Editing Long Island Rail Road (section)

=== Passenger issues ===
The LIRR has a long history of tense relations with its passengers.<ref>{{Cite news | title = The Gap What We Found, Thirty Years of Neglect | first1 = Jennifer | last1 = Maloney | first2 = Karla | last2 = Schuster | newspaper=Newsday | date = January 19, 2007 |id={{ProQuest|280144614}} }}</ref> Daily commuters have long had complaints about the LIRR's service. According to a 1999 article in ''[[The New York Times]],'' the LIRR's service woes were long considered part of the "unholy trinity of life on Long Island," along with the [[Long Island Lighting Company]]'s high rates and the [[Long Island Expressway]]'s traffic snarls.<ref>{{Cite news | title = The Long Island Rail Road: Busiest, but Far From Best | first = David M. | last = Halbfinger | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/30/nyregion/commuting-misery-special-report-long-island-rail-road-busiest-but-far-best.html | newspaper = New York Times | date = July 30, 1999 | access-date = September 15, 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100831123514/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/30/nyregion/commuting-misery-special-report-long-island-rail-road-busiest-but-far-best.html | archive-date = August 31, 2010 | url-status = live }}</ref> Various commuter advocacy groups have been formed to try to represent those interests, in addition to the state mandated LIRR Commuters Council.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pcac.org/lirrcc/goals |title=LIRRCC Mission Statement & Goals « The Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee (PCAC) to the MTA ( NY, NY) |publisher=PCAC |access-date=August 11, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140813024039/http://www.pcac.org/lirrcc/goals/ |archive-date=August 13, 2014 }}</ref>

The LIRR has been criticized for not providing additional service to the [[East End (Long Island)|East End of Long Island]] as the twin forks continue to grow in popularity as a year-round tourist and residential destination. Demand is evidenced by flourishing for-profit bus services such as the [[Hampton Jitney]] and the [[Hampton Luxury Liner]] and the early formative stages of a new East End Transportation Authority.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eastendshuttle.org/ |title=eastendshuttle.org |publisher=eastendshuttle.org |access-date=January 19, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527232314/http://eastendshuttle.org/ |archive-date=May 27, 2013 |url-status=usurped }}</ref> Local politicians have joined the public outcry for the LIRR to either improve the frequency of east end services, or turn the operation over to a local transportation authority.

Critics claim that the [[on-time performance]] (OTP) calculated by the LIRR is manipulated to be artificially high. Because the LIRR does not release any raw timing data nor does it have independent (non-MTA) audits it is impossible to verify this claim, or the accuracy of the current On Time Performance measurement. The percentage measure is used by many other US passenger railroads but the criticism over accuracy is specific to the LIRR. As defined by the LIRR, a train is "on time" if it arrives at a station within 5 minutes and 59 seconds of the scheduled time.<ref>LIRR, [http://web.mta.info/mta/ind-perform/month/lirr-otp.htm – LIRR OTP] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128032119/http://www.mta.info/mta/ind-perform/month/lirr-otp.htm |date=November 28, 2007 }}</ref> The criterion was 4 minutes and 59 seconds until the LIRR changed it because of a bug in their computer systems.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lirrcommuters.org/A55D10/home.nsf/79ac00a06b2683fa852567ca007965b7/76c174526086cf74852573a20058ff37?OpenDocument |title=– LIRR On Time Performance questions |publisher=Lirrcommuters.org |access-date=January 19, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120807053229/http://www.lirrcommuters.org/A55D10/home.nsf/79ac00a06b2683fa852567ca007965b7/76c174526086cf74852573a20058ff37?OpenDocument |archive-date=August 7, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Critics<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lirrcommuters.org/ |title=– LIRR Commuters Campaign |publisher=Lirrcommuters.org |access-date=January 19, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603014917/http://lirrcommuters.org/ |archive-date=June 3, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> believe the OTP measure does not reflect what commuters experience on a daily basis. The LIRR publishes the current OTP in a monthly booklet called TrainTalk.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.mta.info/lirr/TrainTalk/ |title=MTA LIRR – TrainTalk – March 2015 |publisher=Metropolitan Transportation Authority |access-date=April 7, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150410005140/http://web.mta.info/lirr/TrainTalk/ |archive-date=April 10, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> TrainTalk was previously known as "Keeping Track."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mtaig.state.ny.us/assets/pdf/07-22.pdf|title=The Long Island Rail Road's Lost Property Process MTA/OIG Report #2007-22|last=Kluger|first=Barry L.|date=December 2007|website=OIG|publisher=MTA Inspector General State of New York|access-date=March 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202014451/http://mtaig.state.ny.us/assets/pdf/07-22.pdf|archive-date=February 2, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> A more accurate way to measure delays and OTP has been proposed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lirrcommuters.org/A55D10/home.nsf/79ac00a06b2683fa852567ca007965b7/76c174526086cf74852573a20058ff37?OpenDocument |title=– New OTP Proposal |publisher=Lirrcommuters.org |access-date=January 19, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120807053229/http://www.lirrcommuters.org/A55D10/home.nsf/79ac00a06b2683fa852567ca007965b7/76c174526086cf74852573a20058ff37?OpenDocument |archive-date=August 7, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> Called the "Passenger Hours Delayed" index it can measure total person-hours of a specific delay. This would be useful in comparing performance of specific days or incidents, day-to-day (or week-to-week) periods, but has not been adopted.

Ridership has increased from 81 million passengers in 2011 to 89.3 million passengers in 2016, which is the railroad's highest ridership since 1949. The all-time highest ridership was in 1929, when 119&nbsp;million passengers rode 1.89 billion passenger miles.<ref>{{Cite news | title = LIRR, AirTrain, Tri-Rail Note Higher Annual or Daily Passenger Counts | url = http://www.progressiverailroading.com/news/article.asp?id=15045 | newspaper = Progressive Railroading | date = February 8, 2008 | access-date = September 15, 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090212174643/http://www.progressiverailroading.com/news/article.asp?id=15045 | archive-date = February 12, 2009 | url-status = live }}</ref> This increase in ridership has been attributed to the increased usage of the LIRR by millennials, and the increase of reverse-peak travel.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mta.info/news/2017/01/23/lirr-and-metro-north-railroad-break-ridership-records|title=LIRR and Metro-North Railroad Break Ridership Records|date=January 23, 2017|website=mta.info|publisher=Metropolitan Transportation Authority|access-date=January 25, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202025122/http://www.mta.info/news/2017/01/23/lirr-and-metro-north-railroad-break-ridership-records|archive-date=February 2, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>