More Riders Taking New York-Hamptons LIRR Routes

Maybe people wanted to beat the holiday weekend traffic this year or perhaps they were put off by higher gas prices. Whatever the reasons, the Long Island Railroad lines running between New York City and the Hamptons got a boost in ridership this Memorial Day Weekend compared to 2007.

This year, 44,618 passengers left Penn Station or Jamaica on eastbound trains on Friday, May 23, between 11:30 a.m. and 8:53 p.m., LIRR spokesman Salvatore Arena told us, up 12 percent from the 39,849 riders who took the train on the first day of the holiday weekend in 2007.

On Monday, Memorial Day, 6,775 people headed home, compared to 6,327 last Memorial Day. (“The question is what happened to all these other people?” Mr. Arena said.)

Mr. Arena said ridership on the LIRR between New York City and the Hamptons in April was up 10 percent from the same month in 2007.

“There is no question that the increase in gas prices has contributed to an increase in ridership on the LIRR,” he said.

So the numbers mean that more people are cutting back driving because of high-gas prices, but paradoxically appear more willing to take a few extra days off for an extended holiday?

This year 2,685 passengers decided to beat the rush and left on the Thursday before Memorial Day, while only 1,860 left a day early during Memorial Day Weekend 2007. Meanwhile, on Sunday 1,704 left the Hamptons on LIRR trains bound for the city, down 6.6 percent from early departures in 2007.