It is very typical to find people who drove from their homes to their local Railroad Station. Not everyone unfortunate lives within walking distance of it and when I was much much younger and lived out towards the east end of Long Island, I would drive from my home to the Station at Port Jefferson. One would even have a beat-up car, which would be nicknamed my station car, to drive from one's home and park it at the train station. Back then and I believe even now, no one in their right mind is going to commute by car from Long Island or even in the other New York City suburbs into the city. It cost equivalent to a month's rent to park in Manhattan, not withstanding that they're about to do congestion pricing there. Thank you for a very good video.
Parking lots at a suburban station is normal since walking distances are often far. Wait until winter returns. Even a short walk to the station won't be easy or pleasant at all.
Just for the record, there's one direct train from Oyster Bay to Penn Station in the morning. However, it's not at a convenient time (it leaves Oyster Bay at 5:56 AM). There's also one direct train from Penn Station to Oyster Bay that leaves Penn at 6:22 PM. And contrary to popular belief, not every LIRR rider works in a suit and tie white collar profession. There are many riders (particularly on the Ronkonkoma branch) who work in construction. Quite a few work in healthcare. And a handful are teachers in NYC schools.
Yeah, the direct one to penn station is absurdly early, Im curious who it actually services. I have taken the 6:22 one before. You're also certainly right about the commuter background. Its not fair to generalize all commuters to financial backgrounds
There's a good reason why the LIRR is a very popular mode of transit for desk jockeys and you listed them pretty well. There's also the high cost of parking in NYC as well. I used to commute via Metro North everyday and that's pricey too but a high quality ride!
@@timwalks They still believe in being like Los Angeles in the 1960s when freeways were the way to travel in the future. There was a lot of real air pollution in those days.
That's my old branch,and with the fact that its setup as zoned fares,the Oyster Bay branch is one zone! Advise for future videos,since the Oyster Fest is back on,September/October isn't too far away,there will be plenty of events,and you'll see how the LIRR handles the crowds! Thanks for an interesting take,especially compared to LA,and there is history there too,look up books on the Pacific Electric,and Los Angeles Railway,as that was/is the core,that the now current rail lines are built around 😉! A buddy of mine,Jimmy Donahue covers biking and transit too! See Aviation Metal Smith,as you got a lot in common! Thanks for putting my old hunting grounds in the spotlight! Thank you 😇 😊!
East Williston is in zone 4 not zone 7 like the rest of the Oyster Bay branch. At one time there was one MU train from there to Penn Station in the AM rush. The electrified third rail ends about a train length past the station towards Albertson.
@@1575murray Years ago,back when LOCUST was a working tower,there were hourly East Williston-Penn shuttles(1500's)on the schedule! Nassau,and LOCUST used to co-ordinate,so the signals were set,by both towers! All manual operations,and twice as many trains! Anybody who says that computers can do better than that,really doesn't know,just how efficient those long ago workers,helped make things happen! The old IRT,used to run 90 second headways,and any number of streetcar companies had routes with cars,literally nose-to-tail,on heavy routes! But that history is forgotten,as this current generation thinks that everything is solvable,by being computer generated! They forgot GIGO- GARBAGE IN,GARBAGE OUT!! THANK YOU 😇 😊!
Wait until the lirr shits the bed, which happens quite often. Plus the oyster bay branch (which you were taking) has subpar service, in my opinion. If you get stuck late at work, getting home can be really challenging. Plus parking at the station can also be super expensive depending on where you live. Where I live, just to park at my station is 250 per year. But yes, when it’s working as it should, it’s very quick.
Ive actually never have seen the lirr "shit the bed". Not sure what that entails. Oyster Bay line does run infrequently I agree with that. Only once every 2 hours I believe. Thats surprising to hear about the paid parking. I havent actually seen any stations on this line that have paid parking. Do you have examples that I can check out??
