtainable and they aren’t sure they will get to the 18,000 goal.

He briefly spoke about the discussion that ensued at the full MTA Board about the Atlantic Yards project and the changes that were agreed upon. He noted that Mitch Pally and Allen Cappelli were the two dissenting votes on the proposal.

The members briefly discussed some of the problems with the diesel fleet. Gerry Bringmann noted that it is important to have appropriate levels of staff available to repair the equipment and said that because there is not sufficient staff, the ones who do the work make more money.

Maureen Michaels said the big concern is that there does not seem to be any long term contingency plan in place. She asked why the rescue engines are kept at the Richmond Hill yard.

Mr. Bringmann said he is concerned about the diesels from an operational perspective because he has not seen a consist with more than eight cars for quite a while. He said that there were consists with nine or ten cars over the weekend, which was to accommodate the holiday travelers.

Mr. Greenberg said that he would take Ellyn’s suggestion and ask for a breakdown by breakdown analysis of the diesel fleet. It was suggested that Mr. Greenberg ask how many passengers are impacted when these delays occur.

Ms. Michaels indicated that delays and the disruption it creates to their lives is the number one complaint she hears from riders. She also said that the frequency with which it happens is also of major concern to them. She noted that the delays coupled with the newly instituted fare increase have been very tough on riders.

Mr. Bringmann said that some passengers had to pay the penalty fee for buying their ticket on board even with the horrible service over the weekend. Ms. Michaels said the penalty fee should not have been increased to $6.

Mr. Bringmann said it is imperative that the LIRR do a better job of communicating to the riders. He cited the example of how he was on a train that was annulled when it arrived in Jamaica and there were people who were sleeping because they thought they were going straight through to Penn Station, but only found out when they arrived at Jamaica that they had to transfer to another train.

Ms. Michaels asked that staff obtain a copy of the list of stations that do not have public address speakers.

Mark Epstein reported that he was on an Eastbound train that did not have any air conditioning on it.

Old Business
Holli Dunayer reviewed the list of items she was following up on for staff and members. There are a number of items that were requested at the meeting that Ms. Dunayer will address. These include:

Identification of stations without public address systems
Data on the number of trains delayed by flooding
Update to the Council on the reorganization of the LIRR ADA task force
Removal of obsolete signage at the Central Islip parking lot
Information on the volume of police activity on the LIRR and its service impacts
Ms. Michaels said she is still concerned about the scoring of the Customer Satisfaction survey.

New Business
In response to Mark Epstein’s question as to who is responsible for parking issues, Ms. Dunayer said that Scott Howell, LIRR Senior Planning Analyst –Parking, will attend the LIRRCC meeting with her.

Karyl Berger reported that she got a call from a rider who lives in Southhold and took some friends to the West Hampton station on Saturday, July 4, only to find that the trains were not operating on the published holiday schedule. He said the explanation from the LIRR was that they had equipment trouble but in fact it was because they did not schedule the right amount of crews for that day. Ms. Dunayer said she would look into this issue.

Ms. Dunayer reported that the Valley Stream Interlocking project is now complete.

Ms. Dunayer announced that the LIRR will participate in a Long Island food drive on Wednesdays in September.

Ms. Michaels brought up the dreadful condition of the right-of-way. She said it is important to work on the issue of how material is brought in and out of work areas along the right-of-way.

Ms. Michaels also asked about the frequency of police activity in the LIRR system on a monthly basis. She asked how often service disruptions are the result of police activity.

Ira Greenberg briefed the members on the visit to Albany that he, Bill Henderson, Ellyn Shannon and Jan Wells made in early June. He said it helped get the LIRRCC name out there and it is important to work with members from both sides of the aisle. He said it is also critical that the Council continues to push the diesel issue.

Jim McGovern said the most important things for riders are a one seat ride and service reliability.

Mr. Henderson spoke about the need to continue to do legislative outreach and make district visits.

Mr. McGovern said that we should get the legislators to demand better service.

Ms. Michaels said that her office is working on a database that will allow the Council to determine the number of riders per legislative district.

The members discussed some of the LIRR’s capital needs. Ms. Michaels said the Main Line corridor project is the top priority.

She said the meeting with Helena Williams was very interesting as she stated her rationale for some of the decisions that she is making on capital projects. Ms. Michaels said that we should put a discussion of this issue on the agenda for next month’s meeting.

Mr. Epstein said there are lots of complaints about the Hicksville station.

Mr. Howell said he would ask Central Islip to take down the long and short term parking signs that no longer reflect the parking regulations in force.

Mr. Bringmann suggested the Council send a letter to the State legislators and comment on how their inactivity has wreaked havoc on the MTA and its riders.

Ms. Michaels said that this ties in with the lack of leadership problems here at the MTA and an institutional description. She said that the MTA needs permanent leadership, as the present situation is producing institutional disruption.

Sheila Carpenter reported that the women’s bathroom in the Jamaica station is filthy and that the restrooms on the East End are locked down most of the time.

