A draft of a proposed sign that the MTA will post in buses starting early this month. (Courtesy of the MTA)
With June upon us, the countdown to the service cuts has begun. Although some U.S. Senators are trying to secure $2 billion in aid for cash-starved transit systems, the MTA knows that money is not likely to come soon, and the authority has to move ahead with its cuts.
Rarely in New York City history has the MTA implemented service changes as immediate and sweeping as though on tap for the end of June, and while we explored the changes to the subway map on Friday, the entire bus and subway systems must be reconfigured for the new service patterns. At its board meeting last week, the MTA unveiled its Service Reduction Implementation Plan (PDF). The changes are extensive.
As the W and V meet their deaths, as the Q replaces the W north of 57th St., and as the M takes over the V’s Sixth Ave. route to Forest Hills, the MTA must begin to pepper stations with signs such as the one shown at right. These signs will begin to appear in fare-control areas at all impacted stations by mid-June. Transit will also blanket stations with audio announcements and distribute pamphlets with the new route information. Despite this coverage, confused straphangers will still blame the MTA when the M mysteriously arrives at 63rd Drive in Rego Park on June 29.
At over 150 stations currently served by the G, M, N, Q, V and W trains, the MTA will have to change it signage. Nearly 3000 graphics explaining service patterns will be stickered over or completely rewritten. Some of these edits will be made early this month before the service changes go into effect, and for a few weeks, the system will appear to be in a state of flux as trains arrive where the signs say they shouldn’t and terminate ostensibly too early.
The rolling stock too presents a challenge. Along the BMT Broadway, Sixth Ave. and Queens Boulevard lines, the newest train cars will have to be reprogrammed, and the automated announcements will be updated. The FIND displays in the R160s will be changed automatically on June 27, but for the R143s, the strip maps will be edited with stickers. Conductors too will handed a new script. For what it’s worth, the M up Sixth Ave. will have the new R160 cars. Customers along those stops will have to adjust to shorter trains.
For buses, the changes too will lead to visible alterations. The MTA is eliminating 21 local and 12 express buses with weekend service eliminated on 12 local and two additional express bus routes. Routes will be changed, and service frequency will be scaled back for 39 other routes.
To inform customers of these changes, signs such as that atop this post will adorn buses and audio announcements will be played on endangered routes. The map will change, and new timetables will be published in late June. It is an ambitious rollout plan, to say the least, and for the next 27 days, Transit employees will have their hands full.
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An early-morning TV appearance
On a semi-related note, I’ll be appearing this morning on FOX 5’s Good Day, New York to talk about the upcoming service cuts. The segment will air live at at 8:15 a.m., and the questions will involve the Public Transportation Preservation Act of 2010 and whether or not Congress will be able to act in time to prevent the MTA from implementing these cuts. If you’re up early, be sure to check it out.
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