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October 13, 2009

MTA Sets Course for F Train

ftrain_131009.jpg
The MTA recently released a 25-page report outlining current and future projects to improve the F train line, which runs through Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. According to the Daily News, the MTA is going to add new cars, build barriers to protect workers and prevent delays on parallel tracks, and discontinue the policy of skipping certain stops during rush hours—a practice that, research showed, made congestion worse. Officials could not guarantee the return of express service to the F line, however, and even if express service does come back, it won't be until 2013. State Senator Daniel Squadron of Brooklyn, who requested the MTA report, told The New York Times that the MTA is being "honest about putting facts behind what we already knew: that the F line is not working.” Senator Squadron praised the MTA's efforts, saying "We should start seeing improvements this month, and more significant improvements as we begin next year.”
F Line Finally on Track for Fixes [NY Daily News]
On the F Train, the M.T.A. Confirms What Riders Know [NY Times]
Photo by Joe Holmes




Posted by jscheff at 9:45 AM | Comments (18)
Categories: Transportation

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Comments

This will raise real estate prices in Bed Stuy because the A train is sooooo much better.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at October 13, 2009 9:51 AM

The F train is pretty rotten. It has greatly improved my opinion of the R.

Posted by: northsloperenter at October 13, 2009 10:01 AM

I grew up around the Kings Highway stop of the F train. I went to high school in Manhattan when the F express service was still around (1971-1975). Man it was a great service. Even though I lived almost at the end of the F line, my trip from the Upper East Side of Manhattan to my house took less than an hour.

Bring back the F express!!

Posted by: benson at October 13, 2009 10:04 AM

it's nice to know that they are at least acknowledging the epic crapfest that is the F train. that said, the F/G was a complete shitshow this past weekend.

Posted by: CG_ups at October 13, 2009 10:06 AM

2013!! what are they going to do, have an EIR and a $million study for the express train? Can the MTA ever get its act together?

Posted by: cmu at October 13, 2009 10:46 AM

anyone who didn't ride trains daily in 70's, 80's and dealt with breakdowns, broken doors, 'This train is out of service', etc regularly has no right to complain about F train service today.

Posted by: Petebklyn at October 13, 2009 10:55 AM

All service was screwed up this past weekend.

Posted by: Arkady at October 13, 2009 11:03 AM

that is such a dumb comment pete. no offense but just because the service sucked harder in the past doesn't mean that it shouldn't be fixed now. it is still a complete mess. esp during off peak hours.

Posted by: CG_ups at October 13, 2009 11:05 AM

"anyone who didn't ride trains daily in 70's, 80's and dealt with breakdowns, broken doors, 'This train is out of service', etc regularly has no right to complain about F train service today."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo

Posted by: northsloperenter at October 13, 2009 11:05 AM

There's no service on the downtown side!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xopwmval2jY

Posted by: jasetheace at October 13, 2009 11:11 AM

don't take anything I say as serious comment...unless I preface with it is a serious comment.

Posted by: Petebklyn at October 13, 2009 11:17 AM

Pete;

I don't recall service being that bad in the early 70's. The system was still fine, and, as I mentioned above, the F express service still operated, and it was GREAT. In my memory, it really started going downhill in the second half of the 70's.

Posted by: benson at October 13, 2009 11:17 AM

but seriously, generally I think people believe that train they use most often depend on is worst in system. So F train riders think theirs is worst.
I use the F and seems ok to me. (I get on at Bergen St).

Posted by: Petebklyn at October 13, 2009 11:21 AM

i've moved every couple of years and been on the 1/2/3/4/5/6/B/V/D/F lines and the F sucked the most. 1/2/3 are kinda dirty but fairly frequent. 4/5/6 are amazingly crazy crowded but generally clean new a/c cars.

Posted by: CG_ups at October 13, 2009 11:26 AM

probably was the later 70's when train service really deteriorated. But by then the F line had new trains and I think 1 of the 1st to get them...IRT seemed the worse, old, covered with graffiti, etc. Real A/C! ... took lotta years for the old trains to be refitted with A/C -- you could always tell car that didn't have it working - empty while others jammed.

Posted by: Petebklyn at October 13, 2009 11:40 AM

My regular stop on the F throughout the late 80's and 90's was 2nd Avenue, literally an open sewer. Fond memories from the time... Homeless man obliviously masturbating off the edge of the platform to a wrinkled tiny postage stamp sized scrap of paper during morning rush... A priest holding a perfumed handkerchief up to his nose to cover the smell of human feces, A young hasidic man peeking around a column while getting a BJ from a crack whore... Yesterday some kind person had defecated in the 16th street stairwell of the F's 15th ST/Prospect Park stop. Reported it to the booth. Still there 4 hours later, although someone had covered it with a newspaper.

Posted by: IMBY at October 13, 2009 12:14 PM

"2013!! what are they going to do, have an EIR (sic) and a $million (sic) study for the express train?" No, express service cannot begin until the MTA finishes the capital project just begun.

Posted by: g man at October 13, 2009 12:29 PM

Ah, happy memories of the F!

I once passed out on the F train in the mid 90s after leaving a party somewhere in Brooklyn (Bensonhurst?) where I'd gotten way too drunk.

I was heading to Manhattan but woke up on Coney Island when some nice homeless guy woke me up, rather than just taking my wallet.

By the time I got back to Manhattan it was sunrise, and I've never known if I was on the train for several hours or if I left the party really really late. I think the former. I never checked with the people at the party because I was pretty sure I'd been a drunken ass by the end of the party.

I suspect I rode the F all the way to the end of the line in Queens and then back to Coney Island that night.

Posted by: northsloperenter at October 13, 2009 12:35 PM

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