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It's that time again! The Straphangers Campaign has released its annual State of the Subways report, and this year, the 1 train topped all other lines. This is amazing news for the 1 train - it was only in 2005 when the Straphangers found the 1/9 to be the schmutz-iest! The 1 train got high marks for "frequently scheduled service, arriving with more regularity, fewer dirty cars, and better announcements," but it did perform "below average on: a chance of getting a seat during rush hours, and delays caused by mechanical breakdowns."
The most awful lines at the C (Crappy!) and W (Worstest!), with below average performance on "car breakdowns, chance of getting a seat during rush hours and announcements." But what's especially weird is that the L train comes in second, and then the 7 and 6 trains are tied for third place. We suppose various factors neutralize each other - and that other subway lines are just atrocious.
The G breaks down the most, while the Q breaks down the least. The B is the cleanest train, while the F is the dirtiest. You have the best chance of getting a seat on the G, while W is the toughest seat. Some other Interesting factoids:
- Trains are cleaner: "On the plus side, the cleanliness of the interior of cars improved form 79% rated clean in the second half of 2005 to 87% for the same time period in 2006."This year's report was conducted in 2006, with methodology includes weighting findings on amount of scheduled service (30%), dependability of service (22.5% for regularity, 12.5% on the breakdown rate), and comfort/usability (15% for getting a seat, 10% for cleanliness, 10% for announcements).
- Trains are breaking down more frequently: "The car fleet breakdown rate worsened from an average mechanical failure every 178,085 miles in our last report to 156,624 in this report."
- The G is the most regular: "The G line had the greatest regularity of service, arriving within two to four minutes of its scheduled interval 91% of the time. The most irregular line is the 5, which performed with regularity only 81% of the time."
- Announcement quality is the same: "Accurate and understandable announcements remained unchanged at 90% between our last and current reports" - the D and Q miss announcements 18% of the time
Do you agree with these findings? What do you think are the best and worst lines?
Photograph of the 1 train by Triborough on Flickr
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Great Title for the post!
I wish the G would consistently run all the way into Queens! Getting from Queens to Brooklyn is a pain!
I work on 8th and 39th and take the C in from W 86th street ... yet I live on the UES.
The crowding on the 4-5-6 is horrific, then you have to take the shuttle (giant walk) or the 7 (flat-out most obnoxious passengers in New York) over, and then you have to walk through the awful Times Square tunnel while Jesus-freaks scream at you that you're going to hell and idiots who can't understand the concept of 2-way traffic bump into you.
The C's pretty crappy in terms of timing (there just aren't so many of them), but it rocks the living shit out of the 4-5-6 route in terms of spaciousness, comfort, and general lack of annoyance during rush hour. I take a crosstown bus just to take the B/C southbound, instead of taking the 4-5-6 south, even though I live four street blocks away from the 4-5-6. I started doing that this past winter, and my commute became infinitely more tolerable.
During non-rush-hour tho, the 4-5-6 is pretty nice.
I can actually time when the #1 train will arrive at my subway station to the minute in the evenings. As much as I hate to give props to the MTA, the #1 rarely lets me down.
They seem to ignore the most important part of service problems from a commuter's perspective - which is what happens when a line isn't running. When the C is down, you can usually grab an A that is running local. (Which the MTA should just call a C train, but that is another matter) The same goes for most of the 6 line. If an F, G or L is down, good luck!
This is really like judging which homeless kid is the most homelessliness.
i completely, 100% disagree with this. The 1 train has screwed me over several times within the last week! No downtown service past 72nd street during morning rush hour last friday and no uptown service past penn station this morning! Did anyone else experience this, or was I the only person to be late to work...twice?!
90% for accurate and understandable announcements? no way.
just u #7, just u.
The best subway is NOT HAVING TO TAKE ONE.
I moved to NJ just to avoid those dark, dank stinky crime ridden underground caves.
Funny how much rent people pay to live here and then wind up commuting daily in these horrible subways where 99% of them still smell like urine and are over run with trash, rats, rude dirty people and suicidal jumper corpses...
