(The following article by Joie Tyrrell and Christine Armario was posted on the Newsday website on December 21.)
NEW YORK — A crush of commuters swamped the Long Island Rail Road yesterday with thousands waiting for hours to board trains in Jamaica, riders showing up in the predawn to buy tickets in Forest Hills and a sea of passengers jamming Penn Station in the evening rush hour.
“People. People. A sea of people,” said Merle Marcy, 42, from Richmond Hill at Penn Station last night. “I have no idea where I’m going. I guess the Long Island Rail Road wasn’t prepared for the onslaught of all the passengers.”
Confusion reigned into the evening as officials at Penn Station limited access to control crowding with street-level queuing outside the station, and commuters on specific lines were directed to certain entrances based on destination.
Commuters, many of whom don’t usually take the LIRR, first had to go downstairs to purchase tickets and then return upstairs outside the station to go to one of five service entrances. Officials actually closed two entrances last night at 5:30 for 20 minutes. But a little before 6 p.m., officials began to allow passengers to ride for free.
It was just the second half of a day filled with cold, chaotic commutes for many LIRR riders, as tens of thousands of additionalpassengers took the system when city subway and bus workers went on strike. The LIRR handled 50,000 more riders during the morning rush hour than the 100,000 it normally does, railroad officials said, with about 30,000 at Jamaica alone.
Railroad officials acknowledged they took on a huge undertaking, providing services the railroad is not designed or equipped to handle.
“We knew we were going to have problems with Jamaica,” said LIRR President James Dermody. “When the people started to really build up, we looked at where we were getting a backup. If the backup was collection of tickets, we stopped collecting and moved people.”
The special $4 strike fare was part of the railroad’s contingency plan and not available in advance of the strike, LIRR spokesman Brian Dolan said. Commuters could have purchased regular tickets in advance, however. Railroad officials had said it would take up to 24 hours after a strike was called to implement the plan.
Dermody waived fares, allowing passengers to board trains, and a shuttle service through Queens started earlier than anticipated, rolling out at 5:30 a.m., just hours after the union called the strike at 3 a.m.
Riders in Forest Hills were also confounded as LIRR workers offered conflicting information about tickets. Some told commuters they could not walk to the platform and use the ticket machines without waiting. Others announced over bullhorns there was no wait and encouraged riders to use them and bypass lines at the temporary ticket window.
Danielle Gerard, 25, a financial analyst from Middle Village, shivered near the end of the LIRR ticket line about 9 a.m. She still had to make it downtown to her office on Vestry Street.
“I’ve got to take the PATH train to Christopher Street and walk – I think,” she said. “I don’t where the hell I’m going.”
The railroad’s full strike plan goes into effect today, meaning the LIRR will only stop at key hub stations in Queens between 6 and 9 a.m.