Good luck. Do you plan to ride the subways this weekend? Well, to that I say good luck. Hopefully, you’ll have a better experience than I did at 11:45 on Friday night when I had to wait 30 minutes for a downtown Q train at Herald Square. During that half an hour, I saw three uptown Q trains pass — two bound for 57th St. and one for Astoria. I saw three downtown N trains pass (and, yes, should have taken one). No downtown Q and no announcement.
When eventually the Q showed up, it was as crowded as a morning train and running local. Three stops later, an empty train deadheading back to Coney Island went zooming by on the express tracks. Via Twitter, Transit claimed this massive gap was the result of an earlier incident, but that didn’t pass the smell test. The MTA never sent out a text alert about an earlier incident and made no announcements. Plus, trains were running uptown but just not back downtown. Pure and simple, I was a victim of poor operations planning and an attempt to make excuses. It doesn’t fly in 2015.
But I digress. Let’s instead focus on something more fun. Take the Nostalgia Train this weekend and throughout the month. Every Sunday, from 2nd Ave. to Queens Plaza on the 6th Ave. line, the old cars will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It’s a lot of fun to hop a quick ride on cars that ran decades ago. And if that’s not your style, just take the C train instead for instant nostalgia. The Transit Museum will also be hosting a pop-up museum shop at 2nd Ave. during Sundays in December.
Meanwhile, there are some service changes this weekend. None involve a 30-minute wait for the Q though (or the Q train at all) so oh well for me.
From 11:45 p.m. Friday, December 4 to 6 a.m. Saturday, December 5; from 11:45 p.m.
Saturday, December 5 to 8 a.m. Sunday, December 6; and from 11:45 p.m. Sunday, December 6 to 5 a.m. Monday, December 7, downtown 4 trains run express from 125 St to Grand Central-42 St.
From 11:45 p.m. Friday, December 4 to 6 a.m. Saturday, December 5; from 11:45 p.m. Saturday, December 5 to 8 a.m. Sunday, December 6; and from 11:45 p.m. Sunday, December 6 to 5 a.m. Monday, December 7, downtown 6 trains run express from 125 St-Union Sq to Grand Central-42 St.
- To 116 St, 110 St, 103 St, 96 St, 77 St, 68 St and 51 St, take a downtown 4 or 6 train to 86 St, 59 St, or Grand Central-42 St and transfer to an uptown 4 local or 6.
- From these stations, take an uptown 4 or 6 to 59 St, 86 St or 125 St and transfer to a downtown 4 or 6.
- Transfers at 86 St require an Unlimited Ride MetroCard.
From 11:45 p.m. Friday, December 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday, December 5, Coney Island-bound trains run express from Jay St-MetroTech to 4 Av-9 St.
- To Bergen St, Carroll St, and Smith-9 Sts, take the F to 4 Av-9 St and transfer to a Jamaica-bound F.
- From these stations, take a Jamaica-bound F to Jay St-MetroTech and transfer to a Coney Island-bound F.
- G trains do not operate between Church Av and Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts.
From 11:45 p.m. Friday, December 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday, December 5, Jamaica-bound trains skip 169 St.
- To this station, take a Jamaica-bound F to 179 St and transfer to a Coney Island-bound F.
- From this station, use the Q2, Q3 or Q17 bus.
From 11:30 p.m. Friday, December 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday, December 5, service is suspended between Church Av and Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts. A and F trains provide alternate service. G service operates in two sections:
- Between Court Sq and Bedford-Nostrand Avs
- Between Bedford-Nostrand Avs and Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts, every 20 minutes
- For continuous service, transfer at Bedford-Nostrand Avs
- For Church Av, take an uptown A at Hoyt-Schermerhorn St to Jay St-MetroTech St and transfer to a Coney Island-bound F.
- Coney Island-bound F trains skip Bergen St, Carroll St and Smith-9 Sts.
From 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, December 5, service operates in two sections:
- Between 8 Av and Broadway Junction
- Between Broadway Junction and Rockaway Pkwy, every 24 minutes
- For continuous service, transfer at Broadway Junction.
