Armandito

Reverted back to my X train proposal, but this time I extended the route to a new terminal serving the Astoria Houses: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1xwmbfGW1eViET9LtpLy1U1Iv8DGzhx6L&usp=sharing

One reason I had the extended to Metropolitan Avenue was to come up with a way to encourage more efficient use of equipment. By relegating the to weekdays only, there would be no need to operate two separate services on weekends when a single route could cover both segments during that timeframe. For Broadway, at first I proposed having the operate via Montague on weekends so the merge at Prince Street could be eliminated, but shelved it because it is likely Sea Beach commuters would not support this reroute as it would add 10 minutes of travel time into Manhattan. Therefore, it is generally accepted that they would prefer to keep weekend trains crossing the bridge to save travel time.

Just like in my proposal to split the Brooklyn segment of the into its own separate route via Nassau (see my new profile pic). However, I also decided to extend the to Bay Ridge so Broadway service could be maintained on weekdays in addition to making local service along Fourth Avenue more frequent.

I dislike all of them. Some of them are already redundant while others only serve to create more inconvenience for commuters. A more realistic multi-service plan should take into account current reliability levels and ridership trends in addition to allowing for increases in track capacity through full or partial deinterlining.

Quite frankly, I don't know how to include that icon in the text since there's no brown emoji.

And the would become a weekday-only route with the new replacing the current late night and weekend services from Metropolitan Avenue to Myrtle Avenue-Broadway and Essex Street, respectively.

According to my proposed service plan, the will serve Astoria during nights and weekends only, when trains are not running (so there would only be two services via 59th Street). On weekdays trains operate to 96th Street.

(See above post for proposed service changes)

Made edits to this map based on these revised service changes:

My mistake, I meant to say weekends when there is no Broadway access from Whitehall.

In that scenario, one alternative I would suggest is this service plan so customers can easily transfer to Broadway trains at Canal Street at all times: Weekdays: - 95 St to Chambers St - 71 Av to Metropolitan Av - 96 St to Stillwell Av via Bridge (express in Manhattan and Brooklyn) - 71 Av to Canal St or Whitehall St - Ditmars Blvd to 95 St Weekends: - 95 St to Metropolitan Av (replaces service) - No service, use - Ditmars Blvd to Stillwell Av via Bridge (local in Manhattan, express in Brooklyn) - 71 Av to Whitehall St - No service, use in Queens; in Manhattan; in Brooklyn Late nights: - 95 St to Chambers St; shuttle between Myrtle Av/Broadway and Metropolitan Av (relabeled service) - No service, use - Ditmars Blvd to Stillwell Av via Tunnel (local only) - No service, use in Queens; in Manhattan - No service, use service is unchanged

Better yet, build tail tracks south of Whitehall to increase its capacity as a terminal. Going back to my X proposal from before, I wish to find out about extending it along the Astoria Line to Ditmars rather than building a new subway line along 21st Street. A new mini-yard could be built north of Ditmars for rush hour layups so more trains could terminate there, and a connection along 11th Street would allow X trains to access the Queensboro Plaza station from the IND Crosstown Line. (What's even more interesting is that the original BRT/BMT proposals for the present-day Crosstown Line proposed the routing to connect between Astoria and the Franklin Avenue Line at Fulton Street.)

That sounds a tad better, though it was mentioned before that a extension to Fourth Avenue would make the route less reliable due to the longer runtime. Assuming the MTA gets the emergency federal finding, a better idea would be to have the Jamaica-Broad St and Chambers St-Bay Ridge segments as two separate routes with the latter being given the brown designation. Referencing this quote, the most likely service plan would be like this:

I absolutely disagree with routing the back to Nassau Street. Ridgewood commuters would indeed be furious about losing their current one-seat ride to Midtown, and commuters living along the line would NOT want to lose daily access to Manhattan, either. A more realistic scenario would be eliminating / skip-stop service while still maintaining the full routing to Broad Street, not the outlandish proposal you envisioned there.

The already operates express via the Manhattan Bridge on weekends, so there wouldn't be as much of a need to keep Manhattan Bridge service running on the on weekends, especially if it would have to interlock at Prince Street so it could run local on Broadway. Sixth Avenue, likewise, only has the crossing the bridge on weekends which should balance some things out.

One other change I forgot here was having trains run via Whitehall on weekends in addition to late nights so the merge at Prince Street could be eliminated. (Weekend trains would still run express in Brooklyn after Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center.)

True. The would most likely be eliminated as the peak-directional express service to Broadway Junction will be the successor to skip-stop service. trains would run local to that station during the hours the runs express to and from Marcy Avenue. My plan calls for the to run 24/7 between Chambers Street and Bay Ridge and replace former service along Fourth Avenue. The reasons why I had some trains be extended to Brooklyn was to allow for trains to terminate there in its place and also due to capacity constraints at that station. Whitehall could only turn up to about 6 TPH so extending some trains to Brooklyn on weekdays seemed like a logical plan. (At first I proposed extending select rush hour trains there so adequate service frequency could be maintained along the QBL.) During other times the would terminate at Canal Street. On the other hand, an alternative proposal I had in mind was keeping the existing route intact and have the existing weekday-only service extended to Bay Ridge. The in this case would still terminate at Whitehall but one or two rush hour trains would terminate at Canal Street due to capacity constraints at the former station.

Agreed. Needless to say, it seems this proposal is better than my previous one for the X train.

True. Essex has all tracks occupied, and with trains terminating there on weekends it wouldn't be ideal to turn trains there with the existing station layout. On the other hand, the old trolley terminal could possibly be used as a terminal with some adjustments, though explaining it all in text won't work. There needs to be a map illustrating the proposed track and platform alignments.

As was mentioned before, subways are for commuting, not musical chairs.

Made a map of my proposed Broadway Line service changes: Key: = brown; = gray; = yellow

Which is why I suggested the brown as a successor to former Broadway service to Bay Ridge. The shorter runtime between Chambers and 95th means trains can run more reliably, as this new route would only serve 19 stations compared to 45 on the current . If the is extended there, it would become a 24/7 route for the first time since 2004 as the would no longer serve Astoria in this case. It would replicate the route of the pre-1987 as well, except the would operate its full route on weekdays only. Weekend and late night local service along Broadway would be replaced by trains. Late night service south of 57th Street would remain unchanged. Note that this is assuming that Phase 3 of the SAS isn't funded yet. If Phase 3 ever comes to life, you would be relegated to operating and trains at 7 TPH each as track space would need to be shared with the train.

Just like how the ended up as a full-time service after the Manhattan Bridge reopened all tracks in 2004. Brighton riders wanted Broadway service while those living along West End wanted full-time access to Manhattan without having to transfer trains at different times of the day. Swapping the and routes in Brooklyn eliminated the need to operate shortened routes during off-hours which in turn resulted in better service.

Here's my proposed service plan for the split: : Between 71 Av and Whitehall St at all times except late nights. Six trains extended in each direction to/from 95 St during rush hours. Late nights use in Manhattan; in Queens. : Between Ditmars Blvd and Canal St weekdays only. Use for continuing service to Whitehall St. : Between Chambers St and 95 St at all times. Replaces former service in Brooklyn during non-rush hours. A map will be coming soon

I would name this new Nassau/Fourth Avenue service as the brown . It would replicate the route of the old brown , but would operate at all times instead of rush hours only. However, due to limited terminal capacity at Whitehall, there would still be six rush-hour trains extended to Bay Ridge. Also note that the terminal will have to be moved to Canal Street to allow for trains to terminate at Whitehall.