I agree guest no 4.
F is for "fucked" because if its not running, there is no other way to get to work (especially if your in Carroll Gardens, Red Hook and any other neighborhood nowhere near another train line).
The L train really has begun to impress me it's very timely and generally clean. As for the G being the most regular, this is absurd. But then when you read on it tells of how it arrives within 91% of its intervals of time. ok, This is reasonable, if the intervals are between 15-30 min! No complaints from the 1 train here.
#7...
do you sleep walk?
cant wait to see #10 pay a ton for congestion pricing.
10#, still not worth it to live in NJ.
Ever heard of NJ Transit?
Why would any sane person DRIVE into NY???
#14, #15,
I agree with #16. No one in their right mind would drive into NYC during peak hours.
Friends don't let friends live in New Jersey.
Sure the G is regular, since it has large gaps between trains it is harder for delays to happen.
As for not getting a seat, I would have to say it is the Lexington Avenue lines.
Seeing how much these ratings flucuate from year to year, I wonder if the "The Straphangers Campaign" is truly an accurate snap shot of what's really going on underground on a daily basis.
Or could it be that one or two events underground change people's perceptions for the worst
for the entire year (if not more).
I think this campaign should focus on the overall subway system and not rank them. Otherwise, the MTA might only hand pick the worst three from year to year and improve them instead of looking to improve the overall system.
We miss you, #10, we do, come back! We'll clean up the subways just for you!!!
Umm... kidding, guest... we don't really miss you...
#10...there's nothing worse than people who leave the city, then mock the rest of us as if you've discovered the secret to life.
And stay gone, please.
As someone who uses that train at all hours of the day and night and has for a decade now, I have to agree that when the 1 runs well, it runs very, very well - but construction delays seem to happen all the time and going home late at night I've waited 45mins + for a train. Still, I've had worse experiences on other lines and I always feel that once I'm anywhere near the 1, I can jump on and get home - the weekends can be hairy if you live north of 96th, as I do, since the 1 all but stops running after Friday evening and the MTA uses the 2/3 as a local below the 96th express station - above it, you're kind of boned and I often find myself walking 15 blocks up from 96th after drinking downtown instead of waiting for the 1. Weekdays and rushhours, though - it's pretty good.
Of course, no one outside of the Upper West Side really lives on the 1 and all my friends are on the LES and in Brooklyn, so it only goes to places I don't want to - though I use the 14th street xfer a lot.
Most importantly, it doesn't reek of piss and whatever else the F, V, L and G reek of and I have yet to feel threatened or seen someone seriously attacked on this line - I really can't say the same for the yellow, orange and gray lines. Gotta say this, though, the boys and girls on the green, yellow and orange lines are far, far more attractive (but that's just my personal opinion).
If they improved late-hour service on the "Big Red 1" above 96th, my experience of NYC would be totally, totally different.
My biggest gripe with the subway system is how difficult it is to know whether a 7 train is local or express from 42nd st on through queens. The MTA knows this and puts people out on the platform occasionally to announce it on a bullhorn, but if they aren't there -- good luck. Announcements on the 7 more than inconsistent (conductors often not bothering to announce the service type or next station for most of the ride), especially if you enter on a car with bad wiring that day. The service signs on the trains aren't changed to reflect the service either (they change too often). I usually don't end up knowing whether my train is express or local until people start boarding at queensborough plaza and ask "express or local?!?"
G train most regular? In what parallel universe?
The crowding on the 4-5-6 is horrendous. Often you're just happy to get on and off with no major problems... and most of us have just gotten used to the stench of our fellow passengers.
LOVE D!!!
N is the fastest!!!
6 on the weakends rules my world...
I like the subway, it gets me into manhattan fast & to other places where I can't go on bike from my house in Queens. The 4,5,6 are my favorite even though they are crowded to the brim (by that I mean 50 ft long by 9 ft wide being stuffed shoulder to shoulder then adding more people, i mean that's crazy) But it's fast, clean, reliable, & new cars, yey! I love technology. But there's nothing wrong with a Second Avenue Subway. & a Fifth Avenue LRT line. But the number lines are so crowded. Really crowded. Why is the downtown 2 crowded at 1pm?