Ms. Michaels acknowledged that Gary Babyatzky would be resigning from the council. She publically thanked him for his years and service and said she would send him a thank you letter.

Adjournent
The meeting was adjourned at 6:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Karyl Berger

PCAC Research Associate

Long Island Rail Road Commuter’s Council Chair’s Report
I am pleased to announce that our illustrious new PCAC Chairman, Ira Greenberg has been confirmed by the State Senate to be the LIRRCC non-voting member on the MTA Board. He attended his first round of meetings during the June cycle.

I am also pleased to announce that we have a new member from Suffolk County, Sheila Carpenter. Sheila, please take a moment and tell us a bit about yourself and then I would ask that we go around the table and introduce ourselves and state where you commute from.

The Council and staff worked on several capital, operational and customer relation issues this month. The major themes included our on-going concern for the performance of the diesel fleet, increasing communication with our state legislators and needed improvements to the Hicksville station.

On June 4th, Bill, Ellyn, Ira, who was there via telephone, Gerry and I had a meeting with LIRR President Helena Williams which was informative. Helena discussed her desires for the next capital plan, which included improvements to the Hicksville station and drainage improvements for the Mineola track area. The performance of the diesel fleet was also extensively discussed.

On June 10, Bill Henderson, Ira Greenburg, Gerry Bringmann, Jan Wells and Ellyn Shannon headed to Albany to meet with our state legislators. Meetings were held with Senators Flanagan and Padavan and the staffs of Senators Skelos, Brian Foley and Toby Stavisky. The group was also able to meet with several Assembly members, including Charles Lavine, Catherine Nolan, and Mark Weprin. The meetings with Senator Flanagan and Senator Skelos’s office were particularly enlightening. Our group expressed the importance of the next capital program, and also explained some of the issues we raised in our performance assessment of the LIRR. We plan to do more of this type of outreach over the next several months.

On June 12 the breakdown of a diesel engine at 6:30 am caused substantial delays for LIRR riders. Bill Henderson wrote to Holli Dunayer to better understand why the breakdown caused such extensive delays. As there were some unanswered questions, Ellyn subsequently sent Holli a follow-up email asking for more detailed explanations. Holli responded and the answers to our questions are in your packet. We will discuss this further under new business.

Ira Greenburg tried to get a further understanding of the plans for the diesel fleet at the MTA/LI Committee board meeting, which he will elaborate on during the board report.

On June 24, Jan Wells attended the Long Island Vision 2035 meeting where RPA presented a draft outline for the Phase I report. This report is based on the findings of the Regional Visioning Workshop that was held March 26, 2009 which Jan attended. A final draft should be ready by mid-July. This initiative is an intergovernmental effort funded by the NYMTC and is an integral component of the Long Island Regional Planning Council’s 2035 Sustainability Plan. The goal is to develop a regional public consensus for future development patterns and identify institutional actions needed to achieve “a prosperous, equitable and environmentally sustainable Long Island.”

On June 23, Ellyn Shannon attended the Vision Long Island Smart Growth Awards. Senator Schumer attended the event and implored the audience to talk to members of Congress regarding the upcoming transportation bill and to let them know what Long Island projects should be included in the bill. We will also discuss this further under New Business.

Ellyn also had the opportunity at the awards ceremony to meet and speak with members of the Hicksville Chamber of Commerce. She arranged for a tour of the station area in Hicksville to better understand the role the MTA could play in improving this important station that carries more than 16,000 passengers each day (second only to Ronkonkoma on Long Island). The tour took place on June 29, Jan Wells also attended. Staff now has a better understanding of the long term needs and next steps that are needed for the station.

The LIRR acknowledged that they have incorporated our suggestion regarding sending a note of apology to riders when major service disruptions occur on the LIRR. The first letter of apology was sent out on June 24 regarding the Amtrak derailment. Although we had a few suggestions for the next event, it was a very good effort on behalf of the LIRR.

On June 30 we asked Holli Dunayer to look into why Central Islip parking has signs designating short and long term parking. Ms Dunayer responded that Strategic Investments said the lot is unrestricted in terms of the amount of time someone can park and that any posted signs in the lot (as it relates to short VS long term parking) are likely outdated and should be removed by the Town of Islip. It is unclear if Strategic Initiatives will be making the call to ask for the removal of the signs.

Also on June 30, Ms. Dunayer responded to a question raised by Gerry Bringmann about there being two “one-seat ride” morning peak trains inbound from the Montauk Branch but only one of these trains operating outbound from Penn Station to the Montauk Branch in the afternoon peak. Gerry questioned the wisdom of operating a non-revenue train to Speonk to position equipment for the morning inbound trip. She responded that there are no available afternoon peak slots for an additional “one-seat ride” train and that the locomotive of the second morning train is sent to Jamaica for servicing and for use in the afternoon rush hour. No non-revenue trips are being made to Speonk in the afternoon peak. The equipment for the second inbound train does not return to Speonk until the early hours of the morning.