Jan. 15, By Christian Murray
It’s going to be a tough year for No. 7 train weekend riders.
The MTA will be cutting weekend service between Queensboro Plaza and Times Square for 22 weekends this year.
The weekend service between Queensboro Plaza and Times Square will be down in March and will be cut on and off for the rest of the year (see schedule).
On the weekends without service, the trains will stop running between Queensboro Plaza and Times Square–from 12:01 a.m. on Saturdays, before resuming at 5 a.m. on Mondays.
On some of the weekends there will be no local service between Queensboro Plaza and 61st Street Woodside (see schedule).
For Hunters Point commuters, there will be free shuttle buses that will run between the Vernon Blvd/Jackson Ave. station and Queensboro Plaza, where passengers can transfer to the N or the Q train.
While the MTA has been cutting No. 7 train weekend service in recent years, this cut is extremely long.
“The MTA refuses to recognize that Sunnyside and Long Island City are destinations where people want to go to on weekends,” said State Sen. Mike Gianaris.
“The reality is that there are a lot of cultural institutions, park areas and restaurants in these areas…and it will do significant damage to local businesses,” he said.
Click links for schedules:
7 train closures 2014 (Jan.-through June 30)
7 train closures 2014 (July-December)
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31 Comments
Walk 7 mins to Ct Square and hop an E, M, or catch the G->L. It’s not that big of a deal.
Thankful for advanced notice and the 2 billion extension of our line. I’m more upset about the increasing jerk-Manhattanite-transplant population…
What I don’t understand is that the businesses say it hurts them when the train shuts down, but what percentage of the patrons of your businesses live outside the neighborhood? There are many a weekend evening I have walked down Vernon Blvd and restaurants are fairly empty. If people don’t want to take the shuttle then just hang out in the hood and patronize the places here. The problem is that too many people who have moved here since the high-rises have been built just look at LIC as a place to sleep. And believe it or not, this is not the only train that gets shut down!!! Instead of waiting for the shuttle, walk on over to the E train or G train (which by the way has been shut down on weekends too for repairs, but no one complains much since they don’t want to go to Brooklyn). Since the subway system is a 24 hour system, there has to be times it gets shut down so work can be done. When would you like them to do it? Maybe the MTA should operate like the Metro in DC and the subway system in Rome which shut down every evening. This is one of the costs and sometime inconveniences of living in NYC!!
This is needed work, long overdue!
I work weekends, I will find alternatives!
Yes, it’s a bitch! But NYC subways have long
Been neglected! Unlike other nations that
actually close they’re metro/tubes after midnight
To actually and properly restore tge tracks etc,
This town hasn’t therefore deal with it!
Thank God for the Mets, otherwise we would never have weekend service!
If the workers did a little more work and a little less sitting around, the maintenance wouldn’t take so long. Honestly, when I see the MTA workers walking along the track, they look like lazy pieces of shit. Put some f**king hustle in your step man and get a move on, at least pretend that you have some kind of work ethic! F**k MTA and F**k your lazy/rude/useless employees!
Such BS!!!!! This is very frustrating!
This should not be accepted without a fuss
Its outrageous…who is trying to kill business in LIC?
Lets start a petition
Right. Blah blah blah CBTC, blah blah blah. I’ve been hearing that bullsh_t line from the MTA for the last dozen years when I actually had a full set of teeth.
By the way, “MTA installation” actually means three braindead “workers” shuffling around looking confused picking at their asses looking at a train track while one other braindead worker takes a coffee break and gives them directions. And they do this act year after year.
We’ll all be in our graves (me definitely) or New York City will be populated only by wolves and tumbleweeds before the much-vaunted CBTC is ever on line and functional.
Shutdown is related to MTA installation of CBTC system on 7-Train.
Cory is on to something. Everyone involved in city government should be ashamed by our public infrastructure in this city. Rotten, stinking, decaying bones in this place overflowing with wealth. What a disgrace. USA! USA! You know what? We suck! Turn out the lights and take us out of our misery.
