More People And Complaints Fill Subways On Weekends

Monday morning or Saturday afternoon? (Flickr lizzard_nyc)

Subway ridership on weekends has increased in recent years, and with the crowds come more complaints about conditions and service on the tracks.

According to transit officials, weekend subway trips have doubled in the past 20 years, carrying millions of riders during what used to be considered a slow time for the trains. Now, weekend riders are faced with "crowded platforms and sardine-tight train cars" writes the NY Times. The increased numbers are result of more residential developments across the boroughs, a rise in service jobs with nontraditional hours, and a safer public image of taking the subway at all hours of the day or night.

But while the trains remain nearly as packed on the weekends as they are during the week, the MTA continues to schedule maintenance work during the weekends, resulting in "long waits, jumbled routes, trains that skip stops and sometimes never appear." MTA officials say they are working to keep riders as informed as possible about service advisories and delays, but "the complaints about weekend service resound all throughout the city," said John C. Liu, the city comptroller, whose office is conducting an audit of the agency’s weekend service. Last year, subway ridership hit an (almost) record-breaking 1.6 billion.

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By Jamie Feldmar in News on July 11, 2011 11:29 AM

Comments [rss]

3fingersbrown

This is why I drive

colonelcasey

Well the alternative is to close down the subway for three years and let them fix everything on their to-do and wish lists. Then we'll have a subway system with no problems!

The reason why most other subway systems in the world don't have this issue is because they close down during the overnights to perform maintenance work.

ftotheyu

I wouldn't mind if they close down the subway after a certain hour, on the weekdays. Tourists flood the city on the weekends, the MTA shouldn't think that weekends are less busy in terms of ridership. I understand that it has to allocate some time for maintenance, so the best time would be 12am - 6 am, Sunday-Thursdays.

Fofofofofo

Did you miss the part about "a rise in service jobs with nontraditional hours"? I get out around midnight because I'm busy cooking foods for people with "normal" hours. Mainly rich white people.

Kimberley Truelove

And what about those that need to be at work at 5am and cannot afford a vehicle or taxis?

Militant Conformist

Sorry but there was too much logic in your post for this forum

whitecastlerock

Well the track maintenance work the MTA has put off for the past 25 years needs to get done sometime!

xXxMExXx

Maybe we should raise prices to discourage train use and give people an incentive to walk or ride a bike to their destination. After all, that is the solution voiced by so many when it comes to congestion on our streets.

Marc Hug

pretty much the dumbest thing i have heard in about a week.

ab_bklyn

Weekend subway delays are a big pain in the a$$. Yesterday afternoon I waited 30 minutes (!) for a downtown F train, while FIVE A and C trains came through the station (they were rerouted over the F line at my stop). It's unacceptable.

Likewise, the service changes are very confusing for people not used to taking the subway. Almost every weekend I encounter (and help) befuddled groups of tourists trying to figure out how to get where they're going when the subway they wanted to take is rerouted. At tourist-heavy stops (like High St. on the A/C, York St. on the F, etc.) they should have the station agent outside the booth to help people. Most of the time the agents just sit in the booth and let people get lost. It's maddening.