Sure the G is regular, it only comes once every 20 minutes.
The A-train is great when it's actually running express on the weekends. Unfortunately it has run local each weekend for pretty much the entire summer with no indication that it will be express again for the near future. It wouldn't be so bad if I weren't at the 190 stop. On the plus side, it's way easier to get a cab up in WaHI when the train runs local.
In response to #5's "When the C is down, you can usually grab an A that is running local."
I remember all too well the pain of the F train, but now live off a C train local stop in Brooklyn, and the two lines don't compare. More often than not whenever a C isn't running, the A trains continue to run express. And usually the very next C that arrives at the station declares "due to congestion" it is now running express. My wife and I have both noticed there are usually 2-3 A trains and 3-4 E trains per each C train. You know what's more fun than waiting forever for your train? Watching so many other people catch theirs.
The C train is the blue-headed step-child of the IND. I hate the C with every fiber of my being.
Side note: I wonder if real estate near express stops is worth more?
#10...there's nothing worse than people who leave the city, then mock the rest of us as if you've discovered the secret to life.
And stay gone, please.
[22] Posted by: guest | July 23, 2007 3:34 PM
I'M BACK, as*hole...:)
We miss you, #10, we do, come back! We'll clean up the subways just for you!!!
Umm... kidding, guest... we don't really miss you...
[21] Posted by: Tim N. | July 23, 2007 3:22 PM
Tim,
You're such a riot. I hear CAROLINE'S is looking for a stand-up comedian. Maybe you should apply, NOT.
Another a-shole...site's full of 'em today I see...
Why would anyone want to move to NJ? unless....
#34 - Of course, many New Yorkers move to New Jersey to be thatmuchcloser to their beloved New York/New Jersey Football Giants and their somewhat less valued New York/New Jersey Jets. I mean, what other reason could there be?
The 1 stinks!!!!!! What are they talking about??? It used to be okay until about 3 months ago when the 1 stopped waiting at chambers for the 2 or 3 train.
Plus the excess stops between 14th and 34th st make the whole trip so slow.
That's my opinion and i'm sticking to it ;-)
~Lauren the 1 train rider.
What do delays mean? I recall the commuter trains consider 10-15minutes as NOT delays (LIRR, Metro North, etc). Does the MTA use the same standards?
Back, but still anonymous, tough guy...
Lauren - I know what you're talking about with Chambers street - but them stops twixt 14th + 34th are only excess if you ain't going there, silly goose. When I used to work right off of 23rd street, the stop wasn't excess - it was my Grand Central. To avoid the excess, hop the express ...And That's One To Grow On.
"You have the best chance of getting a seat on the G"
yeah, that's if the G ever comes!!! The G is GARBAGE!
I must live in some parallel New York City, because every time I want the 1 train, I end up waiting 25-30 minutes.
the commuter trains Metro- North and LIRR defines a delay when the train arrives more then 5:59 past the schedule.
I notice on the 4/5/6 the middle cars are always the one to be JAMMED pack. It's more likely to get a seat in the back and front of the train.
How can you grade the "G" Train ? It does go the full extension of the line ! Even at nite when it's suppose to go out to Forest Hills . Another thing here would be the "L" Train experiences frequent disruptions in service during the weekends, & Sometimes during the week nites late . So how can these lines be graded when the service doesn't run full-time ? The [1] Train doesn't go past [14th street during the weekends, So how the hell can it be graded as the best line of service ? This whole testing of the lines is ludicrous to say the least . Posted by; "Still Not Amused"
The 4-5-6 trains are the WORST by far. Always crowded and I often have to wait for several trains to pass before I can fit on one.
My faves are the A,C and the 2,3.
So if we can draw one conclusion from this article, it's that the subways are erratic and unpredictable.
But it's still arguably the best system in the world (albeit the dirtiest)