Tuesday, September 30, 2014

M service ended early but NYCT won't tell you that service change

I like lurking (and sometimes posting) on Subchat, a discussion board for everything transit related.  Today on my lunch hour at work, I came across this post by a person who goes by the "handle" of Transitbuff that M service in Manhattan and northern Queens was ending earlier than the usual 12 Midnight time.  So I did some digging and found out that it was related to a trackwork program (called General Order or G.O. in transit lingo) that affected local service on the Queens Blvd line.

Each weeknight this week, from 9:45 PM to 5 am the next morning, R service towards 71st Ave/Forest Hills would be running express from Queens Plaza to 71st Ave/Forest Hills, skipping local stations from 36th Street to 65th Street and again from Elmhurst Ave to 67th Ave.  Riders would have to use the next express station to double back.  This also affects E local service in the wee morning hours, it will continue to run express from Queens Plaza to Forest Hills even after midnight.  Additionally, to make travel easier, E and F trains toward Manhattan will run local from 71 Ave/Forest Hills to their respective Queens Plaza or 21st/Queensbridge stations.

But what about M serviced which was reported in Subchat?  Don't expect to find it on the MTA website because they refuse to post it anywhere.  You would have to go to a subway station to find this, I found this on the Uptown platform (that's not Metropolitan Ave-bound)   from 9 PM to 12 midnight, M service runs between Metropolitan Ave and Essex Street only - - much like they do on weekends:


I also found the M service change on the weekday station service change list, the ones where you find the service changes before you enter the turnstiles and on platforms.  But this is what I found on the MTA website, including TripPlanner+, the results are astounding, if not pathetic.

No M service change on the BDFM service status - - note the times I took the following screenshots - - well after 10 PM (time to get to bed and to charge my phone)


Here is the R service change from the NQR service status.



But what about TripPlanner, the so-called reliable page where you can plan your trip.  Start to laugh really hard because I entered two trip itineraries - - the first one from Steinway St to 67 Ave  - - two stations with no local service towards Forest Hills.  So if I started at Steinway St and wanted to travel to 67th Ave, then it should return a trip which requires me to take 3 trains - one Manhattan bound train to Queens Plaza, one outbound train to Forest Hills then double back to 67th Ave, my final destination on the third train.  Nope, this is what TripPlanner+ gave me tonight.





In the most obscure, if not stupid itinerary, this trip tells me to travel nearly one hour in the opposing direction through Manhattan, over the Williamsburg Bridge and into Brooklyn to Myrtle Ave.  Then I would cross under to the "Manhattan" bound platform for the last Forest Hills bound M train leaving Myrtle Ave for 67th Ave (and none of these M trains are running at that time, let alone no Forest Hills/Jamaica bound trains stopping at 67 Ave station).


 
 
Once again NYCT has proved how disorganized and incompetent they are.  NYCT President Carmen Bianco should scrutinize NYCT's operating procedures and quality controls by his management and supervisory teams  - - it clearly shows he really does not care about leading North America's largest and greatest urban heavy rail transit system. 
 

2 comments:

  1. That poster about the M that you photographed makes no sense. It shows times for the "final departure" that get progressively later as you go uptown from Broadway-Lafayette to Queens Plaza. But it claims to show departures times TO Metropolitan Ave. Huh? Did they mean to Forest Hills-71st Ave?

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    1. That was posted on the uptown platform at 42 st-Bryant Park and was posted on the "correct" side according to the NYCT instructions as to where to post. You really begin to wonder how NYCT is running this system.

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