Dear Editor:
Manhattan State Senator Brad Hoylman, Congress member Jerry Nadler, State Sen. Robert Jackson, Assembly Member Richard Gottfried, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and NYC City Council Member Erik Bottcher sent Amtrak a letter requesting that additional seating be installed in the $1.6 billion Penn Station Moynihan Train Hall.
There is currently only very limited seating in a small waiting area for ticketed passengers. Just as bad, there is no seating for Long Island Rail Road riders waiting on the $300 million West Concourse level for arriving trains. There are also no bathroom facilities directly adjacent to the West Concourse. When there are periodic delays in service due to signal or other problems in either the Hudson or East River tunnels, thousands of LIRR and New Jersey Transit commuters have to stand for long periods of time.
Adding adequate seating is inexpensive and easy to install. It would go a long way toward attracting more pre COVID-19 riders to return.
Larry Penner
(Larry Penner is a transportation advocate, historian and writer who previously worked 31 years for the Federal Transit Administration Region 2 NY Office)
