Why Track 4 on the (S) is the Worst

[R42N]

Track 4 is closed for construction until after Labor Day on both sides. The chipping-away Times Square platform could kill someone, but they could allow people to board Track 3 at the GCT end from either side.

Nope, it's been re-opened for a little while now

Well... The is a Crosstown service after all.

 

All joking aside tho, doesn't the run Track 1, Track 3, Track 4 out of Grand Central in that precise order? Or has the Cuomo-era also done a disservice to the shuttle and the trains run out of sequence?

 

The times I have needed it during the rush it would always run like clockwork. I'd typically go to the next track over during rush hour (if the track 1 train was about to leave I'd go to track 3, or I'd go to track 4 is the train on track 3 is about to leave) and I'd still be out of Grand Central within 3 minutes.

Yep, 3,4,1 & 1,3,4 $ 4,1,3. All the same. I just call it 3,4,1 because 3 is the first train to depart in the morning.

 

Yeah, it's not too bad if you take Track 1 or 3, I'm just conplaining about the off-balanced loads of Track 1&3 conpred to 4, and the stress and extra time required for 4.

[bstar1]

 

I usually just take trains at track 1 or 3.

[Wallyhorse]

Nope, it's been re-opened for a little while now

 

Yep, 3,4,1 & 1,3,4 $ 4,1,3. All the same. I just call it 3,4,1 because 3 is the first train to depart in the morning.

 

Yeah, it's not too bad if you take Track 1 or 3, I'm just conplaining about the off-balanced loads of Track 1&3 conpred to 4, and the stress and extra time required for 4.

If only they had chosen to instead close off Track 3 instead of Track 2, you could then have set it up at Times Square where you could had Tracks 2 & 4 both stop using the same platform and Track 4 actually open on both sides.

 

The real problem was with the original subway making Times Square a local-only stop.  Of course, the area was still known as Longacre Square when they were designing it and failed to take into part how that area would change rapidly just a few years later. 

[R42N]

The mess was back again today. This time, I filmed it:

 

 

To summerize, there was an annoucement of "A train arriving on Track 1 & Track 4" about 10 seconds apart. Once the T1 arrived, Bernie (the auto PA) announced Stand Clear on T1, however, the train was packed, and left 35 seconds after, with four attempts to close the PACKED train, even in the First Car. Before the T4 even arrived into GCT, as you can hear in the end of the video, Stand Clear is called on T4. We crawled to TsQ on T1, which is rare, and, at 100% capacity, we arrived at the same time as T4, at 15% capacity.

 

If these loads were even, both could be at a good 60%, but nope....

[Via Garibaldi 8]

The mess was back again today. This time, I filmed it:

 

 

To summerize, there was an annoucement of "A train arriving on Track 1 & Track 4" about 10 seconds apart. Once the T1 arrived, Bernie (the auto PA) announced Stand Clear on T1, however, the train was packed, and left 35 seconds after, with four attempts to close the PACKED train, even in the First Car. Before the T4 even arrived into GCT, as you can hear in the end of the video, Stand Clear is called on T4. We crawled to TsQ on T1, which is rare, and, at 100% capacity, we arrived at the same time as T4, at 15% capacity.

 

If these loads were even, both could be at a good 60%, but nope....

People are always going to run to Track 1 since it tends to be the track that has trains running on it frequently. Track 4 is an afterthought and you can't get on the train on Track 3 is you're over there, so Track 1 is a no-brainer for that reason.  Whenever I have to use the subway, I'm going to start getting the or , being sure to check the online status in advance for any delays.  If you time things right, you can get on a train that's actually tolerable from a crowding standpoint.  That whole changing at Times Square thing is incredibly annoying and exhausting.

[MassTransitHonchkrow]

Nope, it's been re-opened for a little while now

 

 

It's not like me to be this unaware. 

I've started walking to my destinations more often.

 

Is transit bad when three bunched buses are stuck in traffic and I walk faster than they drive?

[MassTransitHonchkrow]

People are always going to run to Track 1 since it tends to be the track that has trains running on it frequently. Track 4 is an afterthought and you can't get on the train on Track 3 is you're over there, so Track 1 is a no-brainer for that reason.  Whenever I have to use the subway, I'm going to start getting the or , being sure to check the online status in advance for any delays.  If you time things right, you can get on a train that's actually tolerable from a crowding standpoint.  That whole changing at Times Square thing is incredibly annoying and exhausting.

some situations are hopeless and have no chance of improvement.

 

If you told customers at 125th Street that trains were running local, they'd still mass to the express track for no good reason at all.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

some situations are hopeless and have no chance of improvement.

 

If you told customers at 125th Street that trains were running local, they'd still mass to the express track for no good reason at all.

Actually some of them are startening to wisen up.  I think more and more people play the commute by ear and have back-up plans in place.  This morning we had large crowds waiting at 230th and Broadway, which generally sees some people but that many.  Then I said let me check the website and see what's going on.  Sure enough the train was delayed, as was the lines, some people switched to the express bus and other switched to the local bus to the .

[Wallyhorse]

Didn't the MTA propose removing Track 4 as part of the 2015-2019 Capital Plan? 

They are and I believe that will eventually happen, but my point was, if they had chosen to close track 3 instead of Track 2, you could have then had the wide platform between Tracks 2 & 4 at Grand Central and a single, island platform between Tracks 2 & 4 at Times Square where the shuttles could actually have been opened on both sides of Track 4 when needed, making the proposed changes unnecessary. 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

They are and I believe that will eventually happen, but my point was, if they had chosen to close track 3 instead of Track 2, you could have then had the wide platform between Tracks 2 & 4 at Grand Central and a single, island platform between Tracks 2 & 4 at Times Square where the shuttles could actually have been opened on both sides of Track 4 when needed, making the proposed changes unnecessary. 

Why can't some trains open on both sides anyway? They do that with the train at 145th.  It would make boarding and de-boarding much faster and easier at Grand Central.

[MassTransitHonchkrow]

Why can't some trains open on both sides anyway? They do that with the train at 145th.  It would make boarding and de-boarding much faster and easier at Grand Central.

That's not supposed to occur. Confusion on the lower level is worse when both sides are open, because some forget the train ends there during non-rush hours. 

 

Sometimes, they do that on the at Whitehall Street, and that is definitely worse and even more confusing. The has only two stops, so it's less an issue for it.

[R42N]

I believe opening the doors on the other side ONLY on T3 at GCT does a few things:

 

1) It reduces the number of "permanenet" pan-hnadlers / perfomers that sit against the door on the northbound side of T3, the only set of doors on the Shuttle that never opens.

 

2) Considering a lot of people go to T1 Automatically, redirecting traffic, and sending overflows from T3 to T4 would spread out the passenger loads. At peak times, it's currently about this as far as passenger loads:

 

T1: 95%

T3: 85%

T4: 20%

 

If you sent the T3 Overflows from T1 to T4, you could be at:

 

T1: 85%

T3: 85%

T4: 30%

 

Still not ideal, but it's ridculous how T1 and T3 gets delayed by the pushing and shoving, and T4 is leaving mostly empty as soon as it arrives.