Coronavirus: Quiet LIRR Trains, Masks On Subways, Less Traffic

BABYLON, NY — In the wake of COVID-19 cases appearing in New York City, Westchester and Long Island, many commuters noticed a distinctly quieter commute this week. As companies increasingly allowed employees to work from home amid fears of the new coronavirus, Long Island Rail Road ridership and highway traffic appeared below normal levels, according to several Long Island commuters.

Al Dumancela is a real estate broker who lives in East Patchogue and drives all over Long Island for appointments. On Tuesday he took the Long Island Expressway to meetings in Seaford and was amazed to be doing 75 miles per hour almost the whole way during rush hour, he told Patch.

"It was a lot less than normal," he said.

Although individual reports are only anecdotal, social media on Monday and Tuesday was full of commuters sharing photos of empty trains and less-packed rush hour subway platforms.

Jacque Ging takes the train from her home in Babylon to Manhattan daily. She told Patch that "the last two days have been less cramped on the LIRR but the subways are still just as packed with lots of people wearing masks."

Ging isn't able to telework under her current job agreement but said there is discussion from her employer to change the employment agreements to let employees like her, who are in the field visiting customers, to work from home sooner, out of concerns about the virus.

Earl Penney commutes daily from Manhasset to Penn Station to a job in marketing and estimates his train cars have been about 25 percent less full than normal this week.

"The commuter parking lot was noticeably less crowded," the Glen Head resident reported. His staffing firm just offered all of its New York City employees the option of either working from home or changing their schedule to avoid peak time, and Penney says about ten percent of those eligible are choosing to work remotely.

A representative for the MTA told Patch that the agency will be releasing official numbers on ridership connected to the new coronavirus health issue on March 23. The transportation authority normally releases ridership numbers monthly but plan to issue a news release about commuting rates as they relate to the coronavirus in the metropolitan area.