@@timwalks if on the oyster bay line, look at greenvale, glen head, glen cove, and perhaps a few more. Wherever the parking lot is, the town, city, or village may actually own the lot and make people either pay meters or get a permit. I live in Long Beach and my permit is 250 a year, or I can pay a meter. As for the lirr screwing up big, best example I can give you if when grand central opened up, there were connection and signal problems everyday at Jamaica. My wife’s train was an hour late for a week because of it. So when things go wrong in the lirr, they go really wrong. At least they’ve gotten slightly better at communicating it.
Park and ride is actually a very common phenomena on Long Island, which is largely due to Long Island still being very car dependent for most other aspects of daily life. However, since the LIRR is a great commuter rail and parking is such a hassle in Manhattan, it makes sense to drive to a station and then take the train into the city. There are actually plenty of cases of people driving 10 or more miles just to get to an LIRR station to ride into Penn station. The parking lot you showed is actually a very mild example, you should take a look at the parking lot at Ronkonkoma station.
LIRR was basically the first commuter railroad in America, it is reliable but the system shows its age, they need to get rid of all the level crossings
A few years ago, my employer decided to move most of the workforce into one building, which also means limited parking spaces. I realised I was spending too long looking for a park every morning, which eventually made me move to commuting to work by train. I grew up in Singapore with public transport and has been supporting PT for a few years now so decided to put money where my mouth is. I have never looked back and have enjoyed spending that time reading, playing games or watching videos.
I will say that LIRR is quite expensive especially for a commuter. Monthly passes do bring prices down, but it's still really expensive. They need more funding to lower fares (at least offer discounts for low income riders). The new congestion pricing proposal may bring down costs. However, I will argue that in most cases higher cost (but still somewhat affordable) transit beats free/cheap but bad transit.
Your last point is really interesting and one I haven't considered. Would I rather have expensive transit that is really good or cheap transit that is really bad?
NYC having the objectively largest number of transit users of any metro area (not considered the LIRR) shows this can be done for any sprawling metro. So jealous as a Floridian (Orlando native)
Haha, I need a break from LA. Honestly that whole city was so bad for my health. I plan to do a "Why I left LA" video, which Im sure will gain me a lot of hate.
This is quite a cool concept for a video, especially when compared to the $2.75 single fare with the subway. I'd love to make something like this one day but with trying to find the absolutely cheapest way of commuting into the subway from somewhere located without a subway. Good luck with your new commute
Driving to Midtown Manhattan during rush hours? From Long Island from Nassau County? Why even in the 1960s my late father had a hard time finding a place to park in Midtown Manhattan during the day! Imagine doing that now! Aaaaarrrrrrgh! 😮
Yeah, I cant imagine doing it from Long Island. But there are plenty of people that do it from various parts of the outer boroughs, and I still think that is strange.
Parking lots at lirr train stations are very expensive especially if you are considered a non resident . I thought you figures regarding cars were off base . If you own a fairly new car you are getting hit with a huge car payment and a large automobile policy payment . As for the gasoline prices it is much more than $109/month.. public transportation is best option to work in nyc but if it’s possible try to walk to station or get a lift
Yeah, my numbers were admittedly very quickly researched. I think I mentioned that I they are all on the lower end. I wouldn't be surprised that your monthly costs are closer to the realm of $400-500 a month if you decide to make this commute everyday with a new car.
In Canada (at least BC, specifically Victoria on Vancouver Island where I used to live) we had these things called "park and rides" where you could park at a huge bus depot, usually way out in the suburbs, and then take an express bus into the city center. Seems super normal for me especially because those were located around what was more or less farmland.
