SUBWAY - Random Thoughts Topic

[Jova42R]

When will service start?

[CyclonicTrainLookout]

2 hours ago, Jova42R said:

When will service start?

I'm not sure of an exact date, but it should start early next month as planned.

[Jova42R]

20 minutes ago, CyclonicTrainLookout said:

I'm not sure of an exact date, but it should start early next month as planned.

Ok, thanks!

[Axis]

Here’s a bright idea. How about run trains to Bedford Park during middays to compensate for the once every 1̶6̶ 30 minute train bs. 

FOH with the 20 bus going too slow and making me just miss the last train for 15 minutes.

I propose we crowdfund buffed weekday midday Manhattan to Bedford Park/Woodlawn/Cross County scope of service (or at least begin by bringing back all-day full-time bidirectional BxM4C). Or...tell people to stop going up here when there aren’t enough trains & buses to go around in the first place, so everything stops being too crowded AND slow.

[4 via Mosholu]

I have passed by the Dyre platform of Gun Hill when I was on the Manhattan bound train and while I was on the Dyre train. I don't know why they never replaced the 1980's wall over there near the main exit. I really believed that it was going to be replaced, but I think that is more or less one of the disappointing renovations I have ever witnessed.

[Jemorie]

While I'm not a daily  or  rider, I personally believe that after the  officially made both lines on weekends each run at every 12 minute headways (5 tph) instead of the previous respective 7-8 minute headways (8 tph) on the former and 10 minute headways (6 tph) on the latter, weekend ridership on both lines probably went down slightly or a whole alot.

Most  and  riders at their respective Queens ends commute via other modes of public transportation. Up to half-hour and/or even an hour plus ride on buses before finally boarding a train to Manhattan that they expect to run express and have shorter headways. Instead, they are local in terms of making all stops, slow in terms of speed, and/or have longer headways due to ever-lasting GOs and flagging.

Edited September 2, 2019 by Jemorie

[Wallyhorse]

On 5/26/2019 at 7:41 PM, Around the Horn said:

One of the statements that constantly get repeated around here is the idea that "The old  was empty" (and/or useless or whatever description you choose).

So since I found an old  schedule of mine this afternoon, I decided to look up the  schedule from the same time period in the Wayback machine, and I found that might have been partially by design.

I'll explain:

The  and  all ran every ten minutes or 6 TPH each, coming out to a combined 18 TPH during the morning and evening peaks (8 to 9 AM and 5 to 6 PM). Now obviously that doesn't divide evenly. 60/18= 3 and a third. So how do you insert that third service in between the  or  coming every five minutes?

Looking at the  schedule, downtown trains arrived at Essex Street on the 3's (so that's 8:13, 8:23, 8:33, etc).  trains arrived on the 7's (8:17, 8:27, 8:37, etc) and  trains arrived on the 2's (8:12, 8:22, 8:32, etc)

Going back uptown in the evening,  trains left Broad Street on the 0's (5:00, 5:10, 5:20, etc) and  trains left on the 5's (5:05, 5:15, 5:25, etc) and  trains arrived at Broad Street on the 6's (5:06, 5:16, 5:26, etc).

Now what looks off there?  That's right. The  was always scheduled to be only one minute behind a  !

This means in a ten minute period you had headways of 5, 1 and 4 minutes. No wonder the  was so "empty", the  directly in front was taking on 5 minutes worth of passengers and the  was directly behind it, not picking up much and then the  would be 4 minutes behind that . 

I'd also imagine that would kill reliability on the  to be scheduled directly behind a  train especially going Downtown when it would be fumigating at Broad Street.

Only saw this a few months after it was posted.  It explains a LOT on the old  and why it wasn't that popular.  Also makes a case for my "Brown " running from Bay Ridge-Essex that can supplement the  and actually replace the  shuttle in the overnights (essentially running the old  route 24/7).

[Lawrence St]

I believe the reason why the brown (M) was like that was because of how the (R) was scheduled and the capacity restraints in Mountague.

 

[Jemorie]

33 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

I believe the reason why the brown was like that was because of how the was scheduled and the capacity restraints in Mountague.

The Montague Street Tube had no capacity constraints back then. The  is officially scheduled to come every 6 minutes rush hours and 10 minutes all other times. Still is today.

Like I told @Around the Horn that day when he made that statement, the old  was lightly loaded because more people are headed to Midtown Manhattan from South Brooklyn than Lower Manhattan. However, going from Metropolitan Avenue to Manhattan, crowds were heavily loaded and still are the same as they were back then. Only difference is that instead of changing trains to reach Midtown, Chelsea, SoHo etc, they stay on the train, relieving crowding on those other lines going to Midtown, Chelsea, SoHo, etc. The , , , and  are also much more crowded than the  during the AM Rush out of Brooklyn.

[MHV9218]

You guys been noticing the removal of "Off Hours" signs in the subway? Astor Place had its huge yellow enamel "Off Hours Waiting Area" signs that date to ~1986 finally covered up with black sheet metal recently. The old signs are still there, but clearly the MTA just wants them hidden away. There was an article in the Times a couple years ago about the MTA's decision to do away with the signs. They were first installed in 1982 or so, and there was supposed to be one in every station by 1987. As a result most of them are in Akzidenz-Grotesk and nearly all are porcelain enamel. They're being slowly eliminated, but there are tons of them to deal with. I have to check if the ones at 79th are still there–those used to be prominent too. Those were the stations with on-platform waiting areas, whereas there were a ton of stations with mezzanine areas. Woodside and Grand Central had a maze of them near fare control. 