When you can go to any rank third world hole and find a gleaming mass transit system that leaves ours in the dust, you know we’ve hit rock bottom. And what will van Bremer say about that?
van Bramer does the exact same thing Eric Goia did which is nothing except have a ‘press conference’ where he calls on the MTA to improve the situation. F—— BS!!
And look at the shutdowns in May…2-5 and 16-18 there will be no service between Times Square *TO* 74th Street!!! Holy s—, that’s most of the line. I’m going out of town those weekends, that’s complete crap.
Others have said this above — and the 20 goddamn other times they’ve stopped running trains on the weekend for years now — but what exactly is this project and when will it be completed? That’s what our useless local politicians need to get to the bottom of.
If it’s normal maintenance that’s being done, then I think that is outrageous and unacceptable for service to be stopped on weekends to do this work. Normal maintenance can be done overnight on weekdays.
What the hell is going to happen when all the new residents from Hunters Point South start flooding in? I’m really hating this city more and more. So sick of it.
I own a new restaurant and have had so many problems from this city and now this?? I am learning to hate this city with a passion. They are making it so impossible for everyone. All these agencies are nothing but a bunch of freeloaders. Where is Jimmy van Bramer he’s supposed to be sticking up for queens? Start calling his office people. Make this guy do some work.
Hate this. This is worst part of living in hunterspoint LIC. The shuttle bus just doesn’t cut it. Try traveling with a young child, or having friends or family come visit!
unionized workforce, guaranteed pensions which are inflated by abuse and fraud, overtime, fat benefits, ancient infrastructure. you can see the MTA budget online. personnel and pension costs are practically outstripping our subway fares
WTF! And what is the reason? We need to complain to our “elected representatives”!!!!
What the MTA refuses to recognize is that plenty of people use the trains on the weekends to get to work. Yes….some of us work on the weekends. My day off is Monday. How fair is that we have to struggle to get our jobs 22 weekends this year yet we pay the very same amount that we would for excellent train service. Why is this allowed!
So much for having an outer borough mayor.
Wtf?
I work every weekend so this effects me greatly also.
So glad I didn’t move to Vernon/Jackson area as I’d be up a creek.
And what exactly are they doing?!?
Funny how all these condos are going up and no one can get to them.
Fumta
Is there any good reason why they can’t do the Fastrack program on the 7 line? Honestly…
And I completely agree with Mandy. The infrequency of trains during rush hour is preposterous. The MTA has added trains to the NQ lines and the L line in recent years (I believe it was something like 100 more trains per week). They need to do that for the 7 line.
I understand no one likes this, but it has been going on forever. My advice to newbies for years has been: wait ’til the Mets and US Open schedules are set–if they’re in town, the 7’s running on the weekends. Every other weekend is dubious.
It’s bad enough having to wait for 2 or 3 trains to go by during rush hour before you can finally cram on. Sometimes during rush hour it can be 15 minutes before a train even comes (which is why it’s so crowded you can’t get on). Now the weekend commutes will be awful too. Thanks MTA. Where’s bill deblasio when you need him?
F$$k everything.
I hate you MTA. Living a block from the Vernon/Jackson 7 has never sucked so much.
Why? Are they doing work or just trying to piss everyone off? If they’re doing work, don’t we have a right to know what sort of work is scheduled?
This is detrimental to the businesses trying to flourish in these neighborhoods. We have dealt with it in the past but this schedule is excessive.
if they would just run the darn bus through the tunnel to GCT it wouldn’t be so bad.
Quite clearly the leadership doesn’t care about small business in Long Island City.
Absolute pricks. I hate MTA so much. Another year of shit 7 train service. What do we pay for?!?!
Considering I work on Saturdays this will be awful and will easily add an extra an hour or more to my commute time.
fucking bullshit. MTA robbery