From 11:45 p.m. Friday, December 4 to 6 a.m. Saturday, December 5, Astoria-bound trains are rerouted via the Q from DeKalb Av to Canal St.
- No Astoria-bound trains at Jay St-MetroTech, Court St, Whitehall St, Rector St, Cortlandt St, and City Hall. Use the 4 at nearby stations.
- Transfer between trains at Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr, Canal St, or 14 St-Union Sq.
From 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, December 5, 71 Av-bound trains are rerouted via the Q from DeKalb Av to Canal St.
- No Astoria-bound trains at Jay St-MetroTech, Court St, Whitehall St, Rector St, Cortlandt St, and City Hall. Use the 4 at nearby stations.
- Transfer between trains at Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr, Canal St, or 14 St-Union Sq.
16 comments
It’s 6 minutes from Hoyt to Bedford-Nostrand, so that means the G shuttle spends almost the same amount of time standing at each end as it does traveling. Does it take that long to walk from one end of a 300 ft train to the other?
Exactly. It’s a bit ridiculous. However, in this case it may be slightly justified because the north section of the G probably runs every 10 minutes and having the shuttle run every 20 will let alternate trains connect at B/N.
Yeah I suppose that makes sense. You *could* run the shuttle in 15 min increments, but why.
I know this is too much to ask, but when the MTA resorts to single-tracked shuttle trains, it’d be great if they were able to post the schedule. A train every 20 minutes, on a route that can easily round-trip in 14-15 minutes, leaves enough buffer to stick to a schedule. That way you can mitigate the effects of the 20 minute delay.
I think I’ve seen this before when they do the really disruptive work on the 5 and L, so maybe their threshold for doing this is higher (24-30 min?)
I’m glad you mentioned waiting for the downtown Q while several N trains and uptown Q trains passed. I’ve been in that situation many times especially during rush hour. I’ve even noticed that Q’s tend to skip a scheduled train.
Queens Plaza is an M train stop, and 2nd Ave is an F train stop…so which line are the old cars running on?
Well, they’re running on the 6th Avenue Local line, connecting to the 53rd St tunnel to the IND Queens Blvd line. If you want to be slightly historical, it’s the V route.
So it’ll make stops at 2nd Ave, Broadway-Lafayette, W 4th Lower Level, 14th, 23rd, Herald Square, 42nd-Bryant Park, Rock Center, 53rd-5th, 53rd-Lex, Court Square, and Queens Plaza.
Truncated version of the pre-2000 F train line.
Why is the schedule such a if secret? Last year I used the one from 2013 but didn’t save a copy. Does anyone have a copy? Thanks.
http://web.mta.info/metrocard/.....us2015.htm
Shhhh! Don’t tell anyone! It’s a secret!
The train leave 2nd Avenue at 10:00, 11:30, 1:00, 2:30 and 4:00. It leaves Queens Plaza 40-45 minutes later
It is a minor quibble.
In the set of descriptions for the changes in Lexington Avenue local (with both #4 and #6) only making express stops there is the following statement:
“6 trains run express from 125 St-Union Sq to Grand Central-42 St.”
I have not looked at a city street map lately, but I could have sworn that 125th Street-Lexington Avenue was a different place from Union Square which I thought was around 14th Street & Broadway. Or I could be wrong.
Mike
I just realized that, aside from the 4 and 6 work, this weekend’s work is only Friday night through Saturday…there’s no Sunday work. Is that for the start of Hanukkah or something?
There is a new pick going into effect on Sunday. There is usually very little work done on the first day of a new pick, to allow everyone to get used to the schedule.
What’s a ‘new pick’?
When assignments and schedules are done by seniority, the pick is the time when the assignments are made. Depending on industry, it could happen monthly, quarterly, yearly or some other interval.
I can’t believe a train would deadhead all the way to Coney Island Yard from Manhattan. More likely, it was being stored on the Broadway express tracks (now that Q trains run local at night) or going to City Hall Yard. Or maybe it was being put in service ahead of your train to clear crowded platforms. Who knows. It does seem at times like we’re supposed to be grateful for whatever service we get, and to put our own convenience behind operational expediency.
“…just take the C train instead for instant nostalgia.”
This is exactly why I enjoy taking the C train!