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1 hour ago, darkstar8983 said:

4. The "The next and last stop is" portion of the announcements are now done by the person who does the (A) and (C) announcements.

7. On the (N), the Lexington Av-59 St announcement has been amended to add the free transfer to Lexington-63 St as also being able to be completed using OMNY (again, spliced in).

It's all for how much memory the tech trains have. Similar to the R142, one of the voices have to be deleted for new announcements to make room for future changes to the programs.  

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I was on the (M) earlier and the FIND showed the new transfers at 42nd street. It shows transfers to the (1)(2)(3), (7), (N)(Q)(R)(W), (S) 

It doesn’t include the (A)(C)(E) but to be quite honest I would never do that long walk from 6th Ave to 8th Ave to transfer. Even before the passageway to 6th Ave opened up, I rarely used the 7th Ave/ Broadway passageway to 8th Ave unless the weather was really bad.  

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3 hours ago, darkstar8983 said:

2. Accessibility in subway stations are now announced similarly to the (L) 's R143s / R160A's.

What's the difference between the (L) accessibility announcement format and the format that was used before? I think that all the R160s have had the announcements for a while now but I didn't think the (L) had a different format for them

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5 hours ago, darkstar8983 said:

A few changes are now on the R160 main-line cars (non-Eastern Division)

1. The Times Sq-42 St announcement on The (N)'s R160s now announce as soon as the train leaves 34 St-Herald Sq (northbound) and 49 St (southbound), and announce all the lines (1)(2)(3)(7) (A) (B) (C) (D)(E)(F)(M)(Q)(R)(W) (S), with the new 6th Av Line trains spliced in-between the (A)(C) and (E). For those who are wondering how all these lines were going to fit at this transfer, this is what happened:

 

ORIGINAL ROUTE STRIP MAP:

Times Sq-42 St (handicap sign)

1-2-3-7-A-C-E-Q-R-W-S-PABT

*the dashes represent the dots that separate each route

 

NEW ROUTE STRIP MAP

Times Sq-42 St / PABT (handicap sign)

123-7-ACE-BDFM-QRW-S

The dashes represent the dots that now separate the trunk lines. All routes in a Manhattan trunk line are now grouped together, and port authority bus terminal was now added to the top row where it says Times Sq-42 St.

 

2. Accessibility in subway stations are now announced similarly to the (L) 's R143s / R160A's. 

3. The 39 Av station now displays 39 Av-Dutch Kills

4. The "The next and last stop is" portion of the announcements are now done by the person who does the (A) and (C) announcements.

5. The (R)'s R160s southbound no longer display "via 59 St" on the exterior in the 3-phase scroll between "via 59 St, Broadway Local, Bay Ridge-95 St", instead being replaced by "4 Av Local". 

6. The 59 St (R) train trips now have a display for them as "59 St/4 Av", instead of having to use the Bay Ridge-95 St script or the 36 St-4 Av Script.

7. On the (N), the Lexington Av-59 St announcement has been amended to add the free transfer to Lexington-63 St as also being able to be completed using OMNY (again, spliced in).

It wasn't just the (N) that had the announcement change, the (R) also had that running with the new route strip map shown as 123-7-ACE-BDFM-NQW-S. Saw a video of it and I really got to hand it to whoever spliced the announcement. It sounded very good and I'm interested in seeing what they have done for other lines, especially 6th Av and the (7) in particular.

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11 hours ago, Calvin said:

One month later, the Supreme wrap on the (L) has been removed. 

We all knew it wasn't going to last forever, it was nice to see something so bland for the first time. Especially something that isn't the NYS Wrap, hell I liked they went further and wrapped the front part, too. Something they never usually wrap ever.

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On 9/15/2021 at 9:17 AM, darkstar8983 said:

A few changes are now on the R160 main-line cars (non-Eastern Division)

1. The Times Sq-42 St announcement on The (N)'s R160s now announce as soon as the train leaves 34 St-Herald Sq (northbound) and 49 St (southbound), and announce all the lines (1)(2)(3)(7) (A) (B) (C) (D)(E)(F)(M)(Q)(R)(W) (S), with the new 6th Av Line trains spliced in-between the (A)(C) and (E). For those who are wondering how all these lines were going to fit at this transfer, this is what happened:

[snip]

 

7. On the (N), the Lexington Av-59 St announcement has been amended to add the free transfer to Lexington-63 St as also being able to be completed using OMNY (again, spliced in).

I like the way they did the reading of these lines.  Even though many of us would group the lines by how they are run ACE-BDFM, for the general public it is easier to read the trains in alphabetical order.

