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Service Changes Conundrum


Lawrence St

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Ok, so basically, my issue is why don't conductors notify their passengers if their train is ending at a different terminal then it's normal one. For example, just last week;

I boarded a R142 (5) that was signed up to Eastchester, and I looked at my phone and saw that there was a service change on Dyre saying that there was no (5) service in both directions between East 180th St and Dyre, yet all the trains on the countdown clock were still signed up as Dyre Avenue bound (5) trains (service change started at 11 AM and I got on a (5) at 11:45 AM, the problem was not fixed until 6 PM.) So fast forward to West Farms Square, the conductor STILL didn't make an announcement or at least change the signs to end at East 180th, and when we got to 180th St on M track, the Dyre Avenue bound (5) announcement didn't play so the conductor made a manual announcement and it went like this:

"EASTCHESTER BOUND 5 TRAIN NEXT STOP MOR-WHATS THAT PARTNER? WHAT? LAST STOP? LADIES AND GENTLEMEN THIS IS THE LAST STOP ON THIS TRAIN, WE APOLOGIZE FOR ANY IN-CONVINCE. PLEASE LEAVE THE TRAIN NOW. I THINK THERE ARE SHUTTLE BUSES DOWN STAIRS."

I find it really sad that a conductor dosen't even know whats happening on his own line or even where the hell he's terminating at. Hell this happened on 4 out of 6 (5) trains I rode from 125th St to East 180th St, and none of those trains were signed up correctly. Are conductors not notified of a service change when it happens?

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2 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

Ok, so basically, my issue is why don't conductors notify their passengers if their train is ending at a different terminal then it's normal one. For example, just last week;

I boarded a R142 (5) that was signed up to Eastchester, and I looked at my phone and saw that there was a service change on Dyre saying that there was no (5) service in both directions between East 180th St and Dyre, yet all the trains on the countdown clock were still signed up as Dyre Avenue bound (5) trains (service change started at 11 AM and I got on a (5) at 11:45 AM, the problem was not fixed until 6 PM.) So fast forward to West Farms Square, the conductor STILL didn't make an announcement or at least change the signs to end at East 180th, and when we got to 180th St on M track, the Dyre Avenue bound (5) announcement didn't play so the conductor made a manual announcement and it went like this:

"EASTCHESTER BOUND 5 TRAIN NEXT STOP MOR-WHATS THAT PARTNER? WHAT? LAST STOP? LADIES AND GENTLEMEN THIS IS THE LAST STOP ON THIS TRAIN, WE APOLOGIZE FOR ANY IN-CONVINCE. PLEASE LEAVE THE TRAIN NOW. I THINK THERE ARE SHUTTLE BUSES DOWN STAIRS."

I find it really sad that a conductor dosen't even know whats happening on his own line or even where the hell he's terminating at. Hell this happened on 4 out of 6 (5) trains I rode from 125th St to East 180th St, and none of those trains were signed up correctly. Are conductors not notified of a service change when it happens?

If the service change is one that happens when something is out of the train operator's control (like sick passengers, stalled trains, fires, etc.), I think the train has to wait for instructions from the command center and dispatchers to see where that particular train will be rerouted. Not every train might be rerouted to the published terminal, likely because of limited terminal capacity and delays in reversing trains due to the same crew having to take the train back to the terminal.

i.e. Astoria-bound (N) train has to end at Times Sq-42 St due to a stalled train at Lexington Av-59 St, so that train crew will dump passengers on the NB express track, delaying all northbound (N)(Q) trains and rerouting them to the local track ( the (Q) trains ) and stacking the (N) trains on the express tracks while the crews change ends to reverse back to Brooklyn. So the (N) trains that stack must be rerouted to other terminals (like 96 St-2 Av, 57 St-7 Av, 21 St-Queensbridge/71 Av, remain in Brooklyn) or rerouted to other lines (via the local track, via 6 Av, etc.). It all depends on the train traffic and what the temporary terminals can handle, so the conductors do not know where they specifically will go

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3 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

Ok, so basically, my issue is why don't conductors notify their passengers if their train is ending at a different terminal then it's normal one. For example, just last week;

