Metro-North sees Rockland ridership soar

Metro-North Railroad's ridership in Rockland and Orange counties is surging.

The Pascack Valley Line saw ridership jump 12.7 percent, or by 62,500 rides, through October 2014 compared with the same 10-month period in 2013. Overall, west of Hudson ridership, which includes the Port Jervis Line, was up nearly 7 percent, the most recent figures show.

Orrin Getz, a rail advocate from New City, suspects two primary reasons for the growth.

"The economy has been getting better," Getz said. "And adding the additional express trains has paid off."

Getz, who is the Rockland liaison to the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers and part of the Empire State Passengers Association, said Metro-North made a smart move in late 2012 to introduce extra morning and evening trains with far fewer stops on the Pascack Valley Line.

"People like express trains," Getz said, adding that reduced parking rates at train stations and expanding road congestion also were likely factors.

Metro-North pays NJ Transit to provide rail service in New York west of the Hudson River. Metro-North spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said the Rockland and Orange counties' service was still recovering from the 2008 recession. Though the railroad expects 2014 ridership to approach 1.7 million, that figure would fall short of its record of 2.1 million rides in 2008.

"So we are not quite there yet, but things are going in the right direction," Anders said. "Some double-digit growth is very heartening."

East of the Hudson, Metro-North is coming off its best rail ridership year in its history, providing 81.8 million rides. Even as it spent the year recovering from a deadly derailment in December 2013, which affected on-time performance, ridership increased by more than 700,000 on its three lines through October compared with the year-ago period. That marked a 1.1 percent change.

More than 69 million rides were taken on the Harlem, Hudson and New Haven lines through the first 10 months of 2014, dwarfing the 1.4 million rides on the west of Hudson service.

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By the numbers

Total Metro-North Railroad ridership is up 1.2 percent through October 2014 compared with the same 10-month period in 2013.

•Harlem Line, 22.6 million, 0.4 percent increase

•Hudson Line, 13.5 million, 1.5 percent increase

•New Haven Line, 32.9 million, 1.3 percent increase

Total east of Hudson, 69 million, 1.1 percent increase

•Port Jervis Line, 852,100, 3.3 percent increase

•Pascack Valley Line, 555,500, 12.7 percent increase

Total west of Hudson, 1.4 million, 6.8 percent increase

Source: MTA Metro-North Railroad