Commuter Trains Have Kept Rolling. Will All Those Riders Ever Return?

Transit agencies in the New York City region are having to reinvent their railroads to adapt to the shift away from going to the office every day.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, New York City’s commuter railroads had one main job: They delivered 300,000 tightly packed passengers to work each morning, and carried them home again in the evening. But the pandemic disrupted that daily ebb and flow, keeping most of the regular riders at home for the last 17 months. The widespread shift to working from home has left the three main commuter railroads that serve New York City — the three busiest in the nation — struggling to reinvent themselves. They have changed how they operate, drastically cutting service, reducing fares and offering new kinds of tickets. But they have not figured out how to replace the steady monthly revenue the pandemic wiped out — some of which may never return if workers do not resume five-day-a-week commuting. Hundreds of merchants whose businesses depend on commuters face equally uncertain prospects.