@@timwalks The main purpose is to serve daily commuters into the city centre. With it being the capital of the province, there’s tons of government workers in Victoria BC that work downtown. There’s quite a bit of congestion along major highways which feed into downtown from smaller communities, which adds stress to the drive (I guess drivers might not care about this part, not sure…), and the bus rides are either partially or fully subsidized. However I think the main attraction is that parking downtown is a huge pain - and a huge cost - especially if you live in a rural community. Parking garages are also often at capacity during working hours. For Vancouver, most or all park and rides were at SkyTrain stations iirc. Vancouver has TONS of sprawl similar to LA, but fortunately has an incredibly frequent and super long autonomous train system which is actually quite pleasant to take (2-4 minute headways in rush hour) and services a lot of these external communities, such as Surrey, with a planned extension into Langley to literally double its length that’s well on its way. Transit services were subsidizing park and ride commuters to encourage using public transit they had available, and then to use their cars to either start or complete the not stressful part of their commute (less traffic than in the city centre where the large majority of these commuters are going, and then dealing with $$$ parking if they can even find it). Vancouver also has the West Coast Express (their sole commuter rail line) and the gas costs to drive out from Mission (the terminus), for example, to Vancouver would be obscene compared to taking the commuter train.
When else is Larry going to do the crossword? [I don't know why I think the prototypical LIRR rider is named Larry.] Driving into the city is a bad idea because you might arrive at work already stressed out, not to mention the cost of parking.
It’s not the cost of cars that’s the issue for these people, the issue is the parking in the city, plus the stress of driving. The price to park can be more than the cost of the whole car. They could own a whole new car with the money they save by taking the train.
People do get station cars since they’re going to sit at the station all day. Their sole purpose is to get from home to the station, like only a few miles a day.
@@qjtvaddict people won’t use it. Drive to the station is 5 minutes or a 15 minute bus ride? And the one time you miss your train because the bus gets hung up, they will NEVER take the bus again. I know this doesn’t fit your car-free fantasy, but I know Long Islanders. It’s not a perfect system, but it works well for them.
Yeah, I just learned this term "Station car" for the first time from this videos comments haha. I agree also. Waiting on a slow bus to transfer to the train would be rough. This would only worked if the trains were staggered to wait for the busses arrival.
I really like Your videos, but this has a catchy title to watch. Who uses the single tickets when have to commute even few day in a week. It's not hard to calculate it in advance. It's about some comparison done by car users who say that public transit is expensive, when they can see only a single way ticket not comparing the monthly passes 😜
Yeah I agree, I definitely should have just gotten the deals. But my schedule was so unstable at the start of my job that it didn't make sense to me at that point. Hindsight 20/20
I did not. Part of the reason was I assumed if you are crazy enough to drive into manhattan every day, you would only do it if your office provided a garage. But if you do account for paying for parking it is a total different ball park.
It is very typical to find people who drove from their homes to their local Railroad Station. Not everyone unfortunate lives within walking distance of it and when I was much much younger and lived out towards the east end of Long Island, I would drive from my home to the Station at Port Jefferson. One would even have a beat-up car, which would be nicknamed my station car, to drive from one's home and park it at the train station. Back then and I believe even now, no one in their right mind is going to commute by car from Long Island or even in the other New York City suburbs into the city. It cost equivalent to a month's rent to park in Manhattan, not withstanding that they're about to do congestion pricing there. Thank you for a very good video.
Thanks for the comment. I appreciate the insight and kind words :)
Parking lots at a suburban station is normal since walking distances are often far. Wait until winter returns. Even a short walk to the station won't be easy or pleasant at all.
I have a feeling NYC winters are no longer going to be what they used to be...
Just for the record, there's one direct train from Oyster Bay to Penn Station in the morning. However, it's not at a convenient time (it leaves Oyster Bay at 5:56 AM). There's also one direct train from Penn Station to Oyster Bay that leaves Penn at 6:22 PM.
And contrary to popular belief, not every LIRR rider works in a suit and tie white collar profession. There are many riders (particularly on the Ronkonkoma branch) who work in construction. Quite a few work in healthcare. And a handful are teachers in NYC schools.
Yeah, the direct one to penn station is absurdly early, Im curious who it actually services. I have taken the 6:22 one before. You're also certainly right about the commuter background. Its not fair to generalize all commuters to financial backgrounds
Don’t forget the cost of parking in Manhattan as well. Some places are $12-$18 an hour or $55+ a day.
Yeah you're totally right. I mentioned in another comment, but I assumed you would only do this trek if your employer had a garage.
