No. 1 Train Is Rated Highest by Commuter Advocates

[Trainspotter]

No. 1 Train Is Rated Highest by Commuter Advocates

By WILLIAM NEUMAN

Published: July 24, 2007

 

The No. 1 subway line was named the city’s best for the first time yesterday in an annual ranking of the subway system, which designated the C and W lines the worst.

 

Subway Report Card The subway report card, compiled each year by the Straphangers Campaign, a rider advocacy group, found that subway cars on almost all lines had gotten cleaner since the last time the system was evaluated. Using data from the last six months of 2006, the group found that 87 percent of subway cars were clean, compared with 79 percent during the last six months of 2005. Improvements in cleanliness were seen on 18 subway lines, while two lines, the No. 2 and the C, had dirtier cars and the M and the W saw no change. (The Straphangers Campaign counted the J and Z as a single line.)

 

Despite the gains, the group criticized transit officials for failing to show improvements in other areas of the subway system.

 

The group said that subway cars broke down more frequently than in 2005, and called that a troubling trend. And it said that, for the system as a whole, there was almost no difference from its previous report in the regularity with which subway trains arrived and in the clarity of announcements made over subway car public address systems.

 

“Things are much better than they used to be, and they still have a long way to go,” said Gene Russianoff, the staff lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign. “There’s a desire for continued improvement.”

 

The group has issued the report card every year since 1997. The response from New York City Transit has at times ranged from corrosive to merely dismissive, so the agency’s statement yesterday was noteworthy for its relative blandness, declaring that officials were “working hard to earn passing marks in all areas.”

 

A year earlier, officials responded tartly to the report card, saying it demonstrated “a fundamental inability to understand how the New York City subway system actually works.”

 

One reason for the measured response may be that the new president of New York City Transit, Howard H. Roberts Jr., has made an effort to reach out to transit advocates. It may also reflect the fact that Mr. Roberts intends to issue his own series of rider report cards, based on surveys of riders on each line.

 

Earlier this month, he started a pilot program to survey riders, beginning with the No. 7 line, asking questions about issues similar to those addressed in the Straphangers Campaign report, such as the cleanliness and timeliness of trains. Results of the survey were expected to be released later this summer.

 

The transit agency’s statement yesterday said that “it will be interesting to compare the results” of its own rider surveys with the Straphangers’ report.

 

That report placed the No. 1 line, which runs from South Ferry in Lower Manhattan to 242nd Street in the Bronx, at the top for the first time, displacing the No. 6 line, which had been rated the best for three years in a row.

 

The No. 1 performed above average on four of the six measures used in the evaluation, including frequency of service, timeliness of trains, cleanliness of cars and the clarity of in-car announcements. The line got below-average scores, however, for a lack of available seats during the rush and the number of delays caused by train breakdowns.

 

The L line was rated second best, and the No. 6 and No. 7 trains tied for third place.

 

At the bottom of the list were the C and W lines, which had a relatively low level of scheduled service and scored poorly on ratings for in-car announcements, the chance of getting a seat during the rush and the frequency of car breakdowns.

[Eastman346]

Good news for the users of that line.

[R68 Subway Car]

There are parts in this report that I agree and disagree with.

 

*Euclid Avenue is in Brooklyn!!!!!!

*I agree that the 1 line pwns because of its pwnage R62A Subway Car rolling stock as well as its' awesome frequency!

*Just because the R142 and R142A is newer dont not mean it will perform better. Last year, the then 20 year old R68 Subway Car outbeat the then 7 year old R142 Subway Car fleet in MDBF.

*The A is one hard line to find a seat. The G Line is an easier line to get a seat.

[Harry]

Euclid Avenue is in Brooklyn that for sure.

[sebbieprops]

I still say the and the are the most efficient lines.

[error46146]

yea well Strappies has its own way of ratings. How they do it I don't know

 

For me the best IRT line is the 7