A Manhattan-bound N train departs the 59th St. station in Brooklyn. (Courtes of flickr user TimSPC)
Rush Hour is never a good time to take a train out of service. The subways are at their peak ridership levels as tired commuters simply want to be home after a long day’s work. No one wants to deal with a train going out of service five stops before theirs, and the pleasures of taking a packed shuttle bus along surface streets for another 25 minutes.
Well, maybe someone should tell the MTA that because it seems that some Bay Ridge-bound R trains have been going out of service at rush hour leaving passengers at 59th Street to wait for the next train or take a shuttle bush to reach the last four stops. Councilman Vince Gentile has taken the task of informing the MTA of their absurdity on his shoulders. The Brooklyn Papers reports:
“The MTA has designated 59th Street as the final stop for a significant portion of Brooklyn-bound trains during peak hours,” Gentile said. “This is a major concern.
“The MTA is effectively telling riders that there is no rush hour in Bay Ridge,” added Gentile, who admitted that he did not know the exact percentage of trains that get taken out of service, but said he considered one to be one too many.
The councilman fired a letter to MTA President Lawrence Reuter on Feb. 7 demanding better service for Ridge residents, and has yet to receive a response.
For its part, the MTA is claiming that there’s always another train directly behind the ones that go out of service ready to take passengers beyond 59th Street. But we’ve all heard that announcement before, and it’s simply not reliable.
By now, the R train is used to this wonderful publicity. The Straphangers Campaign rated it 14th out of the city’s 22 subway lines in its annual subway report card. And I wouldn’t expect an angry from Councilman Gentile to change the situation. After all, the MTA must adhere to its schedule, and sending rush hour trains past 59th Street to where people live in Brooklyn just isn’t part of that time frame.