Hochul poses for LIRR photo-op while dispatching her security detail to pick her up from station

Gov. Kathy Hochul crowed about riding the LIRR on Friday — posting a photo of herself on the train and gushing about the “great ride” — all while having her taxpayer-funded motorcade drive in from Manhattan to pick her up at the station.

The Democrat was blasted as a “phony” after she rode the train from Penn Station to Syosset, where her state police detail picked her up in her SUV and drove her about 15 minutes to the Crest Hollow Country Club for an event.

“I was coming on the Long Island Railroad this morning. It was a great ride, great ride. I encourage everybody to do it,” Hochul told the gathering of local officials and business leaders before waxing poetic about the “connectivity” of the train line’s corridor.

“The Long Island Railroad is the link to all of it,” she said.

Before her speech at the Long Island Association business trade group’s annual State of the Region event, Hochul posted a photo of herself editing her remarks on a tablet while riding the train.

“Putting the finishing touches on my speech while riding the @LIRR. The Long Island Rail Road had 95.65% on-time performance last year — one of the best in history!” she posted.

But Hochul neglected to mention that at the same time as she was posing for the photo, her security detail was driving her SUV out the 30 miles from Manhattan to pick her up in Syosset and drive her to the country club and to other events throughout the day.

“Kathy Hochul wants folks to ride the trains and subways that even she refuses to stay on to get to her taxpayer-funded propaganda events,” Hudson Valley Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), a frequent critic a potential 2026 challenger told The Post.

“It’s no wonder her approval rating is in the dumps – she’s a total phony.”

Long Island officials also slammed Hochul over the photo-op, noting that she’s been urging Long Islanders to ride the train if they want to avoid the new, $9 congestion pricing charge to drive into Manhattan below 60th Street.

“While Kathy Hochul tells Long Islanders they should get out of their cars and take the LIRR if they don’t want to pay her new commuter tax here she is responsible for BOTH a car trip and a train ride to get to the same place,” said Assemblyman Ed Ra (R-Nassau) said bashing the governor’s implementation of congestion pricing.

“New Yorkers need real efforts to make transportation safer and more affordable not another photo-op.”

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman added: “The average working class commuter doesn’t have the luxury of traveling with six state troopers and until confidence is restored in the safety of train, subway and bus travel, the number of riders will continue to fall.”

Not only are Hochul’s state police SUVs exempt from the phased-in $15 congestion pricing toll, but exclusive Post reporting revealed in 2022 that most speed trap cameras can’t even read their plates.

MTA Communications Director Tim Minton on Friday said Hochul had promised to use her personal funds to send the agency $9 to pay tolls for each day she spends in New York City.

Hochul has been making an effort to try and convince New Yorkers that she rides transit since she decided move forward with congestion pricing last fall.

Last month, the governor held a press conference on a train car in Putnam County with Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber.

On Monday, the first weekday after implementation of the toll, Hochul said she’d taken Metro North into the city that morning.

“All police and other emergency vehicles are exempt by law from congestion relief tolls, however the governor’s office has previously advised us that at the end of the year she will use personal funds to send $9 to the MTA to pay tolls for each day she spends in New York City.”