Breaking: MTA to offer post-Mets games express service

Via amNew York’s Tracker blog comes a hot tip: The MTA will soon be offering Manhattan-bound baseball fans express service after Mets games.

Hallelujah, the baseball fan in me says.

Two months ago, on the eve of the Subway Series, I wrote about the slooooow locals from Flushing to Manhattan after Mets games. At the time, I wondered why the MTA couldn’t offer express service. I asked, “Since nearly everyone on the 7 from Shea heads to Manhattan or Queensboro Plaza, why can’t every other train on the express tracks and make express stops?”

Well, at the time, amNew York, in an article available only through the Google cache posed the question to the MTA. The response:

New York Transit spokesman Paul Fleuranges said adding express service from games is easier said than done. Without increasing manpower and trains, wait times would increase on the local and express tracks, Fleuranges said. And with more people waiting to board the subway, crowded conditions would make it difficult for those trying to get to parking lots or the LIRR.

“We provide a very high level of service for Met and Yankee games,” Fleuranges said. “That’s a cost to us and we have to balance the needs of the entire system and weigh that against the needs of the entire system.”

But now, according to that tidbit of a post on the Tracker blog, Mets fans will get to enjoy that express service. I’ll have more on this development as details are revealed, but while Louis, a commenter here who was strongly against the express service, may be upset, the rest of you returning from Shea will finally have a fast train back to the city.

Now if only we could do something this quickly about our F express plans…

Update 5:25 p.m.: The MTA has issued a press release touting this new express service. The news, folks, is very, very good:

The service change, which begins following the conclusion of the Mets – Cincinnati Reds game on Thursday, July 12th, will shave about six minutes off the trip, making it the smart choice for many savvy baseball fans headed home.

Express trains will leave Willets Point shortly after the conclusion of each home game and the service will last until about one hour after the game. The express trains will be queued outside of Willets Point and arrive on the middle track every six minutes. The travel time between Willets Point/Shea Stadium and Queensboro Plaza will be trimmed by six minutes from 19 on the local to 13 minutes via express. To Times Square-42nd Street, the ride by express train will also be reduced by six minutes from the 31 minutes it takes the local.

According to the MTA, the service changes will take place during weeknight home games, and it is designed, according to MTA CEO Elliot “Lee” Sander, to get more people out of their cars and into the subway. “The subway has always been the fastest, most economical and ecologically-friendly way to travel to and from the game and the addition of express service makes it even more attractive,” Sander said.

This is great news for Mets fans who have long called for this express service.