MTA plan to boost weekend subway service under Hochul’s budget deal

[Jemorie]

MTA plan to boost weekend subway service under Hochul’s budget deal

By 

Nolan Hicks

May 2, 2023 2:22pm 

 Updated

0 of 1 minute, 11 secondsVolume 0%

MORE ON:MTA

NYC’s mental-health failure: Letters to the Editor — May 8, 2023

NYC hasn’t ‘failed’ like San Fran, but we can’t let our guard down

Biden administration allows NY’s traffic congestion pricing plan to move forward

How Jordan Neely’s subway encounter took a deadly turn with fatal chokehold

It’s a B/F/D.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is plotting a dramatic expansion of subway service that will have some lines run as frequently as every six to eight minutes on weekends, The Post has learned.

No, it’s not April 1.

The changes are tentatively set to roll out in three waves over the next twelve months beginning this summer, sources say.

The first wave is expected to begin in July and will boost weekend service frequency on the G, J and M trains to every 8 minutes, up from the current 10 minutes.

Beginning in August, the MTA plans to add more trains to the midday Monday-Friday service on the C, N and R — pushing frequencies on those lines to every 8 minutes from every 10 minutes as well.

The 1 and 6 lines will also get additional service for the midday Saturday and Sunday schedules, with trains expected to run every 6 minutes.

The second wave of improvements is expected to roll out in December.

MTA chairman Janno Lieber holds his arms out wide in February as he showed off one of the agency’s newest subway trains.

Paul Martinka

It calls for increasing weekday evening service on the C, N and R trains to every 8 minutes, up from every 10-12 minutes; the G, meanwhile, would see trains arrive every 8 minutes during its midday Monday-Friday service.

Officials also expect to expand the weekend six-minute schedules on the 1 and 6 trains to cover more hours on Saturdays and Sundays.

The third tranche is expected by summer 2024, when the MTA plans to up Monday-Friday midday and evening service on the B, D, J and M lines by running trains every 8 minutes.

The 3 and 5 lines would see their weekend service increased, too, with trains running every 10 minutes instead of every 12.

People wait to board a C train at Hoyt-Schermerhorn in Brooklyn in January 2023. C train will be one of the biggest winners of the MTA’s coming service expansion, with trains expected to run every 8 minutes on weekdays by the end of the year.

Getty Images

Riders disembark from a 1 train on the Upper West Side last week. The 1 train and its sister on the Lexington Avenue subway, the 6, will both run service every 6 minutes during the day on weekends starting this summer.

J.C. Rice

The service boosts do not come with route extensions for lines that are truncated during the evenings or on weekends: The M would still terminate at Delancey-Essex Streets and the 5 would continue to turn back at Bowling Green.

Sources caution the plans are not finalized and that weekend service will still face disruptions due maintenance and the multi-billion dollar program to replace the MTA’s century-old and failure prone stoplight signals with a new computerized system.

A person familiar with the plan added that the MTA is also seeking to increase the speed at which trains can travel through work zones — which commonly disrupt weekend service — by 5 mph in order to fit the new schedule. Trains currently crawl underground at speeds of fewer than 10 mph.

Despite the caveats, transit activists and progressive politicians hailed the plan, seeing it as vindication of their hard lobbying of Gov. Hochul to include funding for improved service as part of the MTA rescue package in the newly unveiled state budget.

The J and M trains would both see their midday and weekend service improved to every 8 minutes by summer 2024 under the MTA’s new expanded schedules.

Paul Martinka

“This is a huge victory for riders,” said Danny Pearlstein, the top spokesman for Riders Alliance, which campaigned hard for the service increases. “It’s a renewed public investment in a basic service.”

“It’s going to make our city much better,” Pearlstein added. “More frequent service cuts travel times for essential workers, makes it easier for all of us to visit our friends and family and it ties the whole city closer together.”

“Our campaign to ‘Fix The MTA’ has won important victories that will make a real material difference in the lives of working-class New Yorkers,” said Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani (D-Queens), one of the most active boosters of the effort to expand service.

Advocates have argue the bolstered schedules are essential to the MTA’s post-pandemic future — a future in which fewer workers commute to the office while long waits during off-peak hours lead potential riders to hire a car rather than take the train.

12

What do you think? Post a comment.

Officials, meanwhile, hope the increased regularity will better align train schedules with post-COVID ridership trends, which have seen straphangers return at around 80% of pre-pandemic levels on weekends. They also are banking on silencing long-standing complaints about infrequent service and crowded conditions during off-peak hours.

The stepped-up service will be funded by a $35 million deal struck by Hochul and state lawmakers in the recently concluded budget talks.

The MTA bailout is primarily funded by a $1.1 billion hike in payroll taxes for major companies based in the Big Apple, while City Hall is being forced to contribute another $165 million to the MTA to pay for a greater share of the para-transit costs.https://nypost.com/2023/05/02/mta-plan-to-boost-weekend-service-under-hochuls-budget-deal/

[ABCDEFGJLMNQRSSSWZ]

I have to say this is prolly the first budget in a while that hasn't screwed over subway riders.

I think a big part of it is that after the last elections, NYC-based Dems become a larger share of the legislative caucus because NYC grew faster than the rest of NY so districts were shifted into the city.

[Gotham Bus Co.]

Increasing weekend subway service means there will be more service to disrupt due to weekend maintenance and construction.

[ABCDEFGJLMNQRSSSWZ]

On 5/24/2023 at 1:59 PM, Gotham Bus Co. said:

Increasing weekend subway service means there will be more service to disrupt due to weekend maintenance and construction.

