What the f*** is up with the F train at 2nd Ave these days? It’s always been pretty unreliable in my opinion, but the past few weeks have been a nightmare in the mornings. I get down there between 8-9 every morning during the week and the line is like 3 rows deep; I can rarely get on the first train that comes. My girlfriend gets there around 7 am and says the trains are coming less often. Is this still a fallout from Sandy?
Which reminds us of another note from a reader...
Ever since before the storm, during the 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM time frame, the damn platform is packed. Had to wait for 4 trains this morning.
Anyone else experiencing the problems with overcrowding on the F? Any solutions? Another line? Bike? Car and driver?
Ha I was that 2nd reader and sent a complaint to the MTA via their site & here's a response I got:
ReplyDeleteResponse (Caroline Morgan) - 11/21/2012 03:13 PM
This is in response to your recent e-mail to MTA New York City Transit regarding service on the F line. Unfortunately, we were unable to respond to this issue in a timely fashion. Our offices, located in Lower Manhattan, were closed due to damage sustained during Hurricane Sandy.
In addition, please note that despite our best efforts to maintain regularly scheduled service, delays, reroutes and service diversions can sometimes occur for a variety of reasons, including track rehabilitation work, mechanical malfunctions, equipment failure, and police or emergency service activity, among other causes. Please also be aware that the level of service provided on New York City Transit’s subway lines, including the F line, is based on actual customer usage. Our Division of Operations Planning regularly conducts passenger counts at key subway station locations, calculates the operating frequency needed to meet rider demand, and adjusts schedules accordingly.
Nevertheless, in response to your concerns, a copy of your e-mail has been forwarded to supervision in the appropriate department for review and evaluation. Please be also assured that they will take corrective measures to ensure that adequate and timely service is provided on the F line, along with all our lines, and that customers are properly informed in the event of a service delay.
We take the concerns of our customers very seriously and thank you for having taken the time to contact us.
Caroline Morgan
Customer Services
I think a big part of the crowding is because people can now transfer to and from the uptown 6 train at b'way-lafayette. But also definitely less frequent service since sandy.....
ReplyDeleteYeah Im with 748 on this one, I think once they opened up the 6 train connection, the 2nd ave stop has gotten much more crowded. Also, I think there are more people on the train already, for the same reason. usually after bway/laf, it clears out considerably.
ReplyDeleteI cant imagine Sandy helped anything though...
It has been more crowded, but (and I hate giving out secrets), it's so less congested by the 2nd ave entrance than the 1st.
ReplyDeleteThe 2nd Ave. station has had an overcrowding problem ever since the V train was discontinued. Bring Back The V!
ReplyDeleteI've been noticing the same issue. Packed well after 9am, and you have to wait for a few trains to go through. It does thin out after Bway/Lafayette.
ReplyDeleteThe uptown 6 transfer is a great point as to increased crowds - but I feel like it's also spacing of the trains. I'll let a train go through, and a minute later, another arrives half full.
I thought it was a lightened frequency of trains due to the Culver Viaduct construction.
I find that it's pretty reasonable around 8am, but by 9 it's crazy. Has been so since before the hurricane though so I haven't noticed any change either way...
ReplyDeleteThat stairway near the first avenue entrance in & out of the tracks is a crowding hazzard it always has been - it needs to be redesigned.
ReplyDeleteAgree with 10:12. The entrance and exits for that station are designed for about a quarter of the people that use it, and the crowding in the morning does seem to have gotten worse. Sometimes I walk a few extra minutes to Delancey to beat the crowd...
ReplyDeleteTried to take the F last night at 5:30. Waited twenty minutes with no train, at which point the platform was so packed I gave up and jumped in a cab.
ReplyDeleteThe F is a shitty way to start my morning. Whoever decided to have the M skip busy 2nd ave, while the V used to park there, needs to be dragged to this station every rush hour.
ReplyDeleteInteresting points about the uptown 6 transfer, a ton of people get off at the Broadway Lafayette station. I thought maybe service disruptions caused by Sandy in BK were causing more people to take the F, but if this is going to be all the time now then that really sucks. They definitely need more trains.
ReplyDelete@Daho - I believe the M can't go the Second Avenue stop from Essex Street since it's not on the same track as the F at Delancey and instead has to take the Chrystie cut to meet the rest of the "6th Avenue line".
ReplyDeletehttp://images.nycsubway.org/trackmap/detail-chrystie.png
Yeah we got screwed by losing the V, but the system as a whole is better with the M providing 6th Ave service from Broadway in Williamsburg/Bushwick.
The first avenue select bus has been sucking major ass too.
ReplyDeleteYep, if you rely on the 2nd Avenue Station, quality of commuter life sunk to the bottom of the barrel when the excellent V train was cancelled. I recall Jay Walder was running the MTA at the time. I don't know what went down, but I blame him for ruining the subway for the neighborhood. It was surprising that Hong Kong hired this idiot for millions of dollars to go to help ruin their subway system as well. Hong Kong's loss is NYC's gain.
ReplyDeleteI take the F from Brooklyn (Ft. Hamilton Pky. station) to the EV every morning, usually getting in around 8:25 am. It is already crowded when it gets here and super-packed by Jay St./Metrotech. I'm guessing a combination of the lack of R train to Manhattan and not running enough F trains is the reason.
ReplyDeleteThere is still no R service between Brooklyn/Manhattan, so that's an entire tunnel of service being pushed onto the other lines.
ReplyDeleteWhy did they decide to have the M skip 2nd Ave, when it is the only stop on this otherwise underserved stretch of the east side? The whole point of building the East Side subway line is because there isn't enough service over here...so why skip the stop?
ReplyDeleteHonestly this is been a huge problem ever since the fair hike. The much needed V train disappears and suddenly the F line becomes the universally loathed L train. I cannot for the life of me understand why the M train can't just stop at 2nd Avenue to deal with the congestion.
ReplyDeleteTo all have suggested the M stop at 2nd Ave - it physically can't. After Broadway Lafayette Street, the M takes a switch off a set of tracks that lead to the Essex St station. If the M went to 2 Ave, it would have to follow the F line through Downtown Brooklyn.
ReplyDeleteOne thing no one has mentioned is that the poulation has increased. From the new residents that are moving in on the high rises and the neighborhoods bet ween the 4th avenue stop in Brooklyn to the East Village, there are more people resing in and between those neighborhoods. That's why by the time it gets to 2nd Avenue stop, the F is packed, and the platform is packed, hence people have to wait for the next trains to get on board. F is just sucking as it always has. It seems like it's sucking more because more people are taking it.
ReplyDelete