LIRR, Metro North Could Face Massive Cuts Due To Coronavirus

NEW YORK — The MTA faces a massive deficit, forcing the agency to consider layoffs among all its services, including possibly cutting more than 900 positions at Long Island Rail Road and Metro North.

Decreased ridership due to the coronavirus pandemic led to a large hit to the MTA's strained budget. At its November meeting, the MTA's board discussed ways to close the $2.5 billion gap it faces. The deficit is expected to balloon to $6.1 billion in 2021, officials said.

The MTA retained the McKinsey & Company consulting firm to project when ridership might return to normal and the firm found it may never go back to pre-pandemic levels. Under the best-case scenario, with the coronavirus contained, MTA ridership may return to 90 percent of pre-pandemic levels by 2023, the firm found.

Without federal aid, the main way the MTA said it could close its budget gap is by service reductions and layoffs.

The LIRR and Metro North would have combined 933 layoffs, the authority said. The main layoffs would come to New York City bus and subway systems, which would see a combined 6,956 jobs lost — a 40 percent reduction. The MTA is proposing a total of 9,367 job cuts.

The cuts to the LIRR and Metro North could have a big impact on riders.

According to the MTA, the cuts could lead to services reductions of up to 50 percent, resulting in full or partial suspension of service on weekends and weekdays. Peak trains may only run every 20 to 30 minutes in some areas, or even become hourly. Off-peak and weekend service could also become hourly.

According to the MTA, the cuts to LIRR and Metro North would save $265 million.

The main way to stave off these cuts would be federal assistance, officials said. Funding for mass transit, including the MTA, is included in the HEROES Act, which has passed the House of Representatives, but not the Senate. If the MTA gets money from the HEROES Act, it would mitigate much of the cuts, officials said.