I boarded a R142 (5) that was signed up to Eastchester, and I looked at my phone and saw that there was a service change on Dyre saying that there was no (5) service in both directions between East 180th St and Dyre, yet all the trains on the countdown clock were still signed up as Dyre Avenue bound (5) trains (service change started at 11 AM and I got on a (5) at 11:45 AM, the problem was not fixed until 6 PM.) So fast forward to West Farms Square, the conductor STILL didn't make an announcement or at least change the signs to end at East 180th, and when we got to 180th St on M track, the Dyre Avenue bound (5) announcement didn't play so the conductor made a manual announcement and it went like this:

"EASTCHESTER BOUND 5 TRAIN NEXT STOP MOR-WHATS THAT PARTNER? WHAT? LAST STOP? LADIES AND GENTLEMEN THIS IS THE LAST STOP ON THIS TRAIN, WE APOLOGIZE FOR ANY IN-CONVINCE. PLEASE LEAVE THE TRAIN NOW. I THINK THERE ARE SHUTTLE BUSES DOWN STAIRS."

I find it really sad that a conductor doesn't even know whats happening on his own line or even where the hell he's terminating at. Hell this happened on 4 out of 6 (5) trains I rode from 125th St to East 180th St, and none of those trains were signed up correctly. Are conductors not notified of a service change when it happens?

I'm not particularly sure what is really going on with the (5) train crew from East 180th Street. I personally believe that they would get notified of a service change from command and dispatch, but I think the real issue in this case has to be poor communication between the crew and the Rail Control Center to the point that conductors don't even remember to change the signage to reflect that its turning at East 180th Street.

I can recall two of many examples where conductors made announcements whenever a change in service did happen:

1. When I was on a (5) express train going to Nereid Avenue some time ago, the conductor received a message from Rail Control saying that the #5 train I was on was going to Gun Hill Road, meaning that it was going to run express from East 180th Street to Gun Hill Road to terminate. Before that, she kept us notified about how the #5 train was going to run - even going as far as to tell us that it will make all stops after East 180th Street to Nereid Avenue. Once she received the message that its going to Gun Hill, she not only informed us passengers about the change in plans; she also changed the signage to show that it was going to Gun Hill mid journey, and I think it was a factor regarding how I was able to connect to a Fordham Center bound 28 so fast.

2. Another example is with what happened in one of the early weekends where I got on the (2) train to get to South Ferry - Whitehall Street because of the Clark Street closure. Even though the conductor doing the run to South Ferry - Whitehall did come from the (5) train crew, she made sure to announce that anyone that needed service to East New York along the (3) train get on the 4 train and vice versa for service to Midwood.

I've been on various (4) trains where the Mosholu crew at least make the effort to announce that because of CONSTRUCTION, the (4) train is making express stops from 149th Street to Burnside Avenue or Woodlawn. I was once on a (D) express train towards Norwood - 205th Street (I got off at Tremont Avenue) and the conductor had to ask her partner what the next stop was following Harlem - 145th Street (at that point, it was already in the middle track having used a pocket track to get to the lower level). The T/D had to announce via the public intercom that it was Tremont Avenue, but I found what happened to be strange because that never happened before whenever I took the D train. I've had to at times ask the (D) train conductor whether it would be going completely express after Harlem - 145th Street. If it was going to stop at 161st Street first, I'd just hop on the (B) train to get to Tremont Avenue when I had that chance.

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Well the these are the times I recall conductors not changing the signs correctly;

1. At Brooklyn Bridge, none of the (4) or (5) trains were signed up to Bowling Green even though there was an electrical fire in the tunnels. So me being a moron and not checking the website, I went on a (4) and we kept getting held at Fulton with no announcement being made as to why. So I check the website and see the service change, so I go over to the conductor and ask him why his train was still signed up to Utica when I could clearly hear RRC telling him that the last stop would be bowling green. He just gave me a idk look and shut the window.

2. On a Woodlawn bound (4), RCC made the T/O run express from 149th St to Woodlawn, but the conductor made no announcement and when we started bypassing stops everyone was getting angry and confused as to why the train was running express (Even the AAS system still showed that the (4) was running local.)

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The general reason behind the lack of communication between the train crews and the riders is the lack of communication between RCC and the crews. If the train crews have no idea what's going on, how can they inform their passengers? From what I've seen over the years, RCC likes to keep their information close to the vest, much to the detriment of everyone else. Obviously since I don't work there, this is just my uninformed observation. Same thing with the clocks. Everything is so compartmentalized there that everyone remains in the dark.

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