April 6, 2015 By Michael Florio
Nearly 550 passengers were trapped inside a stalled No. 7 train under the East River when equipment fell on the electrified third rail at about 8:33 am.
The No. 7 train was down between Queensboro Plaza and Times Square-42nd St. due to smoke for nearly two hours, according to the MTA.
The train is running again, although with delays.
The equipment that fell led to smoky conditions between Times Square and Hunters Point Avenue.
A rescue train was sent for the passengers who were trapped between stations and they were picked up at 9:57 am.
LIC needs a better transp system a reliable 7 train – @MelindaKatz @JimmyVanBramer what are we doing? #chaos #7Train pic.twitter.com/rU1qRCAxx8
— John Moreno Escobar (@JohncitoMoreno) April 6, 2015
Everybody giving up on the #7train at 74th street pic.twitter.com/81vgs9YvJW
— Rina Svet (@RinaSvet) April 6, 2015
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33 Comments
There is one problem. Increased competition leads to a greater incentive for improvement. The NYC subway has ZERO real competitors. Ferry? Bus? They don’t compare in terms of accessibility and speed (delays aside). The MTA is the only game in town and the infrastructure costs alone means there won’t be much (if any) competition in the near future. For this reason, improvements will be very hard to come by. Consumers only bargaining chip is to hold elected officials accountable.
Do you think that private companies are lining up to build a competing rail or subway system in NYC? That’s a libertarian pipe dream. And they’d only do it if they were assured a huge payout on taxpayer’s dime. The only way out of our predicament is for the state to pump much more money into public transit, to build new lines and keep capital investment where it should be. Mass transit in NYC the economic engine for the entire region, and private enterprise would shrivel to without these kinds of investments.
Your point is my point. No one can build another subway system, so the MTA has no incentive to improve. I am not advocating that private companies build a competing line. No libertarian pipe dreams here.
While I would be fine with increasing funding for the MTA, I want to see it cut back on labor costs first. MTA employees cost too much for what they do and get an obscene benefits package courtesy of their thuggish Union.
Totally agree. These employees need to be better monitored and maybe their hourly wages would actually get work done.
There’s at least one article a year about the workers sleeping on the job. And walk by any of the work sites when the trains are down and witness the lack of productivity for yourself. Maybe it’s not competing subways systems we need, but a competitive work force
I live 3 blocks from the 7 and I still drive to work everyday. ‘Nuff said.
got news for all you newcomers to nyc
the mta sucks
has always sucked
will continue to suck
they do not give a crap about you
with the tremendous population explosion
along the 7 line in the last 5-10 years
only a moron could not see this coming
And the solution is to give more money to the MTA through putting tolls on the now free bridges, and therefor force more people to ride the 7 train. What a great solution!
This is awful and I get why people are upset. But having lived in LIC for 5 years and using the 7 to get to work in the city almost every day, I can say I never had a major problem or ever got stuck on a train.
Now having left New York and lived in other cities with much less mass transit, I’m not sure New Yorkers realize how good they’ve got it. I would kill to have a train that takes me to work–aka has stations convenient to my home and workplace–and trains that arrive and depart more frequently during rush hour (every 3-5 minutes) rather than waiting the typical 15-30 minute intervals for every train every time.
And DC and San Francisco’s systems are not perfect either. My friend in DC frequently posts about train delays. My friend in San Francisco has to catch the bus exactly at 8:30 so she can get to work on time. If she misses it, there’s not another bus for 20-30 minutes and she would be late to work. New York is the only system in the US that operates 24/7 and has the highest ridership, the most trains, etc.
So yes, the system is being overtaxed and that’s probably why service is getting worse. There’s been no money for MTA for years, hence the fare hikes and the lay offs of MTA jobs. So this isn’t really MTA’s fault, but rather the state and city governments and local politicians.
People are not comparing the No. 7 to service in other cities. What good does it do to know that our commute would be worse if I lived in SF or DC? People are complaining about how the service has noticeably gotten WORSE in the past several years as the ridership has risen by over 50% and gleaming towers filled with more people are getting plunked all over the neighborhood. That’s a discussion worth having, especially if it translates into increasing pressure on the governor to change the funding formula for the subway.
Can someone name for me one public transit system that has mass approval, low outages and great customer service?
