The New York State budget approved Monday requires the Long Island Rail Road to change the way it measures on-time performance, after the commuter railway reported its worst year in decades.
The LIRR would identify trains that arrive two minutes past their scheduled time as late. That’s less than half the current threshold.
Officials would also need to keep better track of the time riders wait in line, time it takes to exit busy platforms and extra time spent on board because of delays.
The budget also requires an independent audit to identify possible wasteful spending by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Senator James Gaughran pushed for this measure to increase the MTA’s accountability.
“We just think that the forensic audit is critical because one of the issues that I’ve had as a new senator with the MTA and the LIRR is that they just keep looking for more and more money and we don’t see any accountability. We can really get to the bottom of the problems that are associated with, you know, having so many late trains and the service, really being many days very poor.”
The budget also provides additional funding for the LIRR from congestion pricing fees in Manhattan.
Meanwhile, a proposal that would have required contractors to pay wages set by union contracts to workers on any project with state funding did not make its way into the budget.
Democratic State Senator John Brooks co-sponsored the bill, which would pay workers at least the average wage of projects in the area.
“We’re trying to find a middle ground with both sides. I think both sides of the argument have valid concerns. Our objective has got to be to bring more projects to Long Island, and the only way we’re going to do that is to work out a situation where both sides feel they are compensating those working on the projects fairly.”
Developers lobbied against the prevailing wage bill. They say it would slow down public affordable housing and renewable energy projects, while unions support higher wages for workers.