April 5, 2008
Not Bizarro World, Just Weekend Subway Service
Perhaps because the MTA signs trying explain weekend subway service diversions are confusing--like this weekend F service sign--the MTA has put up some maps to try to explain changes, too. For instance, here's a map explaining service updates for the 2 and 5 lines.
While the 2 usually goes up the West Side and the 5 the East Side, the uptown 5 is running on the 2 line in most of Manhattan and the uptown 2 is making stops on the 4/5 in Manhattan. Let's say you're in Brooklyn and were planning on heading to the Upper West Side--you'd have to take the 4 train into Manhattan, get out at Bowling Green, walk downstairs and then back upstairs to the downtown tracks to catch an uptown 5 train--if one ever comes (last Saturday afternoon, we waited about 40 minutes for an uptown 5).
The NY Times' Clyde Haberman's column details the woes of weekend subway ridership--did you know 4.8 million people took the subways on weekends, the highest level ever. You can sign up for weekly and weekend subway service advisories from the MTA and from the Straphangers group.
Oh, and there are no 3 trains running (there are buses), the A stops at 168th Street, there's no C...
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The MTA should issue weekend service maps, since the reroutings and service outages are now more or less permanent.
www.forgotten-ny.com
this uptown A train business is about to get on my last nerve. as if we're not isolated enough as it is...
The problem is not just the delays from the rerouting, at a certain point the changes feel Kafkaesque in their complexity. The featured map explains how to get around, but it does not detail why this is is going on beyond a few words like improvements. I have been unable to wrap my ahead around why a west side train is running on the east and vice versa. I am sure the MTA has a reason based on some sort of infrastructure layout, but none of that is clear on this map. It just seems like a headache for headache's sake.
Bunch a chuckleheads!
That was the first time I've seen a service change map like that, which is why I took the picture.
As Uncle Eddie said, more information would be helpful. If the 2 and the 5 are just switching uptown tracks, why have them switch?
the MTA website does not say this, but the local Manhattan stops on the 4,5,6 line are a total DISASTER. unfortunately, i found this out at 3:30 am last night, after leaving an all night poker game with my college buddies.
i was at 103rd Street and needed to get down to the 51st Street stop so I could transfer to the E train. to get there, I need to take the 4 uptown to 125th, since no downtown trains were making local stops. Then, I needed to take the 4 back downtown to 42nd. I then needed to get back on an uptown local train, in order to stop at 51st Street. It was utterly stupid and took forever.
Please note that the MTA website does not say anything about downtown local service not operating. beware if you're traveling downtown along Lexington Avenue tonight!
At least the MTA is trying something new to help explain the changes better. I have previously commented that I didn't think the MTA knew someone had invented the map, so this is a great leap forward.
When you provide a complex service like the subway, it's hard to see things from the passengers point of view. This is why the MTA's usual attempts to explain are a disaster.
I don't really understand how switching the 2 to the 5 line, and the 5 to the 2 line makes any sense!
There were a few months a little way back when I gave up trying to get on an uptown 1 train anywhere but at Chambers Street station on the downtown 1 track. It would then run on the uptown 2 track after pulling out. Where the uptown 2 ran, who knows. Probably on the downtown 5.
I think they're just having fun with us.
Probably work in the Bronx? That's the only thing that makes any sense.
I would like to see an MTA worker leak the weekend work schedule to the press -- or here even. Because the worst part about all these reroutings is that most time its not visually evident that theres any actual work being done! Get an investigative reporter to match up what is actually being done on the weekends to the re-routings! Seems like the tracks and stations are only getting worse.
I ride my bike on the weekends, its the only way to know for sure that you will get where you are going in a timely manner.
BTW, tons of neighbors walking through washington heights n of 168th to get home as this weekend. Tired and crying little kids too. Poor things.
I don't see why they wouldn't publish a new map every weekend showing what trains are stopping where.
Why on earth would they do this? I'm assuming there is a reason..
But given they start and end at the same place (on the map).. Why didn't they just have the 5 run up the east side, and the 2 up the west?
Given it's only the Uptown trains having the switch. maybe it's something to do with not being able to turn the trains around at the northern most point?