When speaking about the best subway line in the city, it’s all relative. Which line arrives generally on time, is fairly clean and features mostly audible announcements?
The winner this year, according to the Straphangers Campaign newest State of the Subways Report Cardin the race to mediocrity is the 1 train. The worst trains are the C and W, a fact to which anyone who ever tries to take either of those trains can attest. Here’s what the report had to say:
- The best subway line in the city is the 1 for the first time since we began these rankings, with a “MetroCard Rating” of $1.25. The previous top-rated line – the 6 – dropped to a third-place tie. The 1 ranked highest because it performs above average on four of six measures: frequently scheduled service, arriving with more regularity, fewer dirty cars, and better announcements. The line did not get a higher rating because it performed below average on: a chance of getting a seat during rush hours, and delays caused by mechanical breakdowns…
- The C and W were ranked the worst subway lines, with a MetroCard Rating of 65 cents. The C and W lines both have a low level of scheduled service, and each performs below average on three additional measures: car breakdowns, chance of getting a seat during rush hours and announcements…
- Overall, we found a mixed picture for subway service. 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. But car breakdowns worsened from a mechanical failure from every 178,085 miles in 2005 to one every 156,624 miles.
The report itself is a labor of love. The Straphangers use MTA data to grade the subway lines. As SUBWAYblogger noted earlier today, isn’t it a little fishy that the MTA is grading itself? The Straphangers say the MTA has signed off on their methodology. Well, of course, they have. It’s their own data being manipulated to grade the subways.
Of concern to me are the overall trends found in this year’s report card. The subway system is, in the words of the report, “a stalled system.” Cars — even the newer, supposedly more reliable ones — are breaking down more frequently. The timeliness of the system hasn’t improved and neither has the PA system. While cars are cleaner, this is a small victory as the entire city seems to be clamoring for more service.
The Straphangers’ conclusion is rather dire too. “Continued progress will be a challenge,” the report reads. “The MTA is struggling to obtain all the planned funding for its current rebuilding program, including rising construction costs, a weak dollar and realizing $1 billion dollars from the sale of its assets, such as its valuable Manhattan rail yards.”
It certainly makes it sound like the MTA could really use that money from the congestion fee and that upcoming fare hike. But at what cost to the riders?
For all of that fun stuff like cleanest lines and most often on time, check out either this post at amNY’s Tracker blog or this one at The Times’ CityRoom blog. The individual breakdowns are fun to peruse but not as interesting as the overall trends seen in a system staggering under its popularity.
4 comments
The W isn’t that bad. The Straphangers’ methodology gives a heavy weight to service frequency, but every W station stop is also made by at least one other service, so it’s not really a relevant measure. Along the Astoria Line, if an N train comes along, there probably aren’t many riders who say, “Damn, I wanted a W.” For most of those riders, it’s the combined frequency of N+W that counts, not the W frequency alone. Several of the lowest-ranked services have this same characteristic, namely, that along all or most of their route, they aren’t the only service.
The survey also doesn’t weigh service frequency against demand, so it fails to recognize that in running L trains more often than M trains, the MTA has probably made the correct decision.
The 1 train is my train. Recognize!
Hey, I’m a big fan of the C train, fo’ realz. It may be a bit dank, but it sure is fast.
On the other hand, the straphangers campaign is awesome and I used to work for NYPIRG so I have to have a little faith in them.
The #1 is tops? Really? I ride it every day (transferring from the 2-3), and it is ALWAYS late, so much so that my fellow co-workers and I have concluded that – contrary to the MTA’s promises – there is definitely reduced service following the dissolution of the #9. Case in point: from 116th street/Columbia University at least once per week during the commute home, the station will be packed with people, and after an interminably long wait, the next #1 will skip 116th and go on to 110th street, a move which absolutely defies logic. Wouldn’t it make more sense to pick up passengers from the far more crowded 116th street station and run them express to 96th, while the “following” train (and not always “immediately” following) handles the rest – with far less passengers waiting? Oh, and – the train that skips 116 is usually NOT overcrowded. Frankly, the illogic of this is quite maddening and reflects how much of the MTAs problems is not “antiquated” equipment, but rather stunningly stupid decision-making.