July 30, 2014 By Michael Florio
The No. 7 train has been crowned New York City’s best subway line by the transit advocacy group Straphangers.
This is the seventh time in 16 years that the No. 7 has received the top ranking since Straphangers began its State of the Subways annual report of the city’s 20 subway lines.
Straphangers said that the No. 7-line comes more frequently than any train, especially during rush hour.
For instance, the report said that during the AM rush, a train comes ever 2:30 minutes, while the average wait time for all trains is 5:29 minutes. As for the PM rush, a 7-train comes just as often as the morning (2:30 minutes), while it takes other trains an average of 6:02 minutes.
The 7-line also travels a much greater distance before suffering delays from mechanical failures than other trains.
It was also deemed to be cleaner than the average subway line, and passengers were more likely to get a seat.
The Q train was named the dirtiest train of those tested, as 17 percent of its cars were deemed to be “moderate to heavily dirty.”
The 2 train was named the worst subway line, for the second time in 16 years. This was due largely to the fact that riders are least likely to get a seat.
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6 Comments
I think the 7 is great. MTA, compared to transit in DC and SF, is great also.
Besides running this meaningless annual poll, what does Straphangers do?
If they really want to advocate for mass transit, they can start by stop glorifying the No. 7 and instead pressure the MTA to improve the service on the line.
I am fuming that the 7 train would be rated best of anything, they are closed 22 weekends of a 52 week period. That’s nearly 50% of a FULL YEAR. How can we vote for something that never runs when you need it? This is a farce.
I LOVE THE 7 TRAIN AND THEY HAVE THOSE NEW AUTOMATED TRAIN RUNNING NOW. ITS FANTASTIC
Saying the No. 7 is the best train line is like awarding a pile of crap for being the least stinking.
It is a little hard to believe that a mere 17% of the train cars on the WORST train line are considered dirty. Does a train car have to be crawling with rats and filled with garbage to be considered dirty?
No, ALL of the subway is filthy and disgusting. Please, can we stop pretending that New York City is somehow on par with other places that actually have gleaming mass transit?
Have these people ever ridden the No. 7 line off-peak? Most seats are taken by the time it departs the Main Str./Flushing terminus and cars proceed to get progressively more congested with each stop. By the time it gets to the last few stops before Queensborough Plaza, people just cannot get onto a train. And you often arrive at Main Street not knowing from which platform the next train will depart.
But this is pretty typical of off-peak bus service in Queens as well, I have an app that will frequently tell me a bus is not due for another 40 minutes. For a city for which car ownership is impractical, off-peak public transit just does not meet demand. You hear all the time about how many more people are moving to NYC and when you travel between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm in the week you really feel the crush but the MTA seemingly has not gotten the latest demographic information and has not adjusted schedules accordingly.