Is it Just Me, or are the Trains Kind of... Crowded?
All that anyone seems to talk about in Queens these days, at least in my circles, is how crowded the subways have become. According to the MTA, they’re experiencing record ridership, which is actually a good thing as people aren’t driving as much and using mass transit. The bad part is what happens when there’s…
All that anyone seems to talk about in Queens these days, at least in my circles, is how crowded the subways have become. According to the MTA, they’re experiencing record ridership, which is actually a good thing as people aren’t driving as much and using mass transit. The bad part is what happens when there’s trouble on one of the tracks and you have an entire subway line’s worth of people having to find an alternative route to work.
More after the jump…
Last Saturday, I wandered over to Queens Plaza via Skillman Avenue. The reason why the 7 Train was closed last weekend, and why it will be unavailable for multiple weekends to come, is this track replacement project they’re working on. Problems for those people who count on the 7 Line for getting to and from Manhattan as far back as Flushing notwithstanding, the MTA states that in order to keep up with the demand for this particular line, upgrades to track and switch are all important.
Supposedly, the 7 Train is currently carrying so many passengers that the line is near its capacity. Reports from friends in Sunnyside and Jackson Heights say that even before the train is on the elevated tracks near Court Square, where the line absorbs the multitudes of North Brooklyn commuters who connect with it via the G, the scene onboard is reminiscent of the sort of images we associate with Tokyo mass transit. Are “train stuffers” in our future?
The N/Q lines in Astoria are also experiencing record ridership, I’m told, although it’s no where even close to what the 7 Line riders are experiencing. Personally, I live along the R/M corridor, and only take the 7 or N in a pinch, or when the feverish desire to leave the hellish environs of Manhattan overwhelms and I need to return to the rolling hills of Queens as soon as possible.
The line I can speak about, crowding wise, with a good deal of authority is the R/M underground one. On days when the 7 train is experiencing trouble, or track repairs, a lot of people from Flushing and Roosevelt Corona find their way onto this line. That’s when you see that Tokyo thing at work, with people squeezing in against the closing doors, and you’ll often have to wait for one or two trains to enter and leave the station before you find one with room for you. I’m talking about a Sunday, by the way, and not a weekday morning.
What’s your thoughts on this one, Queensicans?
Queens is growing at an exponential rate. Development plans which are already signed, sealed, and delivered in Astoria, Hunters Point, Greenpoint, and Flushing are going to add more than 100,000 new neighbors to the scene above each and every morning. If the Mayor’s Sunnyside Yards plan happens, tack another 250,000 onto that. What should be done? Build out a new Subway line? Connect the exurbs of Eastern Queens to the existing lines? Try to create a new business district in Queens itself, and abrogate the need for the masses to head into Manhattan for work? Let’s talk about this in the comments section below.
Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman lives in Astoria and blogs at Newtown Pentacle.
More ferries. And a new tram across the river from hunters point to the UN.
“Development plans which are already signed, sealed, and delivered in Astoria, Hunters Point, Greenpoint, and Flushing are going to add more than 100,000 new neighbors to the scene above each and every morning. If the Mayor’s Sunnyside Yards plan happens, tack another 250,000 onto that.”
Well, this shows at the least how insane the Sunnyside Yards plan is. We haven’t even fully absorbed the incredible amount of new residents that are trickling into all the new units being built, and as it is we’re over-taxed. Thinking we can just throw a mini-city into the mix is completely fucking delusional. I don’t understand how any Western Queens resident can think it’s a good idea. Thankfully it seems most don’t.
They’re killing the borough. Once the cornballs who write for NY Magazine, the Times, Time Out etc. started hyping us up, that spelled the beginning of our demise. Of course, Queens was already cool. It’s only when outsiders start encouraging eachother to come here does it start to lose its cool, as is what’s happening in Brooklyn.
The “rehabilitation” of the G line (which was a very good thing for Queensites who don’t want to travel through Manhattan to get to Brooklyn) has increased the ridership on the 7 line by quite a bit. It is just unfortunate that the G doesn’t go a little deeper into Queens (say to 74th Street & Jackson Heights, like it used to a long time ago) where passengers could access other Queens lines without having to bottleneck into the 7 train.
It would only be several stops further on the G line than Court Square – why can’t they try this?
The 7 train acts like a feeder train. It feeds passengers to E/F at Roosevelt and to the N/Q at queensboro plaza. By the time the 7 heads to court sq, it has more than enough capacity to handle any influx from the G at court sq.. The 7 is overcrowded from queensboro plaza to main st, adding the G to Roosevelt will not fix this. All it would do is reduce capacity on the R/M, since the queens blvd local is already at capacity with 20 trains per hour.
Actually, overcrowding on the 7 train is a real easy fix because the 7 train does not share track with another line. All you have to do is increase the number of trains per hour. Until the whole line is upgraded to CBTC signaling, that won’t be possible, but soon it will be. Just adding 5 more trains per hour would be a huge relief. Add tail tracks to the flushing terminal, eliminating the need for trains to crawl into main st, and decreasing train turn around time would also add another couple of more trains per hour. The new terminal at Hudson yards will come with tail instead of a bumper, so once that terminal opens, you can expect 7 service to run with a little more frequency.
If you think the trains are crowded, try getting on some buses. The Q64 often bypasses crowded stops with waits of as much as 50 minutes (or longer – no exaggeration) !during rush hour. While the train situation is not good, the bus situation is considerably worse.
I was in high school riding the 7 five days a week on my way to and from school in the Bronx. Can’t imagine it being more crowded than it was back then. That’s when the term “packed in like a can of sardines” really started to make sense. And this was less than 10 years ago. A huge portion of mass transit riders are high school kids. If the city brought back zoned schooling, there would be less of a need for thousands of high school students to pack onto the trains. What a relief that would be – at least for morning and evening rush hour. And this may be a side issue, but why does a kid from Queens need to go to high school in the Bronx? Travelling high school students is nothing new, but the NYC Public School system needs some major reformation.
There isn’t a solution to the overcrowding on the trains, in my opinion. There isn’t any possible way to expand the system with underground real estate already crowded with utility lines and the train tunnels. Where would another tunnel be able to be built or tracks above placed? There is no room above or below ground. Apartment buildings continue to be built and more and more people will fill up an already crowded system. The infrastructure of the city will not be able to support all of this.
As a native New Yorker, I plan on leaving the city next year. I grew up in and still live in Queens. Rents continue to go up and you can’t buy a house or an apartment for a reasonable price. I make a decent salary and It’s still out of reach which amazes me. I tell my friends, if you think it’s crowded now…wait another couple years and you’ll really be complaining about overcrowded trains. Pretty much overcrowded everywhere. And, you’ll be priced out of your apartment. It’s sad, but the city is really catering only to the top 1% now. What’s sadder, people who aren’t in the 1% are willing to pay for it because they think it’s cool.