Does anyone know if the transfer from Lex-63 to Lex-59 is treated as a system transfer?  What I mean by that is that I know that you will need an OMNY card to make this a free transfer, but back in the Metrocard days, this was only a free transfer if you did not need another transfer.

In the Metrocard days, you could enter the system at any (4)(5)(6) station, ride the train to Lex-59, exit and walk to Lex-63, re-enter the system for free and ride the (F) to Queens.  However, once in Queens, you could not transfer to a bus for free, as you have already used your free transfer from Lex-59 to Lex-63.

A personal wishlist of mine would be that any of these walking transfers that the MTA proposes would be a true transfer and that the transfer made from Lex-59 to Lex-63 would not count against you with regard to bus transfers.  So does anyone know if a person were to use OMNY to make the Lex-59 to Lex-63 transfer, would they still preserve their free bus transfer?

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The Franklin Av (S) tends to park the spare 2-car train around random locations. During the summer season, it's mostly seen on the Coney Island/Brighton Beach platform at the Lincoln Av side. Other times, it'll either be around the track a few feet apart where the (Q) switches to the local track or coming from the Parkside Av track. 

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7 hours ago, Calvin said:

The Franklin Av (S) tends to park the spare 2-car train around random locations. During the summer season, it's mostly seen on the Coney Island/Brighton Beach platform at the Lincoln Av side. Other times, it'll either be around the track a few feet apart where the (Q) switches to the local track or coming from the Parkside Av track. 

Sometimes it may be on the northbound local track instead of the southbound one but mainly it is on the south one. The other three cars stay in Coney Island yard 

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Changes on the (D) trains that's usually on the Stillwell Av Yard for lay-ups: they have been moved to Coney Island next to the (R) trains. While taking the (D) trains spot, some C.I Yard lay-up (B) trains have been moved over to Stillwell Av. Entirely, it's seen as the (B) and (Q) trains. 

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Just watched this RFW video of a Queens-bound (Z) train and I think it highlights one of the most inane aspects of our current system.

You can see at 8:50 that the (M) and (Z) are pulling into Essex Street but the (Z) gets held in the middle of the station because of the way the signals are set up.

The (Z) runs express and makes it to Myrtle Avenue at 23:49, but sits there and waits as the same (M) train takes its time crossing ahead. The (Z) doesn’t get the signal to proceed until 26:26.

So anyone needing the local stations between Marcy Avenue and Myrtle Avenue had to get off at Essex Street to wait for the next (M) train. Anyone needing Jamaica stops past Myrtle Avenue was delayed 5 minutes. The only people who “won” in that situation were taking the (M) from the start.

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4 hours ago, CenSin said:

Just watched this RFW video of a Queens-bound (Z) train and I think it highlights one of the most inane aspects of our current system.

You can see at 8:50 that the (M) and (Z) are pulling into Essex Street but the (Z) gets held in the middle of the station because of the way the signals are set up.

The (Z) runs express and makes it to Myrtle Avenue at 23:49, but sits there and waits as the same (M) train takes its time crossing ahead. The (Z) doesn’t get the signal to proceed until 26:26.

So anyone needing the local stations between Marcy Avenue and Myrtle Avenue had to get off at Essex Street to wait for the next (M) train. Anyone needing Jamaica stops past Myrtle Avenue was delayed 5 minutes. The only people who “won” in that situation were taking the (M) from the start.

Yeah, I've never liked the idea of the (J)(Z) running express west of Myrtle Av. It is a three-station skip, which now is pointless because of the gentrification in Williamsburg, and the switch layout at Marcy Av and Myrtle Av + crossing the Bridge into Manhattan negates almost all time savings on the (J)(Z) in the section between Essex St and Myrtle Av. 

 

In the morning rush hour, it is ideal to keep the (J)(Z) express and the (M) local in this section because the (M) runs roughly every 5-6 minutes (10 Trains per hour), creating an almost 1:1 ratio to the (J) / (Z) combined. The Marcy Av merge should indeed prioritize the lower manhattan-bound express (J)(Z) trains so that there is time-savings, and the Myrtle Av-Broadway cross-platform interchange between the (J) and (M) trains is pretty useful (especially for Jamaica Line customers who need the local stops served only by the (M) train and therefore must switch from the express to the local).  All other transfers can theoretically be made by waiting at the underground Essex St Station in Manhattan (which has the benefit of protection from the elements - rain + wind + snow) without major inconvenience. 

