SUBWAY - Random Thoughts Topic

[MHV9218]

They got to a few more of the 240th R62As for new rollsigns. 1891-1895 got replaced, which is a real shame. That set had some originals with very rare readings, like the 7 "Local" written on the side in the style of the 6 "Express" bullets, only in Akzidenz text. Too bad it's gone.

[S78 via Hylan]

44 minutes ago, MHV9218 said:

They got to a few more of the 240th R62As for new rollsigns. 1891-1895 got replaced, which is a real shame. That set had some originals with very rare readings, like the 7 "Local" written on the side in the style of the 6 "Express" bullets, only in Akzidenz text. Too bad it's gone.

Damn, I actually like the originals better.

[checkmatechamp13]

On 12/6/2017 at 1:32 PM, JTrainUK said:

Had a funny one on the downtown  (R62A) on my way in to work this morning. The door chimes were broken throughout the whole train for whatever reason, so the C/R stepped in and made the noises himself over the announcement system! I asked him about it when I got off, and he said that he was doing it to avoid having to take the train out of service during rush hour! I’m terrible at remembering car numbers, and have no idea if it did get taken out after the rush, but I thought it was pretty funny. 

The R32s (and other SMEEs) don't/didn't have door chimes. I don't see it as a reason to take the train out of service, but I guess the policy has changed.

On 1/5/2018 at 1:18 PM, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

I didn't put words in your mouth at all. I just voiced my opinion, and I'm sticking with it.  First off, we don't know how many passengers the station would even get.  However, given that there was a station at 86th, I think it's evident that some thought the Lex line wasn't enough even then.  We also had the Third Avenue El that was torn down. No wonder the Lex line can't handle the loads.  I think something must be restored to help.  I'm not saying it has to run like a subway nor should it handle such loads.  The higher fares would deter the trains becoming crush loaded.  What do you suggest aside from funding SAS, which I don't see happening any time soon?

2

 

On 1/5/2018 at 2:30 PM, Lance said:

Actually, the station at 86th Street closed well before the Lexington Ave line was built. In fact, it predates the original IRT subway by about a year. Also, the station closed in part due to a shift of ridership from the NY Central Railroad to the elevated lines, possibly because the service run by Central was duplicated by the Third Ave elevated and probably cost less for riders. That's actually what probably killed all of the intermediate stations between Grand Central and 125th Street.

As for the rest of your comments, I'm noticing a theme here in regards to this, which is you have a tendency to speak for everyone involved in such changes when in reality you simply cannot. First off, let's look at your belief that people would be willing to pay more for Metro-North service in the Upper East Side. Since I highly doubt this proposed 86th Street would be under its own fare tier, that means prices for all trips into Manhattan would have to go up. With the prices of monthly tickets at or above $250 for most riders, that would be a hard sell for many riders, most of which will see no benefit of the UES station because their destinations would still be Grand Central. Also, as has been mentioned in previous comments, Metro-North does not serve just the city of New York. Even if service to the proposed 86th Street station ran on 30-60 minute intervals, it will still slow down the line at the busiest point, especially in the rush hour. For people with trips of an hour or more, this would be a complete disservice simply to make a few riders' trips a little more convenient. After all, the whole point of mass transit is to serve the masses. I'm sorry to say, a few people travelling from Riverdale to the Upper East Side do not count as masses.

To answer your question, in order to solve this problem, we have to address the elephant in the room, which is the deteriorating infrastructure. Instead of shifting the problem from the subway to Metro-North, the MTA needs to upgrade the signals and structures so that more trains can run on the and  lines and add more trains to allow more riders to actually use the trains.

4

Beat me to it. 

In any case, Riverdale riders heading to 86th Street on the UES can use the BxM1.  For other Metro-North riders, they can go to 125th and transfer (in the same direction) to the Lexington Avenue Line (or the bus for that matter). 

I will throw this out there: Back in the day, the X90 ran across 79th Street to 5th/Madison, and the X92 covered Yorkville. I don't have any ridership numbers from that period, but from the X90 Yorkville days, the ridership and farebox recovery ratio was decent, at least as far as express buses go. Aside from the fact that the  doesn't serve Downtown, there's also the issue of areas like East Midtown & Peter Cooper Village/Stuyvesant Town, which don't have easy subway access. Taking the M9 down to Lower Manhattan via local streets is a lot slower than taking an express bus down the FDR. Also, with the SI express bus restructuring likely to result in a lot of routes cut back to Downtown, running this route in both directions could provide SIers with easier access to the hospitals along the East Side of Manhattan (for employment purposes in addition to caretaking/medical purposes), as well as jobs in East Midtown.

