A question about 2nd Avenue Q frequency

[CenSin]

I’ve given it some thought for a while…

 

Why not just send less trains to Astoria so that trains can unambiguously serve only Astoria?

Because Broadway local needs the extra service. There are 4 routes ( , , , and ) and 2 pairs of tracks to divide them evenly amongst.

Why not send some of those Broadway locals to 96 Street?

Because of switching trains jamming up stations from 34 Street–Herald Square to 57 Street–7 Avenue.

Why not have the be Broadway local and the be Broadway express so that excess trains can terminate at 96 Street?

Because the same jam would happen at Canal Street. The express has no southern terminal within Manhattan, so it must continue to Brooklyn. If the is the express, then it will run to Brooklyn over the bridge, meaning that we haven’t solved the problem at all but merely swapped letters ( Astoria/Broadway local/South Ferry ⟷ Astoria/Broadway express/Coney Island).

Why don’t we just eliminate the and just have lots of local trains?

Astoria needs higher frequency service than Brooklyn. You would have to split the route anyway between Whitehall Street and Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue since Brooklyn would be getting too much service. Then you would need different designations for the two routes ( and ) but the , , and would all be on the local track using Broadway’s capacity unevenly. Putting the on the express track is the obvious move to fix that.

 

In conclusion: sending some trains to 96 Street makes sense. They are already on the express track and Astoria can’t turn all the and trains running along Broadway.

 

Long-term fix: connect the Broadway local tracks to 2 Avenue.

[Eric B]

What's the effective date for the work program?

It says November 6 (and they will run a supplement until it actually opens. Still don't know why they don't make it December, which would be a better shot at it being ready).

[Lance]

I presume this is when the starts running and the is truncated to 57 Street.