Second Ave. Sagas

1, 7 and J lines tabbed for expanded summer service

Written by

Benjamin Kabak

in

,

As the MTA looks to expand its subway service offerings to better align with customer demand, three subway lines will be enjoying additional service increases come the Summer of 2013. According to Transit, the 1, 7 and J lines will see off-peak service increases with six additional round trips on the 1, 13 new round trips on the 7 and three on the Z. The new service will cost $2 million annually and are in addition to the recent slate of service increases the MTA announced earlier this fall.

Essentially, these changes are in response to demand and load guidelines that the MTA sets for itself. One of the lesser reported elements of the 2010 service cuts included an increase in load guidelines. Thus a train is no longer considered at capacity until all seats are taken and a quarter of riders are standing. Were the MTA to reduce these load guidelines, more routes will be eligible for these service increases. Instead, the trains simply remain somewhat more crowded, and off-peak riders on the 1, 7 and J will benefit in a few seasons.

Comments

21 responses to “1, 7 and J lines tabbed for expanded summer service”

  1. Tower18

    Seriously, the J? Meanwhile the F train runs every 10 minutes all day all weekend, jam packed from 7 Av to Midtown. I’m sure it’s a similar story in Queens, and on the E. It’s sure at more than 120% seated capacity.

    Reply
    1. SEAN

      I can a test to that. Have you sene E & F trains between Forest Hills, Jackson Heights & Queens Plaza on Weekends? They are full most of the day. Compare this to the R wich usually has plenty of seats, but who wants to be stuck on a local if they can help it.

      Reply
      1. Abba

        An R train has more seats then the E and F.

        Reply
        1. Someone

          The R train use 8 75-foot long cars, while the E and f (mostly) use 10 60-foot long cars.

          Reply
          1. Andrew

            But 8 R-46’s have more seats than 10 R-160’s.

            Reply
            1. Someone

              To clarify. R160’s have bench seating which varies in capacity but usually can hold 42 to 44 people sitting per car. R46’s have bucket seating, so the number of seats is fixed, about 70-76 people can sit in a car depending if the car has a cab. In short, 420 to 440 people can sit in a 10-car R160 train when all seats are occupied, and a maximum of 584 people can sit in a 8-car R46 train.

              Note that the F uses four 8-car R46 trains.

              By the way, not many people really want to take the local anyway…

              Reply
              1. John

                I don’t know when the last time you rode the F was, but nearly 90% of the stock on that line are R160s. An R46 rolls around very rarely, but for the most part, the F uses the new train sets.

                Reply
                1. SEAN

                  I see R-46’s on the F once in a while, but as you state it’s 90% R-160’s. My point above is riders prefer the faster E & F & that’s why they’re crowded throughout the day. It had nothing to do with car length & seating capassity even though that is sertenly part of it.

                  Reply
                2. Someone

                  Actually, I caught a R46 F train to Queens on Tuesday. It really wasn’t bad at all.

                  But you are correct, 91% of the stock assigned to the F are R160s. The E uses all R160s, and the R uses all R46s. The four R46 trains on the F are used during rush hour.

                  Reply
                  1. John

                    Before the W was retired, I routinely saw R160s on the R line. Do you happen to know why they stopped putting those into use on that line and reverted back fully to R46s?

                    Reply
              2. Jerrold

                I don’t know whose “bright idea” bucket seating in ANY subway cars was. People’s asses can vary considerably in width.

                Reply
                1. John-2

                  It was the MTA’s attempt and doing a hybrid from the seating in the federal government’s SOAC cars that the R-44/R-46s were based off of in the early 1970s. Those cars had forward-facing padded seating, more like what WMATA would put into their first subway cars. But the TA had given up on the use of soft seating in 1958 on both subways and buses because of the vandalism problem, and the retrofitted plastic seats on the R-7/9 through R-16 cars were various levels of uncomfortable (as were the bench seats on the R-17s, 21s and 22s).

                  The buckets were seen as workable, since the seating spaces on the 75-foot trains were all designed for just two people at a time, and there really weren’t any complaints after the 44s and 46s arrived. It was only when the MTA tried to put those same type of buckets into the bench seating on the R-62/R-62As that people began protesting, since the number of people who could seat in each section of the benches between the car doors varied based on how wide or narrow a group of people were there.

                  Reply
            2. Alon Levy

              Only because the R-46s have some 2+2 seating rather than pure longitudinal seating. They have more seating space at the cost of less standing space.

              Reply
  2. Jerrold

    TO BEN:

    On a related subject, what will now happen with the South Ferry station on the #1? Some people on some websites are referring to that station as “destroyed”, as if the destruction is permanent.

    Reply
    1. Kevin

      It hasn’t been destroyed, just trashed. It’ll probably take a couple months to rehab it back into operable condition and another year or so to bring it back to the state it was before the storm. I’d expect weekend bus service to South Ferry once the station comes back so they can make permanent repairs.

      Reply
      1. Donald

        There’s not going to be any bus service to South Ferry. If you need to get there, then you must walk from Rector St. or take the 4 or 5 to Bowling Green.

        Reply
  3. Someone

    And this will decrease crowding by…?

    Reply
  4. Jerrold

    I found THIS link on the subject:

    http://mta.info/nyct/service/R…..tation.htm

    Reply
  5. Andrew

    Thus a train is no longer considered at capacity until all seats are taken and a quarter of riders are standing.

    To clarify, that’s off-peak. Rush hour trains have to be a lot more crowded than that before they’re considered overcrowded.

    Reply
  6. SteveM

    Well, the 1 is certainly crowded these days, even off-peak. More service is welcome.

    Reply
  7. Ed

    For some time, subway cars have been as crowded during weekend afternoons as during weekday rush hours. Its a disguised service cut. We will be seeing more of them.

    Reply

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