Service Cuts

While the new routes are in effect, many stations still feature old maps.

New York City Transit has a map problem. It’s not that the new subway map is bad. In fact, the redesign with fewer bus boxes and less unnecessary information makes the map more useful as a system navigation tool. The devil, however, is in the stations as five days after the service changes went into effect, the maps present throughout the system are still in the process of being updated.

To illustrate, a story: Every morning, I ride the train from Grand Army Plaza to Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall. I exit the stop in Manhattan at the northern end and pass through the unstaffed entrance that leads into Foley Square. The subway maps at both stations have been updated, but every other piece of supporting navigational materials has not. The “Neighorhood” maps at both Grand Army Plaza and City Hall still show the brown M train and its route into Brooklyn via the Montague St. tunnel. The Manhattan bus map at City Hall displays the routes as of last week and not this past Monday.

These aren’t isolated incidents. I’ve ridden more than a few trains that still display the old maps, and today, my Brooklyn-bound 2 train announced that customers could transfer to the J and M trains at Fulton St. The M hasn’t stopped there since last Friday. The Fulton St. complex is the tenth busiest station in the system, and if Transit’s pre-recorded announcements are telling people wrong information, that’s a problem.

Meanwhile, at other stations, the situation remains the same. Last night, I made the trip from Chambers St. to Christopher St. The latter is a reasonably popular destination stop. In 2009, an average of 10,000 people passed through it every weekday, and it serves as the gateway to Greenwich Village for many tourists visiting the city. The former serves around 20,000 per day. In both of those stations, featured prominently at the Customer Information Center, were subway maps that hadn’t yet been updated to reflect the new routing. Now, I’m not talking about far-off stations in the Rockaways that see a few hundred people a day; I’m talking about the 65th and 128th busiest stations in the system.

Eventually, Transit workers will get around to fixing these problems. The new maps will go up; life will go on. Yet, this situation reminds me of the post I wrote earlier this week about the MTA’s customer service woes. For weeks, Transit has been planning for the new service cuts and rerouted subway lines. The authority made a big show of putting up new subway bullets and fixed an obscene meme in two days when the Internet uproar began. Yet, five days after the cuts, they still haven’t replaced the maps hanging in at least a few stations, and the Neighborhood and Bus maps might remain outdated for some time.

This delay in updating the maps — arguably as important as hanging up some subway bullets at oft-deserted ends of platforms — isn’t a grave oversight by the MTA. It just shows how the authority doesn’t consider its customers. If anything, the maps should be the first things in a station changed because they are what allows people unfamiliar with the system to get around. A tourist unfamiliar with the subway system and bound for, say, MoMA would be left waiting for a V train that won’t arrive and would find at Christopher St. no station agent able to provide them with directions. The customer, it seems, is an afterthought.

As the first rush hour in the post-service cut era dawned yesterday, riders throughout the city had to scope with a radically altered transit network. As the city’s commuters struggled to adjust to this new reality, service cuts coverage dominated the news. Reporters from various news outlets produced numerous pieces featuring exception reporting on various aspects of the changes, and I’d like to round them up here.

When signs get ost in translation

Although English remains New York’s dominant language, the city is filled with thousands of immigrants who are only just adjusting to life in the United States. Many of the subway and bus changes impact these non-English speaking communities. The M, for instance, ran through Hispanic communities in Brooklyn and Chinese communities in Manhattan while buses no longer serve Haitian neighborhoods.

To track these changes, WNYC’s Matthew Schuerman hit the streets and found signs only in English. The MTA urged those in need of translation services to call an 800 number, but communities were left to fend for themselves. Eventually, street-savvy New Yorkers found their ways to the proper train lines.

Queens residents protest residential bus routes

While many people were out in force protesting against the MTA’s cuts, one neighborhood association in Queens had a different gripe. Residents in Whitestone spoke out against what they saw as a poorly planned rerouting. Their target was the Q15A, an alternate route of the Q15 that was designed for passengers stranded by the elimination of the Q14.

When the MTA put this new line into service, they routed it down a few narrow residential streets, and local politicians requested a route change on the grounds that the streets were too narrow. Yesterday, with protesters watching from the sidelines, a new Q15A and a pick-up truck came to a stalemate as the street was not wide enough to let the two vehicles pass each other. The police had to clear the road, and neighborhood residents have renewed their calls for a better route.