There's a good reason why the LIRR is a very popular mode of transit for desk jockeys and you listed them pretty well. There's also the high cost of parking in NYC as well. I used to commute via Metro North everyday and that's pricey too but a high quality ride!
Yeah. While it is long, I have always enjoyed the ride.
Zero reason to own a car in NYC. Trains are great.
Im still perturbed by the number of personal vehicles in Manhattan.
@@timwalks They still believe in being like Los Angeles in the 1960s when freeways were the way to travel in the future. There was a lot of real air pollution in those days.
@@timwalks Congestion pricing is very close to reality, so it will be less soon
2:06 You see the same thing in Toronto.
That's my old branch,and with the fact that its setup as zoned fares,the Oyster Bay branch is one zone! Advise for future videos,since the Oyster Fest is back on,September/October isn't too far away,there will be plenty of events,and you'll see how the LIRR handles the crowds! Thanks for an interesting take,especially compared to LA,and there is history there too,look up books on the Pacific Electric,and Los Angeles Railway,as that was/is the core,that the now current rail lines are built around 😉! A buddy of mine,Jimmy Donahue covers biking and transit too! See Aviation Metal Smith,as you got a lot in common! Thanks for putting my old hunting grounds in the spotlight! Thank you 😇 😊!
East Williston is in zone 4 not zone 7 like the rest of the Oyster Bay branch. At one time there was one MU train from there to Penn Station in the AM rush. The electrified third rail ends about a train length past the station towards Albertson.
@@1575murray Years ago,back when LOCUST was a working tower,there were hourly East Williston-Penn shuttles(1500's)on the schedule! Nassau,and LOCUST used to co-ordinate,so the signals were set,by both towers! All manual operations,and twice as many trains! Anybody who says that computers can do better than that,really doesn't know,just how efficient those long ago workers,helped make things happen! The old IRT,used to run 90 second headways,and any number of streetcar companies had routes with cars,literally nose-to-tail,on heavy routes! But that history is forgotten,as this current generation thinks that everything is solvable,by being computer generated! They forgot GIGO- GARBAGE IN,GARBAGE OUT!! THANK YOU 😇 😊!
Awww, thank you for the kind words and advise. Im going to definitely have to check out the oyster fest!!
Wait until the lirr shits the bed, which happens quite often. Plus the oyster bay branch (which you were taking) has subpar service, in my opinion. If you get stuck late at work, getting home can be really challenging. Plus parking at the station can also be super expensive depending on where you live. Where I live, just to park at my station is 250 per year. But yes, when it’s working as it should, it’s very quick.
Ive actually never have seen the lirr "shit the bed". Not sure what that entails. Oyster Bay line does run infrequently I agree with that. Only once every 2 hours I believe. Thats surprising to hear about the paid parking. I havent actually seen any stations on this line that have paid parking. Do you have examples that I can check out??
@@timwalks if on the oyster bay line, look at greenvale, glen head, glen cove, and perhaps a few more. Wherever the parking lot is, the town, city, or village may actually own the lot and make people either pay meters or get a permit. I live in Long Beach and my permit is 250 a year, or I can pay a meter. As for the lirr screwing up big, best example I can give you if when grand central opened up, there were connection and signal problems everyday at Jamaica. My wife’s train was an hour late for a week because of it. So when things go wrong in the lirr, they go really wrong. At least they’ve gotten slightly better at communicating it.
Park and ride is actually a very common phenomena on Long Island, which is largely due to Long Island still being very car dependent for most other aspects of daily life. However, since the LIRR is a great commuter rail and parking is such a hassle in Manhattan, it makes sense to drive to a station and then take the train into the city. There are actually plenty of cases of people driving 10 or more miles just to get to an LIRR station to ride into Penn station. The parking lot you showed is actually a very mild example, you should take a look at the parking lot at Ronkonkoma station.
Yeah, I see those big parking lots in Roslyn too. I would also probably go far to avoid driving into Manhattan.
LIRR was basically the first commuter railroad in America, it is reliable but the system shows its age, they need to get rid of all the level crossings
Level crossings are where it intersects with the street? Im not familiar with this term.
