V (New York City Subway service)

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Image:NYCS-bull-trans-V.svg

The V 6th Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) Local is a subway service of the New York City Transit Authority. It is colored orange on the route sign (either on the front and/or side - depending on equipment used) and on station signs and the NYC Subway map, as it represents a service provided on the IND Sixth Avenue Line through midtown Manhattan. The V operates weekdays and evenings, from 71st–Continental Avenue–Forest Hills to Lower East Side–Second Avenue, running local in both Queens and Manhattan. It does not operate late nights and weekends and all of the stations on its route are served full-time by at least one other service.

The V fleet consists entirely of R46s.

The following lines are used by the and V train:

Line Tracks When
IND Queens Boulevard Line from 71st Avenue to Queens Plaza local rush hours, middays and evenings
IND Queens Boulevard Line from Queens Plaza to Fifth Avenue–53rd Street N/A rush hours, middays and evenings
IND Sixth Avenue Line from 47th–50th Streets to Lower East Side–Second Avenue local rush hours, middays and evenings

Contents

[edit] Service history

[edit] New Service Plan and Controversy

The introduction of the V service added nine additional peak-hour trains coming into Manhattan on the IND Queens Boulevard Line.[1] However, to make room for the V train on Queens Boulevard, the G train was given a new weekday terminal at Long Island City–Court Square, and the F train was re-routed through the 63rd Street Tunnel.

The new service plan was designed to redistribute Queens-bound passenger loads in the heavily-used IND Sixth Av corridor, by encouraging use of the additional local trains provided for shorter trips, and to improve service and transfer opportunities for passengers using local stations along Queens Blvd. The New York Times described the service plan as "complex and heavily criticized." NY Times columnist Randy Kennedy noted, however, that four months after it opened, the line was operating at only 49% of capacity. However, ridership had "increased 30 percent since it began, and every new V rider, as lonely as he or she might be, relieves crowding on the E."[2] Several years experience with the service running, has shown its value and seen further gains. V trains, while by no means consistently full, have taken some load off the F train; however, some riders have complained that the passenger load on the E train has worsened, while others said it has gotten better. In response to complaints from G riders who aired them at public hearings, (they were about to lose their transfer to Manhattan-bound trains at Queens Plaza), the MTA agreed to a number of concessions. MTA agreed to install an underground moving walkway between Court Square and 23rd Street–Ely Avenue (E V) on the Queens Boulevard Line. In addition, a free out-of-system MetroCard transfer to 45th Road–Court House Square (7) on the IRT Flushing Line was created at those two stations—one of only two such transfers in the system. The MTA is pursuing other physical improvements to stations in the Long Island City, Queens area.

The MTA also agreed to extend the G to 71st Avenue during evenings and weekends, and to operate the service more frequently. The authority "had spent several hundred thousand dollars on tests, trying to figure out a way to keep the G train running past the Court Square Station and farther into Queens on weekdays. But because of the addition of the V train, which will share space along the Queens Boulevard lines with the trains already there—the E, F and R—G trains could not fit during the daytime, when service is heaviest."[3]

Not all F riders were happy, of course. Columnist Kennedy sought out and interviewed some who who were not happy with the V's debut:

Last week, there were two express trains (the E and the F) running along Queens Boulevard to 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue, the station where many people catch the Lexington line. Now, there is only one express (the E) and a local (the V) going to that popular station. And the other express (the F) detours to a less popular station, 63rd and Lexington, where you cannot transfer to the Lexington line without walking outside for a few blocks.
So the questions being asked privately, and sometimes very publicly, in Queens stations yesterday were: Do I take a train not going where I'm going and — God forbid — transfer? Do I take a relatively uncrowded train that goes where I'm going but that gives me the scenic tour of subterranean Queens?[4]


[edit] Station listing

For a more detailed station listing, see the articles on the lines listed above.

Handicapped/disabled access Station When Services
Queens
Forest Hills–71st Avenue always E F G(345) R(1234) V(123)
LIRR
67th Avenue V all but late nights and weekends E(5) G(345) R(1234) V(123)
63rd Drive–Rego Park V all but late nights and weekends E(5) G(345) R(1234) V(123)
Woodhaven Boulevard V all but late nights and weekends E(5) G(345) R(1234) V(123)
Grand Avenue–Newtown V all but late nights and weekends E(5) G(345) R(1234) V(123)
Elmhurst Avenue V all but late nights and weekends E(5) G(345) R(1234) V(123)
Roosevelt Avenue–Jackson Heights always E F G(345) R(1234) V(123) 7
65th Street V all but late nights and weekends E(5) G(345) R(1234) V(123)
Northern Boulevard V all but late nights and weekends E(5) G(345) R(1234) V(123)
46th Street V all but late nights and weekends E(5) G(345) R(1234) V(123)
Steinway Street V all but late nights and weekends E(5) G(345) R(1234) V(123)
36th Street V all but late nights and weekends E(5) G(345) R(1234) V(123)
Queens Plaza V all but late nights and weekends E G(345) R(1234) V(123)
23rd Street–Ely Avenue V all but late nights and weekends E V(123) G
7 <7>(1a2a3c) (MetroCard)
Manhattan
Handicapped/disabled access Lexington Avenue–53rd Street V all but late nights and weekends E V(123) 4(5) 6 <6>(1a2a)
Roosevelt Island Tramway
Fifth Avenue–53rd Street V all but late nights and weekends E V(123)
47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center always B(123a) D F V(123)
42nd Street–Bryant Park always B(123a) D F V(123) 7 <7>(1a2a3c)
Handicapped/disabled access 34th Street–Herald Square always B(123a) D F V(123) N Q R(1234) W(123a)
PATH
23rd Street always F V(123)
PATH
14th Street always F V(123) L 1 2 3(1234)
PATH
Handicapped/disabled access West Fourth Street–Washington Square always B(123a) D F V(123) A C(1234) E
Broadway–Lafayette Street always B(123a) D F V(123)
4(5) 6 <6>(1a2a) southbound
Lower East Side–Second Avenue always F V(123)

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Sarah Kershaw, "Proposed Line Would Lighten Subway Crush," The New York Times, December 2, 2000
  2. ^ Randy Kennedy, "When One New Train Equals One Less Express," The New York Times, July 9, 2002
  3. ^ Kennedy, Randy. "Panel Approves New V Train but Shortens G Line to Make Room", The New York Times, 2001-05-25.
  4. ^ Randy Kennedy, "Lonesome Newcomer, Taking It Slowly, Seeks Riders," The New York Times, December 18, 2001.

[edit] References


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