We, the commuters of Suffolk County New York hereby petition the Long Island Railroad and NYS Governor Hochul for an expanded Express Rail Service from Ronkonkoma to Atlantic Terminal. 

Specifically , we are requesting that :

 
The new express trains (which are scheduled to decrease travel by 45 minutes) to and from Grand Central , stop at Atlantic Terminal so that Brooklyn commuters can also benefit from this new Express service. 
And / Or  
        Express trains roundtrip with fewer stops in Long Island which allow arrival to Atlantic Terminal  Brooklyn within 50 minutes . 
 2. Express trains that run  from Atlantic terminal to Ronkonkoma beginning weekdays off peak at 3:30 pm and running every 15 minutes concluding at the end of peak hours. 

Currently, many commuters with responsibilities in Brooklyn that begin at 8am have to board Ronkonkoma trains as early as 5:42am  only to reach Atlantic Terminal 88 minutes later. This does not include the time it takes to get to the Ronkonkoma station.

In some cases , after exiting the Atlantic Terminal at 7:10 am, there is an additional 20 – 30 minutes by subway or bus which would make the  total travel time  up to 120 minutes to Brooklyn destinations during peak and off peak hours.

Yet , if we  were traveling to Penn Station, our ride would be anywhere from 69 – 81 minutes ( with an additional 20 minutes of a subway ride in some cases for a grand total of 90- 100 minutes). This should not be since Brooklyn is closer.

The cost to commuters as well as duration of travel time far exceeds that of the cost and travel time to NYC from some neighboring states. Not to mention the amount taxes that Long Islanders pay per year. 

We strongly believe that such changes will increase ridership, increase profits,  improve services for commuters , enable more students to travel to/from Colleges /Universities and decrease traffic on  NYC Parkways/Drives/ Expressways.

It is our hope that you agree that LI/ Brooklyn commuters deserve the same express service benefits that LI/ Manhattan commuters receive and that these service changes can be in effect Spring 2022. 

Thank you for  signing in support of our petition.