Personally I wish there was less emphasis on always mainting at least 20 minute headways systemwide at night. Subway ridership, especially post covid, is pretty high on the weekends, but at night the subway is usually empty. I think a lot of folks in NYC forget that most transit systems in the world don't have night service at all or will just run a few of their core lines (i.e. Nighttube). I'd be down for more fullscale night shutdowns of certain trunks if it meant better maintenance and stuff.

[Gotham Bus Co.]

9 hours ago, ABCDEFGJLMNQRSSSWZ said:

 I think a lot of folks in NYC forget that most transit systems in the world don't have night service at all or will just run a few of their core lines (i.e. Nighttube). I'd be down for more fullscale night shutdowns of certain trunks if it meant better maintenance and stuff.

However, "lots of folks in NYC" really don't (and shouldn't need to) care what "most transit systems in the world" do or don't do.  New Yorkers who need to travel overnight shouldn't be restricted by WMATA's service hours. 

[Wallyhorse]

7 hours ago, Gotham Bus Co. said:

However, "lots of folks in NYC" really don't (and shouldn't need to) care what "most transit systems in the world" do or don't do.  New Yorkers who need to travel overnight shouldn't be restricted by WMATA's service hours. 

Right, and we all remember the backlash when the system WAS shut down in the overnights due to COVID (as IMO it was the only ACLU-proof way to get the homeless out of the subways, at least for a few hours that followed the infamous fire on the  train that killed a T/O).  There are a lot of people who NEED to be able to travel in the overnights (and on Friday and Saturday nights in particular, people going home from a night at the clubs and so forth) so you really can't shut the lines down as easily as some may think, 

[CenSin]

23 hours ago, ABCDEFGJLMNQRSSSWZ said:

a lot of folks in NYC forget that most transit systems in the world don't have night service at all or will just run a few of their core lines

A lot of people are poor: like 80% (c.f., Pareto Principle). Most of the world lack basic infrastructure that we take for granted (e.g., roads). A lot of folks in Japan also forget that the rest of the world is quite happy with the residue left by using just toilet paper instead of properly rinsing with a bidet.

IMHO, the answer isn’t to lower your standards because nobody else is doing better.

[ABCDEFGJLMNQRSSSWZ]

1 hour ago, CenSin said:

A lot of people are poor: like 80% (c.f., Pareto Principle). Most of the world lack basic infrastructure that we take for granted (e.g., roads). A lot of folks in Japan also forget that the rest of the world is quite happy with the residue left by using just toilet paper instead of properly rinsing with a bidet.

IMHO, the answer isn’t to lower your standards because nobody else is doing better.

I 100% agree with you and Wallyhorse; ig what I'm trying to say that as much as possible, it'd be worth emphasizing doing most construction overnights instead of weekends when possible, and not be scared to just shut down entire lines at night if it means they can run on weekends; especially lines that have nearby lines that run parrallel and alternatives that can take over branches.

For instance I could do a full shutdown of the IND 6th Av line while having Broadway and 8th Av be able to take over all of it's branches and not leaving any huge transit deserts. You can also shut down 1 of lines like the  or  in the Bronx or the  and  in upper Manhattan while still providing most communities a basic level of subway access. The lines that are hardest to deal with are stuff like Queens Blvd or Lexington Av which are high ridership and don't have direct parallels.

The MTA is always hesitant to do full on nightly shutdowns on ANY lines though, which I think ultimately stunts maintenance and can drag on certain projects for longer, which then means those delays, even if less significant, end up impacting a much larger number of riders.

[darkstar8983]

23 minutes ago, ABCDEFGJLMNQRSSSWZ said:

I 100% agree with you and Wallyhorse; ig what I'm trying to say that as much as possible, it'd be worth emphasizing doing most construction overnights instead of weekends when possible, and not be scared to just shut down entire lines at night if it means they can run on weekends; especially lines that have nearby lines that run parrallel and alternatives that can take over branches.

For instance I could do a full shutdown of the IND 6th Av line while having Broadway and 8th Av be able to take over all of it's branches and not leaving any huge transit deserts. You can also shut down 1 of lines like the  or  in the Bronx or the  and  in upper Manhattan while still providing most communities a basic level of subway access. The lines that are hardest to deal with are stuff like Queens Blvd or Lexington Av which are high ridership and don't have direct parallels.

The MTA is always hesitant to do full on nightly shutdowns on ANY lines though, which I think ultimately stunts maintenance and can drag on certain projects for longer, which then means those delays, even if less significant, end up impacting a much larger number of riders.

Yes I agree. The fastrack program showed that you can do nightly maintenance in sections of the subway where alternatives are available without shuttle bus service. It is completely possible to do on the following corridors during off peak hours:

1. Lexington Av (full closure south of 42 St) or express tunnel / local tunnel closure between 125 St and Grand Central 

2. 7 Av (full line from 242 St to South Ferry is possible), with central park west as an alternative and minor bus substitution along Lenox Av, Washington Heights and the Bronx 

3. Broadway BMT (trains diverted to 6 Av)

4. 6 Av (all branches south of 59’St-Columbus Circle), with trains diverted to 8 Av and Broadway

5. 8 Av (trains diverted to 6 Av and Broadway)

6. Central Park West - customers use Broadway/7 Av line

7. Concourse and Jerome Av lines can alternate

8. Eastern Parkway Line west of Franklin Av can use the Brighton Line / Montague St as alternatives.

[CenSin]

The MTA has flirted with using magnetic portabarriers that snap on tunnel track partitioning walls to isolate track workers from active tracks. If that were viable, then that would minimize the need to shut down sections of trunk lines where there are three or more tracks.

Edited May 28, 2023 by CenSin