NEW YORK — According to the New York Times, Kenneth Bauer, the president of the Long Island Rail Road, who was known for taking groups of commuters to dinner to hear their concerns, announced yesterday that he would retire after a 30-year career with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the railroad, a spokesman for the railroad said. Mr. Bauer was the railroad’s president for nearly three years.
Last year the railroad, which carries 279,000 riders a day, had its best year for on-time performance, the spokesman, Brian Dolan, said. In October, the authority announced plans to merge the historically troubled Long Island Rail Road with the more efficient Metro-North Railroad.
Peter S. Kalikow, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said he was indebted to Mr. Bauer for his efforts to make the railroad “one of the best commuter rails in the country.” The railroad is cleaner and more likely to run on schedule, and commuter complaints have been down during Mr. Bauer’s tenure, said Tom Kelly, chief spokesman for the authority.
Mr. Dolan said the railroad added trains to Ronkonkoma, changed the evening schedule on the Port Washington line, and rebuilt a staircase at the Queens Village stop, all ideas Mr. Bauer drew from the public.
Mr. Bauer has an unlisted phone number and could not be reached yesterday for comment. In an interview in 2001, he gave an indication of the roots of his concerns with customer satisfaction. He spoke of commuting for more than 30 years on the railroad, mentioning problems with car vandalism at its stations.
“I had a 1977 Pontiac Firebird that was broken into in Lynbrook,” he recalled. “The dashboard was ripped up and the radio stolen. That was in 1978-79. Then in 1986-87, I had a Datsun 280ZX that was broken into twice, once in Lynbrook and once at the Island Park station. And on top of that, six months later the entire car was stolen at the Hicksville station. So I certainly sympathize with people who have had this because I’ve experienced it myself.”