When residents who live along the M line from Bushwick to Middle Village wake up on June 27, they will find their commutes drastically altered. The M will no longer travel down Nassau St. and into Southern Brooklyn. Instead, with a new orange bullet denoting a Sixth Ave. trunk route, the M will take the Chrystie St. Cut to Broadway/Lafayette and make local stops up Sixth Ave. to Forest Hills. It is a service cut with a purpose.
For thousands of commuters, this new service pattern will be a step up. Having a one-seat ride from Bushwick to Midtown while bypassing the need to switch to the crowded F train is a service improvement the MTA should have implemented years ago, and today, Metro explores how residents in the norther parts of Brooklyn are looking forward to the new service patterns.
“My roommate and I were thrilled when we found out,” Adam Thompson, whose nearest stop is at Central Ave. on the M, said to Carly Baldwin. “I hang out in the West Village a lot and this will be the first time I don’t need to take two trains to get there. I really think we’re the only community not getting screwed by the service changes.”
If only life in the post-service cuts era were as rosy as Thompson makes it out to be. It’s certainly true that Thompson’s weekday rides to the West Village will be vastly improved, but that’s about it. After 11 p.m. on weeknights and at all times during the weekend, Thompson will still be stuck with a three-train ride to the West Village. Futhermore, as the MTA explains, weekend headway increases and load guideline revisions means that trains will arrive less frequently and will be more crowded. A service cut is a service cut is a service cut.
At some point in the future, when the real estate tax revenues rebound, the MTA’s fiscal outlook will turn from red to black, and the agency may begin to explore restoring lost service. When it does, the M should still service Midtown via the Chrystie St. Cut, but until then, we can’t gloss over the reality that, on June 27, subway service will be worse for everyone in New York City. The new service patterns may sound alluring, but I’d prefer service to meet demand and not these cuts.