@@timwalks yes, anytime it crosses pedestrians or cars
A few years ago, my employer decided to move most of the workforce into one building, which also means limited parking spaces. I realised I was spending too long looking for a park every morning, which eventually made me move to commuting to work by train. I grew up in Singapore with public transport and has been supporting PT for a few years now so decided to put money where my mouth is.
I have never looked back and have enjoyed spending that time reading, playing games or watching videos.
nah $338 a month is crazzy, in australia fares are capped usually at $10 as long as it’s not interstate
I will say that LIRR is quite expensive especially for a commuter. Monthly passes do bring prices down, but it's still really expensive. They need more funding to lower fares (at least offer discounts for low income riders). The new congestion pricing proposal may bring down costs. However, I will argue that in most cases higher cost (but still somewhat affordable) transit beats free/cheap but bad transit.
Your last point is really interesting and one I haven't considered. Would I rather have expensive transit that is really good or cheap transit that is really bad?
@@timwalks there should be a balance and discounts of course, but free transit isn’t always the best option
ruclips.net/video/zFP8QE3-FHY/видео.html
It's just expensive no matter how you slice it. IMO all the NYC-area commuter rail is. CT is decent-ish.
I'd rather have cheap but great transit!
@@connecticutmultimodaltrans8226 That's fair. Transit should be cheap (not necessarily free) and high quality.
NYC having the objectively largest number of transit users of any metro area (not considered the LIRR) shows this can be done for any sprawling metro. So jealous as a Floridian (Orlando native)
But aren't y'all getting the brightline soon?
@@timwalks hell yeah we are
@@BrandtAbsolu And you've already got SunRail.
Lol. Subscribed to you last month for LA hot takes and now you are doing a commute I did from the exact same station for a year.
Haha, I need a break from LA. Honestly that whole city was so bad for my health. I plan to do a "Why I left LA" video, which Im sure will gain me a lot of hate.
You're also not accounting for the parking cost, which in Manhattan is going to be more than any of these other costs for choosing the car.
Lol use your electric scooter to the LIRR or if you’re lucky NICE bus to the more frequent LIRR stations as a backup if you miss your train.
The LIRR runs on a very consistent schedule. I don't think Ive ever missed it.
@@timwalks it’s every 2 hours the N23 is every 30 minutes and walking distance from the oyster bay line. N21 is another one but is pitiful. Not ideal.
This is quite a cool concept for a video, especially when compared to the $2.75 single fare with the subway. I'd love to make something like this one day but with trying to find the absolutely cheapest way of commuting into the subway from somewhere located without a subway.
Good luck with your new commute
What are your thoughts on all the Metro projects in LA? And when the RC does open do you plan to go check it out?
Definitely going to add this one to the Q&A. I have wanted to talk about this one
Driving to Midtown Manhattan during rush hours? From Long Island from Nassau County? Why even in the 1960s my late father had a hard time finding a place to park in Midtown Manhattan during the day! Imagine doing that now! Aaaaarrrrrrgh! 😮
Yeah, I cant imagine doing it from Long Island. But there are plenty of people that do it from various parts of the outer boroughs, and I still think that is strange.
Parking lots at lirr train stations are very expensive especially if you are considered a non resident . I thought you figures regarding cars were off base . If you own a fairly new car you are getting hit with a huge car payment and a large automobile policy payment . As for the gasoline prices it is much more than $109/month.. public transportation is best option to work in nyc but if it’s possible try to walk to station or get a lift
Yeah, my numbers were admittedly very quickly researched. I think I mentioned that I they are all on the lower end. I wouldn't be surprised that your monthly costs are closer to the realm of $400-500 a month if you decide to make this commute everyday with a new car.
Would have been cheaper to buy a 20-trip pass and the remainder as round-trip tickets for a total of $280+tax.
Haha, trust me I'm regretting not looking deeper into my ticket options before making this video.
