'Crumbling Concrete, Pitted Steel, Dripping Water:' Comptroller Reports LIRR Riders' Least-Favorite Station

MASSAPEQUA, NY. — Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips published a report Tuesday detailing the conditions at the county’s 58 Long Island Railroad stations, calling on the MTA to institute a series of improvements at the stations.

Phillips also cited a reported $36 million that the county sends to the MTA every year.

The survey featured a combination of spot inspections of each station carried out by the comptroller’s office and surveys of LIRR riders. The spot inspections assessed stations on 17 criteria including accessibility, bathroom access, cleanliness and infrastructure condition, a one-to-three scale. A rating of one connoted “poor,” while two connoted “fair” and three connoted “good.”

As for the rider survey, riders were asked their age, frequency of ridership and their feelings on nine sets of criteria, including accessibility, availability of amenities, bike storage and safety. The rider survey used the same rubric as the spot inspection, ranging from 1 to 3. 935 responses were recorded across 56 of the 58 stations in Nassau County. Failing to drum up responses were Glen Head and Plandome.

“Without even counting train fares, Nassau County taxpayers are sending more than $137 million per year to the MTA,” the comptroller’s report reads. “In response to constituent complaints about conditions at their local LIRR stations, the Nassau County comptroller’s office sent a formal letter to the MTA requesting a full accounting of how the LIRR is spending the millions of dollars that the county is mandated to pay for maintenance, use and operation of Nassau’s 58 LIRR stations.”

While the report didn’t feature a line-by-line review of the MTA’s budget, it did feature some mixed reviews of Nassau County LIRR stations. 13,982 individual criteria in the survey, or 35 percent, were described as “poor,” while 12,486, or 32 percent, were described as “fair” and 13,204, or 33 percent, were reviewed as “good.”

In the report, the comptroller recommended the implementation of a maintenance schedule for overpass painting and repair, pest control techniques, routine cleaning of outdoor areas, an increase in availability for indoor waiting areas and bathrooms, lighting inspection and the installation of cameras at stations.

"This is a political audit that wasn't shared with LIRR before it was blasted to the media,” MTA spokesperson David Steckel said in a statement. “The LIRR is running the best service in its history and the recently approved 2025-2029 $68.4 billion capital program is the most ambitious investment service reliability ever made."

As for which station generated the most negative responses, the top spot went to Floral Park, followed by Long Beach, Rockville Center, Valley Stream and Glen Cove. Among the most common complaints at these stations were low indoor waiting room availability, low amounts of available shelter on platforms, lack of parking, poor bicycle storage and limited bathroom access. Those stations were also among the most popular in the survey, as Floral Park saw 119 responses, Long Beach and Rockville Center saw 83 and Valley Stream saw 53. Of the five most-responded-to stations, only Massapequa (63 responses) did not rank among the most negatively reviewed.

The full report can be read here.