Weekend #7 Line service-suspension

On the news this evening they made a big deal about weekend service on the Flushing line being suspended between Queensboro Plaza and Times Square including interviews with irate passengers. What is the big deal about this? Inbound to Manhattan you can transfer at 74th St/Roosevelt Ave. for the E/F trains. And at Q-Plaza you can transfer across the platform to the N train. All of them go to midtown Manhattan. Yes, I would expect some overcrowding, but it's not as if you can't go between Queens and Manhattan, so what's with all the riders complaining? Or is there some problem with this that I'm not aware of?

Who are you kidding no big deal? This has been going on so long, they could have rebuilt the entire #7 line in that time (at least 10 years if my memory serves me correctly) and now the L. Is this part of the OPTO automated train preparation or is it simply shutting down a segment of the system to reduce costs?

#7 weekend suspensions (usually between Queensboro Plaza and Times Square) have been going on regularly since 2002 (with earlier suspensions back to 1998). The current round is for CBTC installation and signal work.

Head-end View wrote:On the news this evening they made a big deal about weekend service on the Flushing line being suspended between Queensboro Plaza and Times Square including interviews with irate passengers. What is the big deal about this? Inbound to Manhattan you can transfer at 74th St/Roosevelt Ave. for the E/F trains. And at Q-Plaza you can transfer across the platform to the N train. All of them go to midtown Manhattan. Yes, I would expect some overcrowding, but it's not as if you can't go between Queens and Manhattan, so what's with all the riders complaining? Or is there some problem with this that I'm not aware of?

It is a big deal. There is no direct transfer to any of the other IRT lines when the 7 is suspended between Queensboro Plaza and Times Square. Grand Central and Times Square are major transfer points, especially for people headed to Upper Manhattan and the Bronx. That area is served primarily by the IRT lines.

Good point; I hadn't thought of that, but there are transfer options. At Lexington Ave/59th St. you can change from the N/R-train to the 4-5-6 IRT. It's shown on the map. And I suspect you can do the same thing at Times Square? If not, please correct me.

Ditto for the E/M train; the map shows a free transfer at Lex Ave/53rd St. And to reach the 7th Ave. IRT from the E-train you tfr, at 7th Ave. to the B/D line and again at 59th St. to the 1-2-3 IRT.

Agreed, it may be awkward and time consuming, but you can make your trip.

Head-end View wrote:Good point; I hadn't thought of that, but there are transfer options. At Lexington Ave/59th St. you can change from the N/R-train to the 4-5-6 IRT. It's shown on the map. And I suspect you can do the same thing at Times Square? If not, please correct me.

Ditto for the E/M train; the map shows a free transfer at Lex Ave/53rd St. And to reach the 7th Ave. IRT from the E-train you tfr, at 7th Ave. to the B/D line and again at 59th St. to the 1-2-3 IRT.

Agreed, it may be awkward and time consuming, but you can make your trip.

The E Train has a direct transferto the West Side Interboro - just get off at Times Square. The annoyance is that it lengthens travel time to require an additional transfer, have at least one of the transfers take longer than the one that should have been available, and to have to use other travel options when one of the closed stations is the one nearest to the actual destination. The anoyance is as keen as it isthese shut downs have been going on for twice as long as it took to build the line originally.