So as Ye Olde Towne of London gets ready to unveil a truly novel concept — 24-hour Tube service on some lines — the plan has hit a snag. The problem is that the union and Transport for London officials have not come to terms on how best to staff the new service, and they won’t be able to debut the new service on September 12th as originally planned. The dispute centers around quality-of-life concerns, as union officials are not satisfied with TFL’s staffing plans for the new 24-hour service and worry that their members’ work-life balance will be disrupted by overnight shifts. Eventually, the two sides will come to terms, likely when TFL agrees to hire new employees for the overnight shifts and the unions expand their work roles. Still, Londoners are now left with a longer wait for 24-hour service.
Coming from the U.K., we have another story on public transit, this one concerning a popular word. The Oxford Dictionaries — part of Oxford University Press which publishes the Oxford English Dictionary — has determined that manspreading is a word, despite my autocorrect’s never-ending attempts at making it two words. Officially, the definition extends to any instance of manspreading, and here’s how Oxford defines it: “The practice whereby a man, especially one travelling on public transport, adopts a sitting position with his legs wide apart, in such a way as to encroach on an adjacent seat or seats.” Make of that what you will; the MTA’s newest mugs and magnets remain a crowning achievement related to this new word.
In case you missed it, the big news this week concerned the official opening of the 7 line extension. It’s slated for Sunday, September 13, and I’ll be on hand with camera to file a full report. Look out for some posts related to the 7 line next week. I also took a look at the flaws in the ferry plan and funding the MTA’s capital plan through a surcharge on taxi rides. You can also catch me on Instagram and Twitter. After the jump come this weekend’s service advisories.
From 11:30 p.m. Friday, August 28 to 5:00 a.m. Monday, August 31, 1 trains are suspended in both directions between 14 St and South Ferry. 23 trains run local in both directions between 34 St-Penn Station and Chambers St. Free shuttle buses provide alternate service between Chambers St and South Ferry.
From 11:30 p.m. Friday, August 28 to 5:00 a.m. Monday, August 31, 2 trains are suspended in both directions between E 180 St and 149 St-Grand Concourse.
Free shuttle buses operate along two routes:
- Express shuttle buses run between E 180 St and 149 St-Grand Concourse, stopping at the Hunts Point Av 6 station and 3 Av-149 St.
- Local shuttle buses make all stops between E 180 St and 149 St-Grand Concourse. Transfer between trains and free shuttle buses at E 180 St, Hunts Point Av, and/or 149 St-Grand Concourse.
From 11:30 p.m. Friday, August 28 to 5:00 a.m. Monday, August 31, 2 trains run local in both directions between Chambers St and 34 St-Penn Station.
From 6:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Saturday, August 29 and Sunday, August 30, 3 trains are suspended in both directions between Crown Hts-Utica Av and New Lots Av. Free shuttle buses operate all weekend making all station stops.
From 6:30 a.m. to 12 midnight, Saturday, August 29 and Sunday, August 30, 3 trains run local in both directions between Chambers St and 34 St-Penn Station.
From 11:30 p.m. Friday, August 28 to 7:30 a.m. Sunday, August 30, and from 11:30 p.m. Sunday, August 30 to 5:00 a.m. Monday, August 31, 4 trains are suspended in both directions between Crown Hts-Utica Av and New Lots Av. Free shuttle buses operate all weekend making all station stops.
From 11:45 p.m. Friday, August 28 to 7:30 a.m. Sunday, August 30, and from 11:45 p.m. Sunday, August 30 to 5:00 a.m. Monday, August 31, Crown Hts-Utica Av bound 4 trains run express from Grand Central-42 St to Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall.
From 6:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Saturday, August 29, and from 8:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Sunday, August 30, 5 trains are suspended in both directions between E 180 St and Bowling Green. Take the 4 and free shuttle buses instead. 5 shuttle service operates between Eastchester-Dyre Av and E 180 St. Free shuttle buses operate along two routes:
- Express shuttle buses run between E 180 St and 3 Av-149 St, stopping at the Hunts Point Av 6 station.
- Local shuttle buses make all station stops between E 180 St and 3 Av-149 St.
From 11:45 p.m. Friday, August 28 to 5:00 a.m. Monday, August 31, Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall bound 6 trains run express from Grand Central-42 St to Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall.
From 11:45 p.m. Friday, August 28 to 5:00 a.m. Monday, August 31, A trains are rerouted via the F line in both directions between W 4 St-Wash Sq and Jay St-MetroTech.
From 11:45 p.m. Friday, August 28 to 6:30 a.m. Sunday, August 30, and from 11:45 p.m. Sunday, August 30 to 5:00 a.m. Monday, August 31, Inwood-207 St bound A trains run express from 125 St to 168 St.
From 6:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Saturday, August 29 and Sunday, August 30, C trains are rerouted via the F line in both directions between W 4 St-Wash Sq and Jay St-MetroTech.
From 6:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Saturday, August 29 and Sunday, August 30, 168 St-bound C trains run express from 125 St to 168 St.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 29 to 5:00 a.m. Monday, August 31, E trains run local in both directions between Queens Plaza and Forest Hills-71 Av.
From 9:45 p.m. Friday, August 28 to 5:00 a.m. Monday, August 31, Coney Island-Stillwell Av bound F trains are rerouted via the M line from Roosevelt Av to 47-50 Sts.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, August 29 to 5:00 a.m. Monday, August 31, F trains run local in both directions in Queens.
