Southampton Town is putting money into the unglamorous end of train service: the parking lot. Town Supervisor Maria Moore and Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni announced on October 20 a joint effort to improve the Long Island Rail Road parking facilities at four stations in the town, so that more South Fork workers can leave the car near home and ride the South Fork Commuter Connection to work.

The money

Schiavoni has pledged a $100,000 state grant to the town for the work. Moore's 2027 budget is expected to include $200,000 in town funds, half of which will be reimbursed by that state grant, so the capital improvements arrive fully funded. For a town budget, it is a small line with a specific purpose: make the lots usable so the trains fill up.

The four stations

The town already has an agreement with the MTA and the LIRR to maintain the parking facilities at three of its stations: Speonk, Westhampton and Bridgehampton. The fourth, Hampton Bays, currently parks its riders on Good Ground Road, and a joint agreement involving MTA property there is expected to be signed in 2027.

The improvements will be site specific, and the town says they will range from new signage and striping to repaving, drainage work and added capacity. Anyone who has circled a full gravel lot at 6:45 a.m. can translate that list.

Why parking is the lever

The South Fork Commuter Connection, created in 2019, runs coordinated weekday trains and shuttle buses across the Shinnecock Canal, carrying workers east to jobs on the South Fork without their cars. The service only works if riders can get to a station and leave the car, which is what makes the lots a transportation project rather than a maintenance chore. The town's stated goal is to take cars off the road by giving commuters a train they can actually reach.

The service has the ridership to justify it. When New York State announced Montauk Branch upgrades in August, it reported that South Fork Commuter Connection ridership has been growing, with Southampton stations seeing a 46 percent increase this year.

Who pushed it

Moore said the town is committed to working with Schiavoni and the MTA to improve train service on the South Fork, and called the state of the station parking an important part of that effort. Schiavoni said that with hopes of expanding LIRR service on the East End, the town has to improve its capacity for parked cars, and that the funds will help refurbish, repair and expand the parking infrastructure at the local stations. Town Council member Tom Neely, a longtime advocate for the train service who helped coordinate the funding, said the partnership also sends the MTA a message that the South Fork is doing its part to support better service.

What happens next

The town funds are expected in the 2027 budget, the Hampton Bays agreement is expected to be signed in 2027, and the work at each station will be scoped site by site. Commuters will see the first evidence where they always do: new lines on fresh pavement.

Sources