Go CooCoo - Timely Travel Info On Your Cell Phone via Text!
Customers Can Text Message and Get LIRR Train Schedules and Service Updates Sent to Any Cell Phone You can now get train schedules and service updates sent to your cell phone as part of a pilot partnership between the LIRR and CooCoo, the Long Island-based text engine company that provides data via text message for standard text fees.
Use a cell phone to text your request (simply text CooCoo or 266266 which spells CooCoo) by typing in a departure station and final destination, and the next five train times will be sent back to your cell phone - you’ll get an immediate response.
“New ideas like this are revolutionizing the way that our customers can get schedule information,” said MTA Chairman and CEO Jay H. Walder at the news conference announcing the availability of the new information tool. “By partnering with the tech development community, we can create new ways for our customers to access information at no cost to the MTA, and often at no cost to our customers. This is the type of innovation we must pursue to continue improving service even as we attack the MTA’s cost structure.”
“CooCoo is carrier and device independent and will work on all cell phones without using the internet" said John Tunney, Co-Founder of the company. “We applaud the MTA and LIRR for being forward thinkers in offering this service to their riders.” CooCoo represents yet another in a series of enhanced LIRR customer communication efforts including the establishment of the LIRR’s Public Information Office providing free, real-time customer E-Alerts on train delays and service disruptions, and the posting of the service notices on large message boards installed at Penn Station, Atlantic Terminal and Jamaica Station.
Customers can sign up for the LIRR’s free E-Alerts by visiting our website.

 

New Schedules - March 8
And speaking of schedules … a new one goes into effect on Monday, March 8. In order to support and accommodate track projects on the Port Washington and Babylon branches, the new schedules will include service adjustments on several branches.  Service will be reduced to hourly for midday-weekday Port Washington Branch customers and Babylon Branch customers from Seaford through Lindenhurst. These projects are scheduled for completion in May.
Service Improvement: those traveling east of Patchogue will now have one more option, as the 5:10 PM train from Babylon is being extended to Speonk. This added service is in response to customer requests, and was made without additional cost. All customers should review the new timetables in order to acquaint themselves with changes to their normal service.

 

Service Reduction Hearings
Public hearings will be held across the metropolitan region to solicit input on proposed service changes needed to help address a nearly $400 million budget gap. LIRR customers will be heard at these locations:

• Carle Place - March 1 (Château Briand,440 Old Country Road)
• Flushing - March 2 (Sheraton La Guardia East Hotel, 135-20 39th Avenue)
• Brooklyn - March 3 (Brooklyn Museum, Beaux-Arts Court 200 Eastern Pkwy.)
• Manhattan - March 4 (Fashion Institute of Technology, Seventh Avenue at 27th Street)
• Riverhead - March 8 (Suffolk County Legislature Building, 300 County Center Drive)

All hearings will start at 6 PM. Registration to speak will remain open until 9 PM and the hearings will continue until all registered speakers have been heard. Complete details are available on the MTA Homepage.

 

Email Alerts
Recently, we made changes requested by E-Alert subscribers, allowing you to customize the service information you receive.  You can now suspend your E-Alert subscription for a period of time, while on vacation for instance, and then resume it with exactly the same preferences as before. Just sign into your account to let us know when to Suspend/Reactivate your subscription.  The buttons for doing this are at the bottom of the Customer Account Management page (the first page shown after you log in). Use our website customize your account.

 

Presidents' Day
Don’t forget Presidents’ Day, Monday, February 15. On this national holiday the LIRR will be operating on a holiday schedule with three trains added to the Ronkonkoma Branch schedule (one AM westbound and two PM eastbound).

 

Cash In on Your Ride In
Cash In on Your Ride In Now, when you enroll your Chase Credit Card at Chase.com/CommuterCash, you'll get $10 cash back (up to $50 maximum) for every $150 in qualifying transit purchases you make between March 1 and May 15, 2010.

 

Long Beach Weekend Service
There will be no service on the Long Beach Branch over the weekend of February 27-28 … all train service between Long Beach and Valley Stream will be replaced by buses. The reconstruction of two bridges, Hog Island and Powell Creek, will require this suspension of train service. The buses serving our westbound customers will depart up to 33 minutes earlier than normally scheduled trains. You will be able to access the special schedules (dated February 27-28) on our website.

 

Monthly On Time Performance
January’s OTP was 96.85% … the highest monthly OTP ever recorded by the LIRR … surpassing the old mark of 96.65% set in April of 2009. January’s AM Peak came in at 96.55%, the PM Peak at 96.18%, and Off-Peak was 97.02%.

BRANCH	AM Peak	PM Peak	Off- Peak	Total January 2010	Total January 2009
Babylon	96.3	95.1	96.3	96.1	95.8
Far Rockaway	97.6	99.4	99.2	99.0	99.2
Hicksville/Huntington	97.2	96.6	96.2	96.4	96.3
Hempstead	99.5	97.1	98.5	98.5	96.3
Long Beach	97.4	97.1	98.3	98.1	97.6
Montauk	94.7	98.5	96.3	96.4	95.6
Oyster Bay	96.2	95.6	97.8	97.3	95.3
Port Jefferson	94.1	93.2	94.3	94.2	94.0
Port Washington	97.4	95.0	97.5	97.2	98.5
Greenport/Ronkonkoma	94.2	95.8	95.1	95.0	90.3
West Hempstead	99.0	98.3	98.8	98.7	97.9
TOTAL	96.6	96.2	97.0	96.9	96.1

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