(The following article by Joie Tyrrell was posted on the Newsday website on December 14.)
NEW YORK — It won’t be quick. It won’t be easy and it won’t be convenient, but when you gotta go, you gotta go.
That’s why Nassau and Suffolk county officials as well as the Long Island Rail Road and Long Island Bus have set up contingency plans to help commuters get to Manhattan in case of a transit strike Friday. Both Nassau and Suffolk will have carpool staging areas. The railroad will add shuttle service through Queens.
“This will be a very, very serious problem for all people who live on Long Island and we need to be prepared,” said Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, concerned for the thousands of Long Island residents who travel to the city each day.
Subway and bus workers voted over the weekend to give the Transport Workers Union board the power to call a strike at 12:01 a.m. Friday.
Earlier this week, the city announced plans for a four-occupants-per-car restriction that would apply to vehicles entering Manhattan south of 96th Street from 5 to 11 a.m. weekdays, including vehicles traveling across the East River.
LIRR President James Dermody estimated the railroad – which serves 200,000 rush-hour riders each day – would serve an additional 8,000 commuters an hour during the rush hour between Jamaica and New York.
Nassau County did not estimate how many additional drivers they would see on the roads, but many Long Islanders will be forced to carpool, Suozzi said. Nassau County is setting up staging areas for car pools across the county, including at Jones Beach State Park, Cantiague Park in Hicksville, Nickerson Beach in Lido Beach, Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, Macy’s parking lot in Manhasset and at Bethpage State Park. Commuters can park at the Coliseum and catch the Long Island Bus to the Hempstead LIRR station.
In Suffolk County, carpool staging areas will be set up at all of the park-and-ride lots along the Long Island Expressway, the parking lot of the H. Lee Dennison building in Hauppauge, and the Home Depot parking lot at Route 112 and Sunrise Highway in Patchogue.
To provide additional Long Island Rail Road service in Queens, the LIRR will modify its service. Regularly scheduled trains will serve Queens riders from hub stations at 6-9 a.m. and 4-7 p.m. At all other times, dedicated shuttle trains, regular trains or both will provide service to all stations in Queens.
Regular LIRR riders who commute to or from Queens stations other than Jamaica may have to change trains to reach their destinations. LIRR commuters at Jamaica, Kew Gardens, Forest Hills and Woodside will be served by shuttle trains.
To ease crowding, there will be street-level queuing at Penn Station, Flatbush Avenue, Jamaica and many Queens stations. A strike fare for travel within the city will be charged. MetroCards are not accepted on LIRR trains.
Seven morning and seven evening rush-hour trains throughout the system will be canceled or combined to provide equipment for the shuttle trains. The Hunters Point Avenue terminal will be closed so the LIRR can use equipment for the shuttle service; however, the nearby Long Island City station will be open.
Commuters can expect heavier volume at the following train stations: Valley Stream, Mineola, Hicksville, New Hyde Park, Lynbrook, Freeport, Manhasset, Rockville Centre, Great Neck and Floral Park.
Robert Sinclair, spokesman for the Automobile Club of New York, said businesses should be making carpool arrangements for their employees.
“We do worry about drivers taking in perfect strangers in their vehicles and the insurance obligations if something were to happen,” he said.