 

In the evening rush hour, that cross-platform exchange should be made at Essex St (which yes would require precise timing on the (J) / (Z) and (M) trains so that they arrive at Essex St synchronously. This would also require some slight holds on the (M) trains since they again run slightly less frequently than the (J)(Z) between 5:15PM and 6PM [All other times in the rush period, the (M) comes more often than the (J).]. Again, the benefit of the cross platform transfer at Essex St east-bound here is beneficial due to protection from the elements and does the same job as the Myrtle Av cross-platform transfer in the AM rush. The only reason people switch between the (J) and (M) trains at Myrtle Av in the PM rush are because riders came on the (J) train express which left Essex St behind the (M) train that passengers had missed. However, passengers at the west-of Myrtle local stops who want to go to Jamaica have to see a (J)(Z) express train bypass them before the (M) arrives to pick them up and take them to Myrtle Av for the transfer. On top of that, sometimes passengers at these stations need access to a (J) only or (Z) only stop, and sometimes end up meeting up at Myrtle Av with the wrong train of the skip-stop duo, leading to additional platform time. The big problem with the Myrtle Av switch in the PM rush is that this time, the local (M) train crosses in front of the (J)(Z) trains in both directions, blocking the Jamaica Line from having any trains pass either towards or away from Manhattan. Most often than not, this delays the (J)(Z) at Myrtle Av and even a straggling express train on the express track at Flushing Av. When the (J)(Z) cross, it blocks the Middle Village-bound (M) trains and may cause trains to stack behind them too. This causes train bunching to occur east of Myrtle Av because eventually the (M) must go to Queens and something will be delayed. 

 

To mitigate this issue, the PM rush hour (J)(Z) express service west of Myrtle Av should be changed to local.

The advantage would be additional service to the West-of Myrtle local stops, fewer switching and merges (just one merge at Essex St and one diverging at Myrtle Av). In the AM rush, there is only one merge with the (M) train at Marcy Av, and a diverging at Essex St, since switches are locked to have Jamaica Line trains coming from JC to switch to express prior to entering Myrtle Av, allowing the (M) to not have a train merge at Myrtle Av and preserving a cross-platform transfer. There would be fewer delays and running time changes to the (J)(Z) would be negligible because of the streamlining of service in the section between Essex St and Myrtle Av. Also, if there are issues on the local track, trains can always be rerouted via express, but everything is still streamlined, with the (J)(M)(Z) all on the same track

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2 minutes ago, ActiveCity said:

Instead of terminating trains at Whitehall St, can't the MTA just terminate trains on the lower level of City Hall?

Theoretically they could; aside from a missing staircase or two, signals, lighting and possibly third rail on the last track, the basic infrastructure for a full-fledged terminal station is all there.

The real problem is that inertia is a powerful force at the MTA- unless they have a strong incentive or are pushed by the politicians to do it, it won't happen.

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9 minutes ago, ActiveCity said:

Instead of terminating trains at Whitehall St, can't the MTA just terminate trains on the lower level of City Hall?

Yes, but termiaining trains at Whitehall gives riders additional service to the Ferry. It's bad enough SI residents have to ride that stupid orange boat just to travel to and from Manhattan, let's not add to Staten Island commuters misery by cutting service to Whitehall.

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23 minutes ago, trainfan22 said:

Yes, but termiaining trains at Whitehall gives riders additional service to the Ferry. It's bad enough SI residents have to ride that stupid orange boat just to travel to and from Manhattan, let's not add to Staten Island commuters misery by cutting service to Whitehall.

I see what you're saying, but Whitehall St is not meant to be a terminal and is a bottleneck for northbound trains.

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1 hour ago, ActiveCity said:

I see what you're saying, but Whitehall St is not meant to be a terminal and is a bottleneck for northbound trains.

The issue with terminating trains at lower level City Hall is that there needs to be more incentive to rehabilitate it. (W) trains aren't running around 24/7 and only run during weekdays, no late night or weekend service. Which means about half or more of the time the station would be empty because (W) trains aren't running around. That also means the (MTA) rehabilitated the station just so (W) doesn't run half the time. If the (R) were to be split, then you definitely have more incentive because at least the station would be used during weekends.

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3 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

You mean southbound.

You're both correct. A train sitting in the middle track at Whitehall Street means that a train coming through the tunnel from Brooklyn gets a more restrictive signal aspect (I don't remember the exact specifics but it was mentioned somewhere on here previously)

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City Hall LL can only handle an 8 car train. The Platform would have to be extended in order to fit a full sized train. I really wished they created a new local track for canal st upper have the similar layout like the proposed local to express station conversion at woodhaven blvd. This would allow Express Trains from 96th and 2nd to terminate at City hall lower level while having the (N)(Q) continue to Brooklyn. The Tracks would divide similar to what you see with the 63rd st connection.  

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