Train’s in Japan are not only efficient but on the rare occasion it’s late, they provide the commuters with notes to provide their offices. You will also find efficient and courteous service from transportation systems in Hong Kong and South Korea. Funny fact, former mta
London
London? Are you nuts? The Underground is even worse than the NYC subway. Constant service disruptions, broken down trains, delays in stifling train cars.
…and the Underground is far more expensive: about $48 for a weekly card. If you buy a one-way cash fare, that’s about $7.20.
Some have already said and I have heard as well that Europe and Asia are good. SF BART system and DC are good too. The NYC subway is the largest in the world so I understand it will have more issues. I think all we are asking is the have a somewhat reliable service. But we don’t, and as I said earlier the 7 line is getting worse, not better. I think I can speak for most Sunnyside and LIC residents that the service is intterrupted or extremely late and/or overcrowded on an almost daily basis. There is a reason local politicians are finally shining a light on it… because the service is gettign worse, not better.
We need to get the local politicians to shine a light on the fact more density will only make this issue 3000% worse. Yet, they still keep approving more and more development.
@27h. Montreal, Toronto, San Francisco and Paris. I’ve used those systems extensively over the last 25 years. They’re all more reliable than the MTA.
Sydney Australia has a wonderful metro system! And it’s a big town! It works because they shut the system down every night for maintenance and repairs and
then reopen in the morning! And Also Wash D.C. As well shuts at night and it works!
I wonder what New Yorkers would do if the subway shut down at night. It would be a much different city.
can someone tell me how to get w refund on my unlimited metro card everytime I have to take a taxi because 7 is not working?
They won’t refund a cent from your taxi fare. Just be prepared, it will happen all the time.
Don’t buy an unlimited anymore, won’t work most weekends anyway
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
Well nobody ever complaints, what are expecting a miracle. They’ve just increased the fare.
Way to go MTA for doing a crappy job, I am pretty much always a couple of minutes late for school or work for those train delays.
People complain all the time. Jimmy Van Bramer recently held a rally addressing all the issues on the 7 line. I’ve written to the MTA several times as well as several newspapers and never gotten a reply from any of these agencies. The MTA has not nor will they ever care or listen to the average rider… not unless something drastically changes or shifts regarding the way most NY’ers commute. ie- a viable, affordable commuting alternative to the MTA bus and subway lines. Until this happens, read- never, then we are at their mercy.
True but whenever I call or write an email I usually get a reply saying something irrelevant to the issue. I think the riders still have a word to say, if we all or the majority didn’t use the system for a day you will see how much money they will loose and that will push them to improve the system. I’ve been here over 5 years and since I moved to NYC they have been constructions and zero improvement plus they have increased the fare from $104 to $116.50 per month. The Subway, Metronorth, LIR and the buses are a crappy system Europe has a much better system and guess what with the salaries over there the fares aren’t that expensive.
Unless the governor and the city make it a high priority to expand public transit and dedicate considerably more money to it, the subway will just get worse. Ridership is through the roof in this part of Queens. How can we expect a century-old train line, cramped stations and creaky infrastructure to reliably serve commuters?
Same old, same old with the 7 train. This line continues to get worse and worse. I have lived in Sunnyside for almost 20 years and the past 5 years or so this line has gone from reliable, to spotty, to now downright terrible. It’s gotten to the point that I drive to work mosy days now because I can not reliably get to work via this train line. This is a huge added cost to me, not to mention adds to the traffic and smog conditions that every politicizan in this ciy is striving to contain. But I have no choice. I feel really bad for the folks who do not have this alternative. Sunnyside will ever be the new Williamsburg (as everyone claims it is or will be) if the subway line is unusable. The MTA and news coverage blames the 7 line extension for the issues but this goes back to way before that project was underway.
Why do we have these extended construction projects only so the workers can leave equipment to fall onto the tracks?
How did the equipment fall?? Was it stored properly?…..
Anyway, that you for another lovely commute.
I think we need to build more buildings
that will help the situation for sure
When will this change? When will someone put a stop to what the MTA does? How can we rely on a system that is always failing? What time should I get up in the morning to get to work on time? If the delays were only maybe once a month but it’s at least 2 to 3 times a week. We live in one of the most expensive cities in the United States and yet our system sucks. Smh this morning.
Move to DC it works!