[paulrivera]

I was on a  train that got held up a good 5 minutes each at two different stops because of an incident that happened BEHIND us.

Someone tell the  they run trains, NOT conveyor belts or trams.

[Lex]

1 hour ago, paulrivera said:

I was on a  train that got held up a good 5 minutes each at two different stops because of an incident that happened BEHIND us.

Someone tell the  they run trains, NOT conveyor belts or trams.

I mean, it could be a case of extended dwells to try to keep people at those stations from experiencing ridiculous wait times due to not knowing when the incident will be resolved.

That's probably too positive, though. It's more likely a case of people not knowing what the hell is going on and entering panic mode...

[paulrivera]

18 minutes ago, Lex said:

I mean, it could be a case of extended dwells to try to keep people at those stations from experiencing ridiculous wait times due to not knowing when the incident will be resolved.

That's probably too positive, though. It's more likely a case of people not knowing what the hell is going on and entering panic mode...

I don't even know anymore...

My credit card can only digest so many Metro-North trips due to the subway system's impotence. Hell, even a delay on Metro-North itself is more tolerable than this shit.

[Jova42R]

Do trains run local on CPW at any time? I have seen some running local on Google maps. Is this correct?

[S78 via Hylan]

7 minutes ago, Jova42R said:

Do trains run local on CPW at any time? I have seen some running local on Google maps. Is this correct?

Normally, they don’t, but the past few weekends as well a few times this year, they’ve been running local due to planned work.

[Jemorie]

Yeah, because otherwise, leave the  express. There’s no reason why its Bronx-bound customers should have to add an extra 15+ minutes to their travel time when both Central Park and the Museum of Natural History are closed at night anyway.

[Trainmaster5]

16 hours ago, Lex said:

I mean, it could be a case of extended dwells to try to keep people at those stations from experiencing ridiculous wait times due to not knowing when the incident will be resolved.

That's probably too positive, though. It's more likely a case of people not knowing what the hell is going on and entering panic mode...

That’s what the SOP was when I was there. If you don’t hold the train(s) directly ahead of the incident whenever things clear up there will be a gap which will impact the incident train and it’s followers depending on how long the delay is. I was held at 96th and Broadway one Saturday night while working the  . The people working the Grand Concourse tower missed me because my follower was delayed at Allerton Avenue, in the Bronx, by the skating rink crowd. We were on a 12 minute headway so you can imagine how large the gap was. We had trains laid up on the structure from Pelham Parkway down to Bronx Park East so there was no way to bypass the incident. I’ve actually operated the 148th St- 135th St Lenox shuttle down to 96th and to Times Square at different times to cover the gap in similar situations and we only had 5 cars. It really boils down to what the Command Center (RCC) or local supervision decides. I know that feeling when you catch the right train but because of a delay on another train you miss that connection to the railroad at Penn or Grand Central, the Ferry, or the last bus of the night to your house. It’s happened to me. Carry on.

[Lawrence St]

When the runs to Coney Island, why isn't the northern terminal extended to Forest Hills?

[Jemorie]

3 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

When the runs to Coney Island, why isn't the northern terminal extended to Forest Hills?

Because of ever-lasting GOs and flagging on Queens Blvd....

[4 via Mosholu]

1 minute ago, Lawrence St said:

When the runs to Coney Island, why isn't the northern terminal extended to Forest Hills?

They deem that the train can handle Continental by itself, even when the train runs to either Essex, Myrtle, or East Side - 96 Street. Because of constant General Orders along Queens Boulevard, it would be even slower for the train to run alongside it.

[Lawrence St]

35 minutes ago, 4 via Mosholu said:

They deem that the train can handle Continental by itself, even when the train runs to either Essex, Myrtle, or East Side - 96 Street. Because of constant General Orders along Queens Boulevard, it would be even slower for the train to run alongside it.

And they can't pause the QBL General Orders like they did with the along CPW?

[RR503]

57 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

When the runs to Coney Island, why isn't the northern terminal extended to Forest Hills?

I’m confused, why _would_ it be extended to Forest Hills...?

[Jemorie]

20 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

And they can't pause the QBL General Orders like they did with the along CPW?

Are you low key just obsessed with wanting to see the  back on Queens Blvd or what lol.

You know the Queens Blvd Line’s signaling system has to be upgraded anyway.

[Lawrence St]

2 hours ago, RR503 said:

I’m confused, why _would_ it be extended to Forest Hills...?

At least from my understanding, customers along QBL who want to go to Coney Island can take the directly without transferring.

[RR503]

2 minutes ago, Lawrence St said:

At least from my understanding, customers along QBL who want to go to Coney Island can take the directly without transferring.

Customers along QBL wanting to go to Culver are an extremely small demographic, and do not require an expensive and capital project-disrupting service change to save them a simple transfer at Hoyt Schermerhorn or Court Square.