MTA Using Fewer Subway Trains This Summer, To Straphangers' Dismay
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- If you think you're seeing fewer subway trains on the "1" and "6" lines, it's not your imagination.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has quietly implemented service cuts this summer. As CBS 2's Jay Dow reports, many subway riders are angry.
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A New York City subway summer slowdown is in effect -- service cuts the MTA recently put into place without the public discussion that typically takes place.
"This is the one I depend on to get to work, so I wish they would go back to the way it was," Manhattan resident Renee Black said.
Straphangers can expect about two fewer trains running per hour, and depending on the crowds, which were not too bad on Friday, the net result could lead to more crowded trains and slightly longer waits on the platform.
"No! Are you kidding me? Are you kidding? What am I gonna do about that? I guess I'll have to walk from 14th Street. I'll get a little more exercise," Augie Alexander said.
As a result of the service cuts morning commuters will typically have to wait about an extra 30 seconds between 1 trains.
"Well, I absolutely do care about the fact there are going to be reduced trains, because even though there may be people I have a set schedule that I have to adhere to. I come here at the same time every day," another Manhattan resident said.
"I honestly never notice the 6 line to be a light load. You can't get a seat if you live, I like to say, up in the 60s," rider Sean Franklin told WCBS 880 reporter Paul Murnane.
MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz downplayed the net effect of the service cuts, telling Dow: "These are seasonal adjustments we've made based on declining ridership resulting from summer vacations and are similar to the seasonal adjustments we have been making along certain bus routes."
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MTA officials added the service cuts also allow the system to use less energy this summer, which in turn will allow the already cash strapped agency to operate more cost-effectively.
Under the schedule change, the number of rush-hour trains on the 6 line has dropped from 23 to 21. On the 1 line, 16 trains now run during the morning rush hour, down from 18.
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