I know the ridership was something less than 1,000 riders per day (which is less than a subway car's worth of riders), but it's something that could offer somewhat of an alternative to the subway/local bus.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

8 hours ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

Beat me to it. 

In any case, Riverdale riders heading to 86th Street on the UES can use the BxM1.  For other Metro-North riders, they can go to 125th and transfer (in the same direction) to the Lexington Avenue Line (or the bus for that matter). 

 

Seems like the two of you have reading comprehension problems... We know about what riders can do.  Genius ideas...   This is about providing alternatives to an already overcrowded Lex line with other rail service that wouldn't take more decades to put in place...  Lance loves talking about the subway, but I don't get the impression that he rides it as often as would lead on.  It's very easy to talk about what works when you're not putting up with overcrowding on a daily basis.  

You on the other hand likely don't deal with it either, so with that said, sure, it's very easy to regurgitate the obvious answers.

[trainfan22]

I rode 8277 on the today, other than the seats being more shiny than other 143 sets, you couldn't tell the car was in a major accident and didn't run for a decade. 

[LGA Link N Train]

58 minutes ago, trainfan22 said:

I rode 8277 on the today, other than the seats being more shiny than other 143 sets, you couldn't tell the car was in a major accident and didn't run for a decade. 

Yeas you can. Pay close attention to the outside shell of 8277-8280

[AlgorithmOfTruth]

What's up with the HVAC units in some of these NTT cars? I was on an R160 on the  train on my way back home and it was not as heated as I expected it to be. When I had to make the transfer to the  train at Sutphin Boulevard, I was hoping that I didn't get a set of R32s with dead HVAC units, (as much as I respect the aging fleet) as it was frigid that night. Turns out that the next trip out of Jamaica Center was being served by a set of R32s and to my surprise, it was a warmer ride compared to being on the R160s.

[Lance]

On ‎1‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 8:14 AM, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Seems like the two of you have reading comprehension problems... We know about what riders can do.  Genius ideas...   This is about providing alternatives to an already overcrowded Lex line with other rail service that wouldn't take more decades to put in place...  Lance loves talking about the subway, but I don't get the impression that he rides it as often as would lead on.  It's very easy to talk about what works when you're not putting up with overcrowding on a daily basis.  

You on the other hand likely don't deal with it either, so with that said, sure, it's very easy to regurgitate the obvious answers.

Who is this "you two"? Since the likelihood of restoration of the station any time soon is slim to none, I've since moved on. Also, it makes little sense to keep repeating myself when we obviously aren't going to agree on the issue at hand. I will say this, if you're so sure of the potential here, why don't you pitch the idea to the relevant officials to see if it gains any traction?

[Via Garibaldi 8]

14 minutes ago, Lance said:

Who is this "you two"? Since the likelihood of restoration of the station any time soon is slim to none, I've since moved on. Also, it makes little sense to keep repeating myself when we obviously aren't going to agree on the issue at hand. I will say this, if you're so sure of the potential here, why don't you pitch the idea to the relevant officials to see if it gains any traction?

Read up above and you'll see... The same regurgitated comments about who the intended users would be, which is simply incorrect.  I think your ideas of alleviating congestion along the Lex line are pie in the sky. They all sound good, but they aren't going to happen either because realistically there are too many problems to get things where they should be, and when you're jumping on Metro-North running back to Westchester rather than putting up with the overcrowding daily, it's very easy to throw out such things.

In my case, I don't think what I'm proposing is that far fetched.  Do a study to see what the potential would be. All of the other things you're complaining about are separate and could be addressed later.  I don't throw out ideas as fantasy.  I think realistically we have a real problem here and it should be addressed in some way or another.  Now as to why I haven't pitched it yet... My honest belief is that the  is BS-ing with the amount of service they should be providing, given how the  helped to alleviate overcrowding on the  just last year, so before I go that route, my next plan is to see if this overcrowding problem continues, and if it does, it should taken to the politicians that represent the Upper East Side, Murray Hill and the other areas currently affected to investigate what exactly is going on, because as it stands, they are NOT meeting their own schedules, which tells me they don't have enough trains.  The question then would be why don't they have enough trains?  That's something I want the  to state, and they won't do that with me, but maybe they will with elected officials when they are pressed.

Edited January 15, 2018 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Daniel The Cool]

I meant to post this Saturday. R68 #2792 is getting the same upgrade as R68 #2844 has.

[Calvin]

My thought: What happens to the seats on the converted R142As, refurbished R160s and R62As from the Shuttle?

[LGA Link N Train]

6 minutes ago, Calvin said:

My thought: What happens to the seats on the converted R142As, refurbished R160s and R62As from the Shuttle?

