Where: Above the stairway leading to the Rockefeller Center station complex on the southwest corner of 50th St. and 6th Ave.
What: The V train bullet, a remnant of the June service cuts, still lives while at this entrance, the M doesn’t stop here.
When: Monday, January 31, 2011, seven months after the V’s last run.
I’ve been interning twice a week in Midtown this semester, and the nearest entrance into and out of the Rockefeller Center complex is the on on the west side of 50th St. As I bounded down the staircase Wednesday evening, I saw a ghost — the V train lives. This Monday, I snapped a better picture of this rather ornate station entrance with our dearly departed V train bullet in all of its glory.
In a sense, this photo is all about nostalgia over lost train lines. While the name has changed — the M now runs on the V — the service pattern is actually better for the city. The rapidly expanding populations in Middle Village and South Williamsburg now have a direct route to midtown, and the new M train service over the Chrystie St. Cut has been a resounding success even as it represents a service cut along Brooklyn’s 4th Ave. and West End lines.
On the other hand, though, this photography is about the tension between the MTA and those private companies with which it contracts. For many entrances within buildings, the landlord is in charge of maintenance and upkeep. Those duties include updating fanciful signage, keeping escalators running and clearing the staircases of snow and ice. Yet, oftentimes, landlords don’t do what they must do. Entrances — such as the one at 52nd and 8th. Ave. — remain closed, and escalators remain closed forever, a fact to which anyone who uses Union Square can attest.
At Rockefeller Center, the system’s 14th busiest station and a tourist destination, this sign still says a train that hasn’t operated since June still stops there. Anyone expecting the V will be waiting a long time indeed.
23 comments
Change the sign to “Sixth Ave IND ==>” and let it sit there forever. All those darn letters and numbers are too confusing.
Sixth Ave IND only makes sense if you walk around with a map and the history of the subway system in your head.
As opposed to “BDFV” which looks like something you’d see carved on a column in Ancient Rome?
Those at least correspond with things that one can find on a subway map!
Find me a “V” train on a 2011 subway map and I’ll give you a dollar!
That’s irrelevant.
You really think tourists are going to be able to find their way based on historic subway designations? Give me a break!
If you’re looking for the B, you’ve found it! Who cares if it still lists a non-existent line?
Because, if you’re looking for the M, you haven’t found it.
But if you go down the stairs, then you’ve found the M, or if you go to any of the entrances along 6th Avenue you’ll find the M. One of the many benefits to our subway system is multiple entrance points, and if one is sporting the wrong decals, the others might be right.
I really think people are blowing this out proportion. The bigger problem would be a M decal out on the West End line, because not only is the service not there, the service in it’s place runs differently in Brooklyn and the only way to get to the rest of the M run is to transfer at Broadway Lafayette to the Brooklyn bound platform.
I don’t think it’s a big deal, but it should be corrected. But is this sign even on NYCT property? If not, then it’s entirely out of NYCT control.
I don’t see an M on the West End line as a terribly big deal either. If you actually expect to find an M train there, your map is out of date, and you would have been lost even if the signage had been correct.
Ben,
Funny you mention Union Sq. The escalators are up and running, finally!
Speaking of this subject and Union Square on the L platform at Union Square there is a bright yellow “W” included with the N/Q/R sign under the stairs to the Downtown/Brooklyn bound Broadway trains. I see it every time I wait at that station for an 8th Ave bound train.
How about the fact that the F train still tells you you can transfer to the V at 2nd Avenue.
I don’t know how the MTA updates train information, but you would think that it would be just as easy to remove the V from announcements as it would be to add the M.
That’s a different issue, and I’m working on a FIND post right now. The F also still says Jay St. – Borough Hall even though that changed two months ago. What’s the point of easily-updated new technology if no one’s maintaining it?
If the F had a line manager, he’d get it done. I bet it’s all about finger-pointing; whose job is it to change the FIND system? I’ll bet it was never defined. The rolling-stock dept probably wants some money from the service-changes dept to fund the changes. (Yes, I know these department names are fictitious)
The F has a line manager.
The problem (and it’s a big problem) is that, on new cars, only the equipment vendor can reprogram the signs, and the vendor can’t be bothered to reprogram them in a timely fashion (or, apparently, to avoid errors). It was a problem with the R142’s when they were new, also, when the Manhattan Bridge and 9/11 both threw the transfer listings into disarray, but the cars continued to make announcements as though nothing had changed.
Presumably that time period is drawing to a close on the R160’s, but for now, we’re just going to have to wait.
Also at Jay St FIND doesn’t mention that you can transfer to the “R”! You would think that the MTA would want to mention that after spending tens of millions of dollars renovation Jay Street-Metrotech!
I remember when the conductors were saying “Double-R”, long after the Transit Authority gave up the double-letter names.
I still say it by mistake every now and then. Most times I just call them by the line name (B’way Line, 6th Ave Line…) because I’m tired of trying to convert all the changing letters to lines. Since I’ve been riding the BMT Broadway Line beginning in mid-’70s, it has been designated as the EE, RR, N, R, W, Q, QB and Q-diamond. I gave up a few years ago and just call it the B’way Local or B’way Express 🙂
Some of the name changes came about because of the extensive work and re-routings due to 18 years of work on the Manhattan Bridge. Most lines don’t go through so many changes. The West Side IRT has, in fact, between the 1, 2 and 3 all of my life with the temporary addition of the 9 for 16 years.
Other than the 9, the post-9/11 shutdown of the 1 and some terminal tinkering at the ends of the lines at South Ferry and in Brooklyn, the IRT really hasn’t gone through any major route changes since the Third Avenue el ceased operation in 1973. An R-12 or R-17 route sign or IRT map from 35 years ago would work just as well today as the R-142s digital signs.
You know what they say about things not being carved in stone? When it comes to the B Division’s secondary subway lines, things probably shouldn’t be carved in metal, either.
On the R trains the FIND system still says Lawrence Street and also announces transfer to the W train at Whitehall Street.
The 6 frequently says that you can transfer to the “4, 5, F, N, R, and W trains” at 59th, the E/V at 51st, and the W again at Union Square.
I like it because we don’t get that long annoying message about the free transfer to the F by walking (etc.), which is programmed to be read too late and sometimes the conductor won’t open the doors until it’s done — or they just chime to shut it off.