Those who suffer the most

Times columnist Clyde Haberman tackled the service cuts in his latest NYC column this week. He says that the city’s poor are the ones hardest hit by the cuts. As I mentioned earlier today, Haberman’s charge is true because of the general disregard for buses found in American society, but otherwise, I think he misses the point. Everyone will suffer with these service cuts. Trains upon which people from all walks of life rely will be more crowded, and as the wealthiest opt to drive, congestion will slow down the city’s economy.

Union inspections slow down new routes

Over the past few days, I’ve received numerous reports of slower-than-normal commutes on the BMT lines in northern Brooklyn. While some of the delays are due to passengers adjusting to the new service patterns, amNew York says that union inspections have led to delayed service as well. TWU inspectors have done safety checks on the new M trains, and the lines should pick up speed as those inspections are wrapped up.

Fourth Avenue: The deepest cut, oft ignored

Finally, news on a topic I plan to cover more in depth later on: the R train along 4th Ave. is too crowded. When the MTA announced its subway service cuts, most of the attention focused on the new M routing. Lost in the coverage was the reality of longer waits and headways along the BMT 4th Ave. line in Brooklyn. Since the M would no longer be servicing the local stops here, those Manhattan-bound customers would have to wait for only the R train.

These eight-minute headways coupled with fewer trains has led to overcrowding on the R. Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign, a frequent R train rider himself, said, “One of our people reported heavy crowding on the R at DeKalb, where they got rid of the M. The R is picking up the slack, but waits are near doubling and crowding is significantly up.” I wonder how this line will hold up under the pressure of the new crowds.

On December 17, 2001, the V train made its first controversial run from Queens to Manhattan. Nearly five months earlier, on July 23, 2001, the W had made its first run from Brooklyn to Astoria via the Manhattan Bridge and the BMT Broadway line. Today marks a sad day in the history of those two trains as later this evening they will each run their last route before suffering at the hands of the MTA’s planned service cuts.

On Monday morning, the rush hour will be chaotic. Subway riders in Astoria will see the Q arrive instead of the W, and while the N will make local stops in Manhattan, the Q as the W’s replacement will still run express along Broadway. Meanwhile, those in Middle Village will be even more confused when their M trains go from Essex St. to Broadway/Lafayette via the Chrystie St. Cut. Along Queens Boulevard, the V train will be a part of New York subway history, lost to a budget crisis and a lack of funding from Albany.

For many New Yorkers, the deaths of these train lines will be unnoticed. V riders will hop the M without a second thought, and while some Brooklyn riders from Bay Parkway will miss the M, most people will go about their subway-riding lives with nary a thought to it. But for others, the deaths of these subway lines means funeral.

One Astoria resident is hosting a remembrance of the W train tonight. Bill Reese is celebrating the “short, complicated and often pathetic life of our beloved W.” At 10 p.m., he and other W train riders will gather at Ditmars Boulevard to ride the last W train to Union Square. They’ll hop the return train — the ultimate W to head to Astoria — before celebrating at the beer garden. It is a wake fit for a train, and rumor has it that the organizer will be decked out in W train paraphernalia.

Reese isn’t the only one mourning the death of subway lines. In fact, some politicians are exploiting the moment to gain the spotlight as well. Peter Vallone will join Transportation Alternatives at 8:30 this morning to ostensibly call for more transit funding. I’m surprised to see Vallone lend his name and face to this campaign as he hasn’t been very transit-friendly. Later in the day at 8:15 p.m., Transportation Alternatives will rally in Astoria for better transit before also heading to the beer garden. Service cuts make for strange bedfellows.

The V train too will be feted as NYCentric and Newmindspace, the creators of the hipster-haven that is the New York City pillow fight, have organized a final V train ride. Revelers will gather at Second Ave. before 11 to ride the last V train, set to arrive in Forest Hills at 12:11 a.m. Those who join are encouraged to wear orange.

As New Yorkers celebrate these trains, though, it’s important to remember that these service cuts are going to impact everyone. Some Bronx residents can’t get to the nearest pool. Others will find their neighborhood buses unceremoniously eliminated. Others will find longer waits and crowded trains during off-peak hours. Service cuts are unpleasant business.

