175 Years of Customer Appreciation and Service to Long Island
We're revving up our 175th Anniversary Celebration by launching an online Customer Appreciation Giveaway Contest that will award one big prize each month for the rest of this year! April's Grand Prize isa $500 shopping spree courtesy of Macy's Herald Square, well known as the World's Largest Department Store. Also, this month at Penn Station customers will have a chance to win four Mets tickets, courtesy of the New York Mets, for the May 9 game at Citi Field against the Pittsburgh Pirates. To participate in the online contest, go to the LIRR website and click on our anniversary contest banner. Fill out the form and you will be eligible for each of the monthly drawings. (All of the online Giveaway prizes have been donated by partners at no cost to the LIRR.) While you're on the website, do yourself a favor and sign up for our free email service alerts.
Some of the 175th anniversary festivities will be held at Penn Station on Tuesday, April 21 and feature a raffle of tickets to Mets' games, Kooza - Cirque Du Soleil's latest show, four $100 gift certificates to Macy's Herald Square, tickets to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex, and the "Bodies: The Exhibition."
Interested in the LIRR's history? From April 14 through September, the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn is presenting an exhibit that features the Railroad's 175 years of service. Covering the span from our incorporation in 1834 to the present ... it is quite a ride. Historic and contemporary photographs, maps, illustrations, and objects on loan and from the museum's collection tell this fascinating story. Visit their website for the details.

Name The Locomotives
As part of our 175th Anniversary Celebration, we are loaning two retired locomotives to the Oyster Bay Railroad Museum ... and holding a contest to name them. If your entry is chosen, you will become a part of LIRR history. This game is open to all who wish to take part, and suggested names for the diminutive duo can be submitted through April 15, 2009 by visiting our website. A family four-pack of tickets to Kooza by Cirque Du Soleil goes to the winner.

Take The Train To The Game
The LIRR remains the best way to get to Mets home games ... although Mets fans will now have to remember some new names. First, Citi Field replaces Shea Stadium, and our stop for the ballpark have been renamed Mets-Willets Point. Train service to Mets-Willets Point is available on eastbound Port Washington Branch trains from Penn Station and westbound trains from Great Neck and Port Washington. The ride is 18 minutes from Penn Station to Mets-Willets Point. For those traveling on the LIRR from Long Island, the new ballpark is just six minutes from Woodside, 17 minutes from Great Neck and 27 minutes from Port Washington. From Long Island, customers may go directly to the stadium from Port Washington Branch stations. Customers from other branches should transfer at Woodside.

Go Green to the Greens
For golf fans all around the world, it's time to start thinking about the biggest tournament of the year, the U.S. Open. Normally you won't find much about The Open in our monthly newsletter, but this year is special, as it marks the return of the most important and most difficult golf event of the year to The Black Course at Bethpage State Park. Tens of thousands of golf fans will come to Long Island for the event during the week of June 15 - 21, and the LIRR will be doing our best to provide transportation to the big event. We'll keep you informed about the special schedules required to accommodate our U.S. Open customers with trains to our Farmingdale Station and shuttle buses to Bethpage State Park, but we want you to be aware that providing this service will have an impact on our rush hour service during the week of the tournament.

Trains on Canvas
The Hicksville Public Library, in recognition of the LIRR 175th Anniversary, is holding a month-long exhibit of paintings by Lou Mallard, who specializes in trains, especially LIRR steamers and diesels. Our sources report that Lou's paintings are meticulously accurate and as life-like as a digital photo. The library is located at: 169 Jerusalem Avenue in Hicksville.

LIRRCC
The LIRRCC's President's Forum will be conducted in the street-level lobby of the AirTrain JFK building next to Jamaica Station on May 20 from 5PM to 7PM ... so if you have a question, concern or suggestion for the LIRR ... save that day. In the meantime, the LIRRCC is in the process of recruiting additional members, particularly those who can represent the Oyster Bay Branch. For more information, contact the LIRR Commuters' Council at (212) 878-7087 or visit their website.

Email Alerts
The MTA and the LIRR have launched a more robust email and text messaging system that notifies registered customers of service disruptions. Using our website at www.mymtaalerts.com, you can register to receive alerts on your cellphone or pda about any combination of subway lines, bus routes, rail lines, bridges or tunnels. You can choose to receive them 24/7, or only during a particular time of day or week.

Monthly OTP 94.03%
After being clobbered by the snowstorm of March 2, the On Time Performance for March came in at 94.03%.

BRANCH	AM Peak	PM Peak	Off- Peak	Total March 2009	Total March 2008
Babylon	91.5	89.7	94.1	92.9	95.0
Far Rockaway	91.7	98.0	96.6	96.1	97.0
Hicksville/Huntington	89.7	91.9	95.0	93.8	93.3
Hempstead	92.2	95.5	96.2	95.6	95.6
Long Beach	93.6	95.9	95.3	95.1	94.9
Montauk	92.1	93.5	91.3	91.6	93.0
Oyster Bay	92.2	90.2	96.0	94.6	92.6
Port Jefferson	85.8	90.3	91.5	90.4	90.8
Port Washington	90.7	96.2	96.7	95.8	95.1
Greenport/Ronkonkoma	89.7	93.9	93.3	92.7	92.6
West Hempstead	94.6	93.9	96.1	95.4	97.2
TOTAL	91.1	93.3	94.8	94.0	94.4

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