Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

Steps include increasing video surveillance, vehicle tracking and restricting employee parking.

Transit officials said they restored limited service to the last of 10 branches of the Long Island Rail Road commuter line that suffered damage from Hurricane Sandy. They are still working to mitigate overcrowding and slower than normal commutes.

To encourage the use of public transit as the region slowly recovers from the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy, NYC Subway and Bus network, Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Railroad, and Access-a-Ride services will be free for Thursday and Friday.

The 41 stations will have their waiting room hours extended until 10 PM in the evening on weekdays. LIRR station waiting rooms typically open between 5 AM and 6 AM on weekdays. Prior to the pilot, most station waiting rooms closed by mid-afternoon.

A train car repairman for the Long Island Rail Road earned nearly $203,000 last year, — more than the city transportation authority's chief operating officer — due to overtime bonuses that workers are able to receive under union rules.

Retirees who fabricated claims to get more money in their pensions would avoid prosecution and be able to keep their benefits if they admit wrongdoing as part of a deal with the federal government.

New York's Long Island Railroad and Metro-North increased the number of quiet spaces this month. Despite the new trend, not all riders are able to separate their hectic work lives from their commute.

Another important change in the pilot program is that the westernmost car on the train will now be the quiet car effective April 2. In the initial pilot, the quiet car was the easternmost car.

Credit card fraud at ticket machines peaked in May of last year before installation of the new system, which requires customers to provide their zip code as part of the verification process. The rail service expects to save over $5 million.

To use the service, a user enters his or her origin and destination, and Train Time will then provide upcoming departure times and indications showing whether each train is running on time or, if late, by how many minutes.