From 11:30 p.m. Friday, August 28 to 5:00 a.m. Monday, August 31, N trains are rerouted via the D line in both directions between Coney Island-Stillwell Av and 36 St. Free shuttle buses and R trains provide alternate service.
From 11:45 p.m. Friday, August 28 to 5:00 a.m. Monday, August 31, Astoria-Ditmars Blvd bound N trains skip 49 St.
From 11:15 p.m. Friday, August 28 to 5:00 a.m. Monday, August 31, Manhattan-bound Q trains run express from Kings Hwy to Prospect Park.
From 11:45 p.m. Friday, August 28 to 6:30 a.m. Sunday, August 30, and from 11:45 p.m. Sunday, August 30 to 5:00 a.m. Monday, August 31, Manhattan-bound Q trains skip 49 St.
From 11:45 p.m. Friday, August 28 to 6:30 a.m. Sunday, August 30, and from 11:45 p.m. Sunday, August 30 to 5:00 a.m. Monday, August 31, 36 St-bound R trains stop at 53 St and 45 St.
From 6:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Saturday, August 29, and Sunday, August 30, Uptown R trains skip 49 St.
15 comments
I remember in a discussion with a couple Londoners some years ago on the matter of overnight service, they cited exactly the same obstacle: “the union will never allow it”. Interesting how that sentiment on the part of the union remains and yet, it looks like they’re finding a way to make it work since it really is in the public’s best interest.
The MTA could learn a thing or two from that.
That is incorrect.
The unions are happy for the night tube to operate and always have been but they have concerns over quality of life issues (which includes pay), shift rostering and others such as station safety – for station staff and passengers – and they felt that TFL and Boris Johnson in particular weren’t interested in addressing those issues.
At one stage of the negotiations TFL laid a proposal to the unions and gave them something like 4 (yes FOUR) hours to agree to it which was just not possible.
Indeed I saw a recent report to the TFL Board about the night tube that failed to mention the staffing issue at all even though they knew the staffing issues hadn’t been resolved.
The main issue that has meant we couldn’t have a night tube was the state of the infrastructure and until upgrade work had taken place on e.g. the Victoria and Northern Lines it simply wasn’t possible as they needed the night hours to do maintenance and also capital replacement works. Now the infrastructure is up to snuff that is less of an issue on those lines.
Here is a BBC article on it – free to read unlike the link Ben posted.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-e.....n-34070904
“The MTA could learn a thing or two from that.”
The MTA has had overnight service since forever. It’s the London underground that seems to be learning a thing or two from the MTA.
MTA has overnight service since forever, yes, but it’s at 20-40 minute headways, right? And a reputation for being unreliable and unsafe for solo women. So it’s not very useful for most people — those travelling late at night who can afford taxi/Uber will do so because late night subways are unreliable.
I don’t know that the average late night female worker – server, kitchen help, office cleaner, etc, can afford to take a cab on a daily basis. Also, subway crime is way down – at least when compared to 20-25 years ago.
While I personally hate night work, over the years there have been a number of SCA jobs that simply couldn’t be done during school hours, and they have brought me to remote parts of Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. I’ve never found the late night subway service to be “unreliable”. Yes, there were 20+ minute waits at times, but the train always got there, always connected, and always got me home.
Night subway service is pretty well used, and probably not unusually unsafe for women.
British people can’t work at night? What do they do for late night police officers, ER doctors, long-haul flight attendants, nightclub DJs, all-night cafes, etc?
Come at 11 PM to airport, go through security, sleep on airport floor for 6 AM flight.
They take the night bus and try not to get in fights with drunks. Basically the same as here 🙂
Yes because we are all in bed by 10.30 after drinking tea all day and the country closes down till morning.
It’s got nothing to do with ‘can’t work at night’ but about an employer trying to impose work changes on I ts staff with little or no consultation and with an artificial deadline.
Boris Johnson announced the night tube ages ago but only permitted, despite advice to the contrary, negotiations to start recently avid then tried to make out the unions were at fault.
The problem London faces in implementing an all night service is that all lines consist of two tracks which poses a problem for track maintenance if the all night service runs 7 nights a week. Unlike New York we don’t have a four track system which permits two lines to be dedicated to night service while work can be undertaken on the remaining two tracks (and tunnels). Consequently the Night Tube service will only run on Friday and Saturday nights but where it is implemented the normal headway will be six trains per hour (a 10 minute frequency) except for the Northern line which will operate 8 trains per hour (roughly one train per 7 to 8 minutes).
Initially only a limited subset of lines will offer this service but it intended to extend it to all lines including the DLR and the London Overground but again limited to weekends only for the reason given above. What is interesting is we already have an extensive network of night buses and this is apparently to be augmented by additional services to supplement the Night Tube offering but the full details have not been made public. There is in fact a significant and growing night time economy which is why the Night Tube service has been promoted.
PATH runs all night long with just two tracks. Just barely but it runs.
Those 35-minute headways are brutal. That doesn’t even divide into 60, so unless you’re great at memorization, you have to keep a PATH schedule with you at all times or you’ll have no clue when it’s coming. That’s not reasonable late-night service, that’s abuse. The Port Authority is worse than Hitler. (I may be exaggerating slightly for comic effect. But just slightly.)
It would be reasonable late night service if the trains were half full. They aren’t.
Fuck public sector unions.