April 19, 2016 Staff Report
Crowded 7 train straphangers will get a little relief this fall.
The MTA will provide two additional round trips on weeknights from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. starting in the fall. The agency had mentioned the plan at a Sunnyside town hall meeting early this month, and formally announced it on Monday.
The additional rides will address the challenges posed by ever-growing subway ridership coupled with ongoing MTA construction work, according to the agency.
The 7 train is experiencing record high ridership of about 525,000 per weekday, MTA NYC Transit President Ronnie Hakim said at the town hall. Meanwhile, due to construction, weekend closures between Long Island City and Manhattan will continue until the end of 2017.
“We always want to better serve our customers by strengthening service whenever we have sustainable resources to do so, but we also must balance providing that service with the critical maintenance work we need to run trains safely,” Hakim said in a statement Monday. “Our biggest challenge now is juggling our record ridership demand all week long while maintaining a system that stays open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
Implementation of the service additions depends on crew and schedule changes that will be finalized in the coming months; the agency may re-evaluate the service changes as needed once they are underway.
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18 Comments
Great News!
But there fixes Less expensive than building a new tunnel, which should probable be done but won’t be. Here are several:
1.) better surface bus transportation connecting high density areas with connections to mass transit and including a bus line to Manhattan
2.) allowing the already planned more robust East River ferry system to be accessed with MTA cards; if the point is to take pressure off the already over capacity subways, especially 7 train, this is a must
3.) use articulated trains that are already in use in other systems that allow for passenger use of train car connection areas, increasing capacity by probably 10% or more
It’s great to see that 5 plus years of weekend shutdowns and fast track work results in 2 additional trains. Wow, that conversion to the new communication based control system really paid dividends. Guess I’ll ride my bike to work…oh wait, Con Ed is shutting down the Queensboro bridge bike path overnight for the whole summer. Gotta love this city.
The communication based control system hasn’t been implemented yet. It’s still a couple of years off until completion.
I don’t like the MTA, but they cannot add more trains right now, except at off-hours. Once the new control system is completed, the 7 will be able to add more trains at all hours.
Because of the acceleration of commercial and residential development in Hunters Point, Long Island City, Flushing and possibly Sunnyside, which could result in more riders taking the 7 train service, the MTA needs to finish replacing the older R62 subway cars with the newer R188 subway cars, renovating and retrofitting the Steinway Tunnel and replacing the older fixed-block signals with the newer moving-block signals via CBTC.
All good, but I don’t think this will be sufficient to address the growth in LIC. The city needs to do much more — new train lines and stations to start.
The Second Avenue Subway is going to cost nearly $5 billion for phase 1 (96th St to 63rd) and $15 billion for the whole thing. The 7 extension cost $2.4 billion. Who is going to pay for new lines in LIC and what are they going to connect to in Manhattan? I would love to see a new line that goes from western Queens to run across 34th St but I don’t see the money or political will to demand more efficiency and less corruption/red tape.
Stop spending money in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syrian, and Yemen and start spending it here.
Errr….I was not aware that the NY state or City governments were currently funding war in the Middle East. I guess I learn something new every day.
7 train at capacity at rush hour times. What 30,000more residents in upcoming years bring? Answer: Extreme overcrowding. You think are packed like cattle now, just wait and see what the future will bring in LIC. There is no real planning going on in LIC.
This is an issue the entire region and nation is dealing with. And honestly, you should blame voters. This state needs an all-out blitz of spending on modern infrastructure systems that can handle the demands of population growth and development if NYC is to remain a viable place to live and do business. We aren’t close to getting that, and it would be crazy to expect the MTA and New York Transit to provide this on their own. It’s priorities, people. You keep voting for corrupt, inept, and/or compromised politicians (Clinton, Cuomo, De Blasio etc.) who have zero interest or enthusiasm in creating the kind of city that would make sense in the 21st century. Suck on it.
Your comment was great until you told him to “suck on it” Why is that even necessary?
Sorry. I didn’t mean to sound crass and I wasn’t directing the comment at the guy, just expressing frustration. Dumb choice of words.
We need more service during morning and evening RUSH hour!!! Most could care less about 8pm – 10pm.
I believe that the trains are running at capacity during the rush hour. The only way to get more trains is to build another tunnel.
100% correct
Continued,,,
Why can’t this be done for rush hour overcrowding? MTA backwards as usual,
It is good that the MTA does this.It really won’t make a dent in what we really need, with all the people added to LIC and that will be added with all the construction yet to be finished,