NYCT news release, 4/24:
Extra Service Coming to Four Subway Lines
Twelve New Round Trips Per Day Will Accommodate Increased Ridership
With subway ridership surging across the city, MTA New York City Transit plans to increase scheduled service on the 2 7 L and M lines in December, resulting in more frequent subway trains and shorter wait times for customers. Almost all of the additional service will be scheduled during off-peak hours, which showed the highest growth last year as the subway moved more than 1.75 billion customers, the highest ridership in over 65 years.
The most significant increase will be seven new weekday round trips between 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. on the L line, which experienced the greatest ridership growth at all hours in 2014. The new service will reduce the average time between trains to 5 minutes for the entire period between the morning and evening rush hours. NYC Transit last added service on the L line in fall 2014 with 56 more weekend round trips and an increase in weekday evening service.
The 7 line will see two additional new round trips on weeknights between 8 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., reducing the average time between trains to under 4½ minutes. The 2 line will also add two new weeknight round trips between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., reducing the average time between trains to 7½ minutes The M line will add one round trip on weekdays, reducing the average time between trains to 7½ minutes between 9:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.
“New York is a dynamic city and it continues to grow as new or better housing options become available and more people come here for jobs or school,” said NYC Transit President Carmen Bianco. “We face the challenge of serving that growing ridership at a time when real estate developers outpace the growth of the city’s infrastructure. By making these schedule changes, New York City Transit is making the most of its resources to deliver service that accurately reflects ridership in growing areas.”
NYC Transit routinely reviews and revises subway schedules to accommodate changing ridership demands and to ensure that service is in compliance with loading guidelines established by the MTA Board.
Following those guidelines, weekday service on the D line will decrease by one round trip split between the morning and evening rush hours. This will increase the average time to 10 minutes between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. for Brooklyn-bound D trains and between 5:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. for Bronx-bound D trains.
Every L station in Brooklyn saw increased ridership in 2014, with ridership demand corresponding to real estate and commercial development trends in the Williamsburg and Bushwick sections of Brooklyn. Bedford Av in Williamsburg was the busiest L station, with more than 27,000 average weekday customers, while the Bushwick Av-Aberdeen St station saw the line’s highest percentage bump in weekday ridership at 11.5 percent.
In Queens, where the 7 line is a major transportation option for residents in rapidly growing neighborhoods such as Long Island City, Woodside, Sunnyside and Flushing, overall ridership grew by 1.9 percent. The Flushing-Main St 7 terminal, which serves a rapidly growing residential and business district, moved more than 60,000 customers on an average weekday, more than the combined transit hub for Chambers St A C , World Trade Center E and Park Place 2 3 stations that serve major tourist destinations and the Financial District.
Schedule changes on the 2 and M lines also reflect the city’s overall population growth and significant commercial development in the downtown and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn and in Long Island City, Queens.
Implementation of the changes will cost approximately $1.6 million annually.