Can you talk about the new LIRR station at Grand Central? I thought it was a great idea but I've heard bad things about trying to transfer there
I like this idea, I haven't explored the new station myself yet, but will take a look at the history construction and what its all about
It’s bad for Brooklyn riders however LIRR frequencies in eastern queens increased significantly over what it was before
In Canada (at least BC, specifically Victoria on Vancouver Island where I used to live) we had these things called "park and rides" where you could park at a huge bus depot, usually way out in the suburbs, and then take an express bus into the city center. Seems super normal for me especially because those were located around what was more or less farmland.
what was the appeal of taking the bus over just driving the remainder of the trip?
@@timwalks The main purpose is to serve daily commuters into the city centre. With it being the capital of the province, there’s tons of government workers in Victoria BC that work downtown. There’s quite a bit of congestion along major highways which feed into downtown from smaller communities, which adds stress to the drive (I guess drivers might not care about this part, not sure…), and the bus rides are either partially or fully subsidized. However I think the main attraction is that parking downtown is a huge pain - and a huge cost - especially if you live in a rural community. Parking garages are also often at capacity during working hours.
For Vancouver, most or all park and rides were at SkyTrain stations iirc. Vancouver has TONS of sprawl similar to LA, but fortunately has an incredibly frequent and super long autonomous train system which is actually quite pleasant to take (2-4 minute headways in rush hour) and services a lot of these external communities, such as Surrey, with a planned extension into Langley to literally double its length that’s well on its way.
Transit services were subsidizing park and ride commuters to encourage using public transit they had available, and then to use their cars to either start or complete the not stressful part of their commute (less traffic than in the city centre where the large majority of these commuters are going, and then dealing with $$$ parking if they can even find it). Vancouver also has the West Coast Express (their sole commuter rail line) and the gas costs to drive out from Mission (the terminus), for example, to Vancouver would be obscene compared to taking the commuter train.
When else is Larry going to do the crossword? [I don't know why I think the prototypical LIRR rider is named Larry.] Driving into the city is a bad idea because you might arrive at work already stressed out, not to mention the cost of parking.
I also do the crossword on the subway!
It’s not the cost of cars that’s the issue for these people, the issue is the parking in the city, plus the stress of driving. The price to park can be more than the cost of the whole car. They could own a whole new car with the money they save by taking the train.
People do get station cars since they’re going to sit at the station all day. Their sole purpose is to get from home to the station, like only a few miles a day.
Sounds like waste bus service should be increased
@@qjtvaddict people won’t use it. Drive to the station is 5 minutes or a 15 minute bus ride? And the one time you miss your train because the bus gets hung up, they will NEVER take the bus again. I know this doesn’t fit your car-free fantasy, but I know Long Islanders. It’s not a perfect system, but it works well for them.
Yeah, I just learned this term "Station car" for the first time from this videos comments haha. I agree also. Waiting on a slow bus to transfer to the train would be rough. This would only worked if the trains were staggered to wait for the busses arrival.
@@chrispontani6059 The bus ride can be 5 mins depending on the location
@@chrispontani6059 run the bus frequently problem solved
Are you able to buy food/etc on these sorts of trains? Do they have washrooms on-board?
No food, but they do have washrooms. Penn Station typically has tons of shops, but they're all closed as they wrap up construction
woodside adding 5-7 minutes? lol
Honestly, I never kept track. It never felt like a significant amount of time
@@timwalks if adds about 30 seconds, not 5-7 minutes lol
I really like Your videos, but this has a catchy title to watch. Who uses the single tickets when have to commute even few day in a week. It's not hard to calculate it in advance. It's about some comparison done by car users who say that public transit is expensive, when they can see only a single way ticket not comparing the monthly passes 😜
Yeah I agree, I definitely should have just gotten the deals. But my schedule was so unstable at the start of my job that it didn't make sense to me at that point. Hindsight 20/20
Have you priced parking in NYC, especially Manhattan? And the time estimate to get there is very optimistic, believe me I've been there.
I did not. Part of the reason was I assumed if you are crazy enough to drive into manhattan every day, you would only do it if your office provided a garage. But if you do account for paying for parking it is a total different ball park.