MTA NYC Transit President Demetrious Crichlow, together with about a dozen MTA staff, greeted commuters and handed out informational pamphlets at the Roosevelt Island subway station this morning on the first day of the M Train swapping service with the F Train during weekday hours.
Mr Crichlow held a press briefing about the M and F route service swap. I asked:
… can you explain specifically how this affects Roosevelt Island and Queensbridge 21st Street riders? Some have expressed concern that there is going to be less trains coming to both stations and a longer duration between trains. So, can you clarify that?
Mr Crichlow answered:
The reality is we specifically looked at how can we provide better customer service to customers here and that meant for M service, we had to add additional service….
… whereas before you used to come to this station and it would not be uncommon for you to see an F train go past and not be able to get on it. You go to the escalator or stairs right now. Get on an M train. It absolutely has capacity for it ….
NYC Transit Executive Vice President for Subways Bill Amarosa Jr. added:
… the M does run very slightly less frequently. The difference in average waiting time is about a minute during rush hour, but as Demetrious said, everyone will get on that first train that comes in. You’re never going to see the level of crowding that’s on the F Line. So, a lot of people will actually save time by being able to get on that first train and having a nice comfortable ride.
At 8:45 this morning, the incoming M Train was not overly crowded and picked up everybody waiting at the platform.
But a Roosevelt Island subway rider had a different experience at 8 a.m. According to the Rider:
I rode the new switched M train this morning at 8 am during peak hour. Suffice to say there were a lot of annoyed people as we had to miss a train because it was overcrowded. I didn’t get on until 8:20. I was able to make the 2nd train squishing in but there were others who did not make the 2nd train.
It seems the MTA made an oversight on the M train being shorter than the F train.
The M Train has 8 subway cars, 2 less than the 10 car F Train.
Among the M and F Train service swap comments on Roosevelt Islander Instagram Page are:
- The sad part is that M train is smaller and can’t take as many passengers as the F train. This is going to be a nightmare.
- Discussed with a Metro Exec this a.m. that the M train is shorter and they need to address that moving forward..we shall see.
- they canNOT extend the M train to 10 cars, because the stations along the Nassau/Jamaica line between Delancey-Essex (J/M) & Jamaica Center (J) + Middle Village (M) are all 8-car (480ft platforms).
- The M train was delayed by 10 minutes in the morning around 7:30am
- I expect this won’t help at all and switching in the evening and weekends will be sooooo confusing…After a long day, I’ll have to remember to take the M at 23rd home instead of avoiding the M, as I’ve been doing for years. I anticipate swearing multiple times. That said. We’ll all get used to it ( unless they change it again…)
- if you stay out for drinks remember to look for the F
- At the station now. It’s packed because the train is delayed
- At 7:30am many people had to let a full M train go and wait for the next one
ABC Eyewitness News has this video report.
And from CBS New York:
NY 1 has more on the M and F Train service swap.
NY 1 Anchor Pat Kiernan asked MTA Chair Janno Lieber:
I got one more question on the
and the
swap, which is at 9:30 at night, just when you’ve gotten used to it in the daytime, now you’re saying that now the
Mr Lieber answered:
… New Yorkers know that there are some trains that run only during the day, from the morning rush through the evening rush, and then they’re not available in the overnight because we’re doing work, because we need to cover the roughly the same territory with a different mix of service. I take the B train home from Manhattan to Brooklyn all the time, and that goes out at nine o’clock. My friends know, if I’m at dinner at their house in Manhattan, I may run out at 9:15 to get the last B train. New Yorkers know this stuff, and I think that we’re going to get people adjusted well.
Let’s see how the coming days work with the new weekday Roosevelt Island M Train service.
To be fair to the MTA, the E/F had issues for most of yesterday due to switch issues in Manhattan, I am sure this caused some crowding on the M.
Also, no excuses for the constant equipment failures, but to be also fair the state of the system is partially due to many many long ago decisions that have repercussions to this day.
That is to say, give it a week or two to see how it all settles down and for everyone to get into a routine.
2nd day in a row it is packed around 8:30. Whomever says it absolutely has capacity is full of it. They should try riding it themselves from RI and they will see.
Also, it seems M train riders are not accustomed to filling in the gaps. I notice people love to hover around the doors and leave space open in the aisles.
Try riding in the center. The front and rear of the M train are packed.
The jockeying for prime elevator position in the shorter subway car set will separate the amateurs from the professionals on the M.
Bring popcorn.
You don’t seem to realize that the M train runs in two directions, Those of us Islanders who commute to jobs in Queens have had a minimum of five stops added to our rides and many of us will now have to take two trains to get to and from our workplaces. Add to that the fact that the M has only eight cars and one sees that the MTA simply has planned poorly again.
> Those of us Islanders who commute to jobs in Queens have had a minimum of five stops added to our rides and many of us will now have to take two trains to get to and from our workplaces.
The numbers are: 66 percent of RI goes to Manhattan, 9 percent goes to Queens. You are not the majority.
> Add to that the fact that the M has only eight cars and one sees that the MTA simply has planned poorly again
Add to the fact that the M is nowhere near as crowded as the F after 36th St. Ride in the center of the train, not at the front nor rear.
I have to go to Forest Hills to pick up my granddaughter from school. It took much longer and the train stopped between stations three times between stations because of congestion.
I have been monitoring the M train since the swap on Monday. Tge train runs in infrequent schedule. On Monday at 6:45am they were running 10 minutes apart to Manhattan and in the evening at around 7pm the train takes 9 minutes then 5 minutes apart at 57th street. On Tuesday at 7:15am, the Manhattan bound train was supposed to come in 9 minutes but was delayed by 4 min and only came at 7:28am. The train was packed and we had to squeeze in. It cannot take everyone on the platform. On Wednesday, after 7:15am, the train came more than 10 minutes late and my daughter was not able to get to her school at 33rd street on park by 7:55am. The train also runs delayed when I was taking the train back to RI from 42nd street Bryant park at around 12:55am. It says M will only come in 12minutes but thankfully F came and was running to RI on that day. I am very disappointed with the change as the M train schedule is not predictable.
@Janno New Yorkers know a lot about the subways, and we know that there are NO trains that run on 2 different routes, one by day and one by night/weekend. The signage is pretty pathetic (63rd St. station stair signage only says “M” train, not “F”). The rollout was pathetic. The outreach to commuters beforehand was non-existent. Basically, the commuters got “F”d. And the tourist are more even lost than usual.
and capacity is down at least 40%, since each train is 20% smaller (8 cars vs. 10) and there are about 8-10 trains/hour vs. 14-15 previously.
> we know that there are NO trains that run on 2 different routes, one by day and one by night/weekend.
The N train would like to have a word with you.
> And the tourist are more even lost than usual.
And that is how service changes operate.
> and capacity is down at least 40%, since each train is 20% smaller (8 cars vs. 10) and there are about 8-10 trains/hour vs. 14-15 previously.
Any mention of how M trains are less crowded than F trains?
> The outreach to commuters beforehand was non-existent.
Maybe if you read the one of many signs here and talked with the one of many workers here, then you would know exactly what was happening.
> Basically, the commuters got “F”d.
The swap benefits 2.5 times more people than it hurts. That was because of the reduced congestion at the Queens Plaza to 36th St Interlocking and the overall more one seat rides on QBL. Hardly the description you put here.