Merrick LIRR Commute and Parking (Babylon, Mineola: 2013, houses, calculating)

[Ad0ut]

Hi all,

Looking for houses in Merrick and was wondering how full the trains are. I'd be taking either the 7:02 or the 7:16AM train and the wife would be taking a train closer to 9AM. Are seats readily available? I don't mind getting a middle seat, but would hate to have to stand the whole way into manhattan.

Also, if the parking lots are full, is there street parking? I know it may be frowned upon to park on a residential street by someone's house (and I hopefully would not need to do this often), but is this something residents do on a regular basis?

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide.

[Interlude]

The express trains are typically full but the others you can often find a seat. Certainly better than Mineola during rush hour which I always find crowded.

Lots fill up by 8. Most of the streets nearby have parking restrictions unless you're up for a walk.

[Taurus24]

Originally Posted by Ad0ut

Hi all,

Looking for houses in Merrick and was wondering how full the trains are. I'd be taking either the 7:02 or the 7:16AM train and the wife would be taking a train closer to 9AM. Are seats readily available? I don't mind getting a middle seat, but would hate to have to stand the whole way into manhattan.

Also, if the parking lots are full, is there street parking? I know it may be frowned upon to park on a residential street by someone's house (and I hopefully would not need to do this often), but is this something residents do on a regular basis?

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide.

For the 7:02 and 7:16 trains, you will definitely have a seat and parking in one of the lots.

[lirr42]

The LIRR puts out a ridership book each year where you can look and see how crowded your train is. If you go by the LIRR's way of calculating standees, they will say that all Babylon Branch trains have standees. However, if you adjust the formula to remove the middle seat from the equation (which few people ever sit in), you get much more accurate data from which you can decide which train would be the best to to take. You can view the adjusted load data here: A More Realistic Look at LIRR Standee Counts (you will probably need the timetable open in another tab to line up the trains).

Keep in mind that in the morning, the closer you are to where the train starts its run (the origin) the better chance of you getting a seat. So at Merrick, you would have the best chance of getting a seat on a train that has Wantagh or Merrick as its origin station.

Let me know if you need any help interpreting the table/finding which trains have the most seats available.