Hudson Valley Coronavirus: MTA Cuts Service As Ridership Drops

TARRYTOWN, NY—Beginning Friday, Metro-North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road will be will reduce service. On the Harlem, Hudson and New Haven lines, Metro-North will provide hourly service, with extra trains during peak times.

Meanwhile, West of Hudson service is operating on a weekend schedule until further notice, the Metropolitan Transit Authority recently announced.

The moves were necessary to adjust to massively reduced ridership caused by the spread of the coronavirus in the region, MTA Chairman and CEO Pat Foye said.

"We're not shutting down, we're not going anywhere," Foye stressed.

Metro-North's normal weekday capacity will be reduced by about 50 percent compared to a normal weekday.

Starting April 4, Metro-North officials announced, they will provide hourly service while also suspending shuttle service between Wassaic and Southeast on the Upper Harlem line.

"Our crews and front line employees at Metro-North will continue to provide the service our customers deserve during these trying times," said Metro-North President Catherine Rinaldi. "Our ridership has seen a steep decline over the past several weeks, but health care workers and other first responders continue to ride our trains every day. While some reduction in service makes sense right now, we will continue to run a safe and reliable service to get these critical employees to their places of employment every day."

Weekday capacity on the Long Island Rail Road will be reduced by about 68 percent, according to MTA officials. MTA will run around 500 trains each day, compared to more than 740 trains on a usual weekday. The LIRR will also have crews and equipment on standby to supplement service if necessary.

Foye said Tuesday that he does not expect service cuts to result in overcrowding for essential workers who continue to ride subways, buses and commuter trains due to sharp declines in ridership. Subway ridership is down 87 percent, bus ridership is down about 70 percent, Metro-North ridership is down 91 percent and LIRR ridership down 71 percent as of Monday, March, 23, transit officials said.

There are no plans to shut down any specific subway stations as of Tuesday, Foye said.

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