MTA to continue express service after Mets games

In its oversight role yesterday, the City Council’s Transportation Committee posed an important question often on the minds of New York’s sports fans: What does the MTA do to accommodate increased ridership during ball games and other special events?

Now, as you might guess, I have some very strong feelings on this matter. For example, the MTA sure doesn’t run extra 2 trains at Grand Concourse-149th St. after Yankee games even though many Yankee fans use that station to get home to the West Side. Up until last year, Mets fans suffered from the same problem. As I wrote in May, the lack of 7 express service from Shea to Manhattan after Mets games was one of the more infuriating aspects of trekking out to Flushing.

Two months after I wrote about that 7 service, the MTA announced a post-game express pilot program. For the duration of the 2007 baseball season, up until that fateful final game for the Mets, New York City Transit offered 7 express service following weekday night games. And it was good.

Today, at that City Council Transportation Committee hearing, Larry Gould, the senior director of operations analysis for NYCT, said that this experimental service will probably continue into 2008 and, according to a report in Newsday, expand. Gould noted that the MTA will look into providing express trains after weekend games as well.

During the hearing, John Liu, committee head, pressed Gould on providing express service after the U.S. Open, and Liu delivered the quote of the year. “I don’t think it’s rocket science here,” Liu said. “You’ve done it for the Mets games. Why not do it for the tennis games?”

Oh, John, it’s not rocket science; it’s MTA scheduling. That can be much harder to comprehend than rocket science.

But, to give NYCT credit, Gould said that the program should encompass the 2008 U.S. Open too. In particular, this is great news for folks leaving the Open at 2 a.m. after matches run long, as they did earlier this year, and great news for all as the MTA is showing a willingness to take full advantage of express service options on existing tracks.