Never thought of that, good question 

[VIP]

How many sets of R38’s did the  typically have back then when the  was all R32/R38?? 

[BreeddekalbL]

Welcome aboard sir

 

 

[Lawrence St]

Is the third rail block between Myrtle-Wycoff and Central Avenue off?

[SoulAce Transport]

Just a thought… to avoid situations like at 59th St on Lex, how about the MTA programs announcements so that the next stop is announced with transfers after you leave the previous stop instead of when you arrive at the next stop? It was done during the bus announcement pilot, so why not on the subways?

Edited January 16, 2018 by SoulAce Transport

[trainfan22]

3 hours ago, VIP said:

How many sets of R38’s did the  typically have back then when the  was all R32/R38?? 

If I was to guess, around 4 to 5 sets. Post GOH the vast majority of  trains were R44s until they retired. I rode the  train a lot in the early 2000s and there's was only a handful of R32s/38s on the   most of the time when I rode the  it was an R44. To compare, SMEE   trains back then were like the 68  or R160  in current day.

[N6 Limited]

5 hours ago, SoulAce Transport said:

Just a thought… to avoid situations like at 59th St on Lex, how about the MTA programs announcements so that the next stop is announced with transfers after you leave the previous stop instead of when you arrive at the next stop? It was done during the bus announcement pilot, so why not on the subways?

On buses it makes sense because they only stop if someone is boarding or alighting and it gives people time to pull the cord and get ready to disembark.

On the subway the train stops at every stop anyway and when the announcements are made the train is slowing down and entering the station. People may forget if the stops are announced too early.

[Daniel The Cool]

6 hours ago, trainfan22 said:

If I was to guess, around 4 to 5 sets. Post GOH the vast majority of  trains were R44s until they retired. I rode the  train a lot in the early 2000s and there's was only a handful of R32s/38s on the   most of the time when I rode the  it was an R44. To compare, SMEE   trains back then were like the 68  or R160  in current day.

It was more like 9-10 sets of R32s/R38s that was on the  and it was nowhere near like the R68 Train or R160  in the current day I can tell you. 

Edited January 17, 2018 by Daniel The Cool

[biGC323232]

5 hours ago, Daniel The Cool said:

It was more like 9-10 sets of R32s/R38s that was on the  and it was nowhere near like the R68 Train or R160  in the current day I can tell you. 

I agree..The  use to run like a around that...I know cause i used to take the alot and at that time and most of the time an r38 or 32 or mixed showed up..At least when i rode it

[VIP]

Are these R32 sets on the  scheduled or they run randomly whenever they need service? 

[N6 Limited]

Why do  trains run at night for 2 stations?  If people from 2 stations (145 and 148th sts) complained about 20 min late nite service, why don't they just have a shuttle bus run instead of having trains running to times square?

[VIP]

40 minutes ago, N6 Limited said:

Why do  trains run at night for 2 stations?  If people from 2 stations (145 and 148th sts) complained about 20 min late nite service, why don't they just have a shuttle bus run instead of having trains running to times square?

It would make no sense to then run trains from 96th-42nd Streets. Plus it’s more costly running shuttle buses. Plus most train lines run at or around 20 minute headways during the late night hours. 

[Trainmaster5]

3 hours ago, N6 Limited said:

Why do  trains run at night for 2 stations?  If people from 2 stations (145 and 148th sts) complained about 20 min late nite service, why don't they just have a shuttle bus run instead of having trains running to times square?

When we ran the shuttle between Lenox Terminal and 135th St everyone would transfer to the to continue their trip s/b to 96th St, Midtown, Downtown or to Brooklyn. With the changing demographics in Harlem and other places the bus option was eliminated in favor of train service every 20 minutes to points south. The overnight headway in the subways is 20 minutes any way.

[N6 Limited]

4 hours ago, VIP said:

It would make no sense to then run trains from 96th-42nd Streets. Plus it’s more costly running shuttle buses. Plus most train lines run at or around 20 minute headways during the late night hours. 

To elaborate, I was saying that late nite service is on 20 min headway and the essentially runs to serve 2 stations, one shuttle bus (artic?) can serve those two stations by looping from 135th st. Is one shuttle bus with one b/o more costly than 2 (or 3?) train crews?

2 hours ago, Trainmaster5 said:

When we ran the shuttle between Lenox Terminal and 135th St everyone would transfer to the to continue their trip s/b to 96th St, Midtown, Downtown or to Brooklyn. With the changing demographics in Harlem and other places the bus option was eliminated in favor of train service every 20 minutes to points south. The overnight headway in the subways is 20 minutes any way.

Thanks, How has late nite  service been doing?