March 9, 2015 By Christian Murray
He’s bombarded with Tweets, Facebook messages and E-mails whenever the No. 7 train goes down.
He hears stories of people freezing on the platforms, standing in overcrowded stairwells, as well as commuting on jam-packed trains.
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, the recipient of a growing number of messages, will be sharing some of these stories at 8:00 am Wednesday when he holds a rally at the 40th Street subway station.
“The morning rush hour into Manhattan has gone from bad to worse and the MTA should hear about it,” Van Bramer said.
Several No. 7 train riders will be providing their own accounts of how the poor service has inconvenienced them.
“I am fed up and the MTA needs to hear from all of us,” Van Bramer said. He said that it didn’t matter that the MTA is a state-run agency–they just need to hear from the public.
Van Bramer said the delays are affecting people’s quality of life. “Many people are late to work or have to leave much earlier to ensure they arrive on time.”
Van Bramer said that the MTA’s response to his complaints have been insulting: “They say the No. 7 train is one of the best in the city… and that the delays are caused by people jamming onto the train,” he said. “This is blaming the victim.”
“The weekend closures are bad enough,” he said, “but compounded by all these rush-hour delays—it’s a disgrace.”
Rally:
Date: Wednesday, March 11
Time: 8:00 am
Location: 40th Street Station/Plaza
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14 Comments
it would also be nice to see some improvements to subway functionality prior to another rate hike (like the one coming in late March).
The signs telling you when the train is coming, and wi-fi in the stations are cool – but we existed for MANY years riding the trains without those features, and if the tunnels and tracks, etc need so much work, how was wi-fi prioritized!?
I would much rather have reliable train service and not be able to check my facebook or whatever, than be stuck on a train or platform AND have to hear about my neighbors bad day at work/boyfriend problems/recap of last night’s blacklist episode/rash issues.
The over Building has to stop! The 7 train and others need to be repaired. The improvements system wide should have been kept up with years ago and now we all have to deal with it. There’s just no other way around it unfortunately! This city needs to pay attention more to aging infrastructure instead of continuously erected high glass towers and running hard working middle class citizens away! This is not the New York I grew up in! This New Nyc is for the certain elite! Time to leave
This is happening to distract from the Sunnyside Yards issue and his nonresponse. They are responsible for allowing Sunnyside/LIC to become overcrowded and they are doing nothing to stop future development. Now they have to deal with it.
Public agencies have no incentive to serve customers. That’s because they don’t have customers, they are a monopoly with captives.
Socialists have no way to coordinate supply and demand. Only the market can do that. Private companies built the subways, government confiscated and ruined them.
To anyone with a functioning brain, this stuff is obvious. Most New Yorkers, unfortunately, aren’t so fortunate.
The # 7 has been a problem even when I was in traveling on it to Manhattan on my way to High school in the 1950’s
How will people travel on it with all the new housing in the area . It will get worst
It’s not the MTA’s fault that the City has allowed a tremendous amount of building to take place in LIC knowing that only one train comes through town. One train that travels from Flushing though at least 15 towns, before it even gets to LIC.
1. The MTA has been bragging on and on about increased ridership … maybe that’s why the trains are crowded; and have they considered population growth in North Queens?
2. What about the “system wide improvements” we hear so much about, but have rarely seen? Here’s an easy one! The platform signs announcing arrivals at The Flushing/Main Street Terminal with taped paper OUT OF SERVICE SIGNS were installed YEARS ago. Will they ever go online?
3, Yes – we have lots if shiny new trains… giant toys for the MTA Board to play with;
4. We have the privilege of listening to automated announcements advising patience due to delays ad nauseum.
5. I am sitting in a 7 train that has been parked at Flushing since 9:05 a.m. For reasons known only to the Station Manager, the doors are finally closing at 9:2 0 a.m. We sit until 9:22 and finally pull out.
ENOUGH
And what exactly can the MTA do long term to fix what ails the No. 7? This is the kind of intractable problem that we will see more and more in NYC over the next several decades. You just can’t run a modern and successful 21st century city with creaky and overwhelmed 19th and 20th century infrastructure. The place is exhausted and ready for the shit heap.
Good job van Bramer. I will be there. Hate those Mta a-holes.
These idiots need to realize that we deserve better, I hope our city planning folks aka real estate lackeys take note before upzoning our neighborhood.
what a bunch of crybabies
this is nyc it is crowded
the subways are packed and delayed
go back to where you came from if you can’t hack it
it’s been like this forever
man up or leave
leave your house earlier so you are not late for work
Hey native idiot, has lack of wknd service train, ongoing without end, since 2005, also a “typical” part of NYC seen in other stations/trains?!
I have been to 3 these rallies. I would have been better off watching Oprah reruns. Useless.
Jimmy should ask all city councilmen to rally together together on one morning to stop people in and out the station. The louder you are, the bigger you gain.