One day, the MTA may restore service when its finances improve. Today, though, is a sad day for the millions of New Yorkers who depend upon the subways and buses to take them to work, school and fun. In a city so dependent upon transit, these cuts show just how ineffective our state government is. Will anyone be held accountable?

After the jump, some info about the final rides of the M, V and W trains in their current configurations.

Updated (11:45 a.m.): Nearly six years ago, the MTA changed its service patterns and didn’t tell anyone. In 2004, when the Manhattan Bridge reopened, service patterns along the B, D, Q and N trains changed in parts of three boroughs, and riders ignored the warnings.

In the build-up to the services changes, the MTA tried to draw out as many people as they could. Mayor Bloomberg and the city’s politicos took a heavily-publicized ride across the Manhattan Bridge. The TA printed new maps that celebrated the system’s centennial anniversary while drawing attention to the new service patterns across the Manhattan Bridge. After two decades of construction, the publicity campaigns were tremendous.

Still, many riders were left confused. Tourists bound for one part of the city found themselves a river away from their destination, and people trying to get home ended up bound for the 4th Ave. stations instead of the Brighton Line. Despite numerous employees with new maps, a signage blitz that alerted riders to the new patterns and a lot of media attention, a good number of New Yorkers ignored the warnings.

Enter 2010. This weekend, the MTA will cut two train lines and re-route a third. These are the most significant service changes since the Manhattan Bridge reopened in 2004, and for the last month, the MTA has gone on the offensive. Posters, such as the one at right, have appeared in stations throughout the system instructing straphangers of the changes. New maps have been available since early June. The bullet decals throughout the system have been changed. It’s impossible to miss the fact that the service is going to change.

Yet, in a brief article in Metro, Carly Baldwin found people who have no idea service cuts are coming. Two-thirds of passengers polled on a rush-hour M train had no idea, says Baldwin, that the train would soon be destined for Forest Hills by way of 6th Ave. “What? Are you serious?” Jose Gonzalez said of the service change. “This sucks. The M train is right by my house. Now I’ll have to change trains.”

I couldn’t believe that people could be this ignorant of the subway service changes. Although the bus cuts have been less transparent, signs are up at every bus stop in the system where the service will change, and the subways are plastered with signs. As my girlfriend said tonight when I told her of the widespread ignorance, “What do you mean? It’s been everywhere. The signs are everywhere. The brochures are everywhere. The new maps are up.”

Beyond the MTA’s own efforts at alerting people, the service cuts have been in the news since January. It’s true that the Student MetroCards may have dominating the coverage, but the subway cuts have not gone unreported in the papers and on TV and the radio. Anyone who doesn’t know service is going to change this weekend simply hasn’t been paying attention.

And therein lies the rub. People don’t pay much attention to the MTA. They don’t read weekend service signs; they don’t listen to on-board announcements; they don’t educate themselves about transit issues. They simply ride the trains and complain. Maybe the misleading politicians drown out the MTA’s own press efforts; maybe people just don’t want to know. Whatever the reason, New Yorkers are generally woefully under-educated about transit happenings.

So on Monday, confusion will rein supreme. Wall Street-bound M riders will be surprised to find their train at Broadway and Lafayette. Those waiting for the W will be in a for a long wait. The riders will blame the MTA; the MTA will have to herd the crowds. It will be business as usual in the subways.

With the MTA’s service cuts to subway and bus service now just a handful of days away from becoming a reality, neighborhood associations are finally waking up to the reality of the situation. Although the cuts were first announced in January and the MTA hosted hearings on their plans over the winter, many have either ignored the news or been in denial. No longer, though, will a group of Brooklynites remain silent.

A group of protesters will gather this afternoon at 5 p.m. at Union St. and Smith St. in Carroll Gardens to protest the impending end of the B71. While the group’s press release claims the bus runs to Red Hook, the route in reality goes from Crown Heights to Van Brunt and Sackeet Sts. in Cobble Hill. This bus is near and dear to me because it stops around the corner from where I live, and the neighborhood association is now asking Assembly-woman Joan Millman, State Senator Daniel Squadron and City Councilman Brad Lander to do something.

“If this bus disappears, our developing neighborhood will be left completely in the lurch,” Brad Kerr of the Columbia Street Waterfront Association said. “We have no other public transportation, no subway, and the MTA is not offering any alternative. This move will hurt everyone who’ve struggled for years to rebuild this area.”

When I first received word of this rally, I raised a skeptical eyebrow. The B71 runs twice an hour, often not on time and with few people on board. Buses that run down Bergen and 9th Sts., while not as convenient, will pick up some of the slack, and the protest just seemed ill-timed to me. Why were these associations waiting until four days before the cuts are put into place to raise their voices?

I posed some of these questions to Marta Heilborn, a B71 rider who is part-organizer of these protests. She told me that she didn’t know about the MTA’s hearings or cuts sooner. Else, she would have started protesting then. She also informed me that she supported a congestion pricing plan that would have funded the MTA.

At the same time, the organization’s press release questions why the MTA has not used stimulus funds to help cover a gap. But, as I’ve said, even with stimulus funds, the MTA would still be staring down a $300 million. The cuts would go on anyway.

In 90 minutes, when residents gather, it will be too late. There is, of course, an online petition, but who will listen? The MTA doesn’t have the money to restore service, and the politicians seem content to put in perfunctory appearances at community protests without offering any legislative or economic solutions.

So protest away, I say. Get that outrage on the record. Make sure the politicians are listening, though, because this situation is just as much their faults as it is the MTA. Just don’t expect that bus line to be miraculously saved tomorrow. The cuts are coming.

Rush hour on the L train. Crowding on some lines could get worse in the winter. (Photo via flickr user Tasayu Tasnaphun)

When the MTA announced what I termed its efficient slate of service cuts in January, the train line eliminations and bus route restructurings earned headlines while a technical provision about load guidelines went largely ignored. Everyone wanted to hear about the end of the V train, the death of the W and the official move to cut G service to Forest Hills. No one cared if a car would now be considered full when every seat is taken and 10-18 straphangers are standing.

Today, we care for the MTA has unveiled a small slate of service cuts that will take advantage of these new load guidelines and go into effect in December. The cuts will largely target some underutilized bus routes but will also involve the restructuring of rush hour service along the 7 line. When new train schedules are implemented in December, a handful of lines will see headways increased from one to 2.5 minutes. According to The Times, transit officials say these changes are “routine adjustments to account for trends in ridership, which has sagged in the weak economy.”

The MTA’s own internal documents tell a similar story. The MTA Board’s Transit Committee books — available here as a PDF — say that these service adjustments will save the MTA $4.1 million annually and will “more closely align subway service with customer demand and established guidelines for subway operations.” Conveniently, those established guidelines are the new load guidelines that go into effect next week and allow the MTA to cut train frequency while still operating trains within its own acceptable parameters.

As for the details, the cuts are sparse but have the potential to impact many early rush-hour commuters and off-peak riders. Transit will be scaling back service on 31 bus routes while increasing it on 14, but the biggest cuts are along the IRT Flushing Line. Express service will now begin at 6:20 a.m. instead of 5:30 a.m., and riders along the 7 will lose four early-morning express trains. To meet demand, Transit will add one local trip between 5:20 and 6:10 and two local trains between 9 and 10 a.m. These cuts will be into effect in December, and other lines affected include the 1, A, F, J, L and M trains. A chart showing the new train frequencies is below.

The MTA's revised load guidelines show less frequent off-peak service. Click the image for a chart easier to read.

These new service cuts raise a few questions. First, why is the MTA continuing to cut service? The answer to his one is simple: The authority remains a few hundred million dollars in debt, and Friday’s decision to save the Student MetroCard program does little to alleviate the financial pressure. As The Times reports, the authority’s tax revenue is falling below projection, and the agency still hasn’t figured out how to close its $400 million budget gap. Thus, more service cuts.

The second question is one few people want to ask: So what happens next? At this point, the MTA has revised its load guidelines, has cut off-peak service and is starting to whittle away at the fringes of rush hour traffic. Will the agency begin to pare down its peak-hour offerings? Are we in line for a fare hike? Even the carrot of $90 million in stimulus funds wouldn’t be enough to close the gap, and the Senate has yet to move on a potential transit operating aid package.

The MTA’s first proposed budget is due at the end of July, and it must contain a net-zero on the balance sheet. The service cuts or the fare hikes could be extreme, and John H. Banks, a six-year veteran of the MTA Board, put it best. “This is just the beginning,” he said to The Times. “Unless there is a dramatic change in what is anticipated from Albany and the city — which I don’t expect — we’re in for a bumpy ride, no pun intended.”