"We should be informing the affected elected officials and Community Board 6 about the Culver Viaduct rehabilitation, which will affect subway service from Smith-9th Street to Church Avenue, by the end of this year. The construction project’s contract will be awarded in August 2008 but we always try to let the affected community know as far in advance as possible.
You can let me know about any problems on the F train in the interim".
Here's what I'm thinking... Use the comments section to voice your concerns and issues with the F train and I'll forward them to Andrew in one compact email (or you can send him your own email or you can do both. I say bombard him, we need an F express!) Let the games begin!
33 comments:
What is the deal with people bitching about the F-Train? Its a busy train. It is rare that one waits more than 10 mins. And anyway, you can't spare 10 mins?
I love the F train. It arrives more frequently than the Q which runs local after 7th Ave. Now THAT'S something to bitch about. I've never had any problems with the F.
i had formerly been in the pro f-train camp. i think that most people in park slope, carroll gardens etc, just complained because that's the train they took, so that's the train they complained about. i found it safe, efficient, etc. BUT over last 5 years the train hasn't kept up with the brooklyn population spurt, which means you can be jammed in body to body - or worse, not be able to get on at all - if you're going during rush hour - and as more people try to go earlier or later to avoid the crush, the scope of rush hour gets bigger and bigger. it is a real problem.
you'd think mta could be able to respond to this fairly easily by simply running more trains more frequently.
Hmm... good point. I've never taken it during rush hour.
As a Fort Hamilton Parkway user I'm not that interested in an express train. But I am angry that morning service into Manhattan and Queens is so spotty around 10 am when I use it. Frequently I wait 10-20 minutes as sometimes three, sometimes six trains come the other way towards Coney Island. Late nights are also horrible. F-train service is generally terrible during rush and off-peak hours and the trains are more crowded and dirty than many other lines.
I wish they'd serve the Fort Hamilton people better. Service is usually interrupted during weekends and late nights over the summer as trains express through to Church Ave. This has been going on for over five years. Our station attendant is often rude and the end I live at (the South exit) is unmanned and thus full of litter and graffiti.
Let's have more trains, cleaner trains and pay (in part) for them by putting up some ads over the black space. And let's get rid of all the graffiti in and nearby the station. Better lighting at the recessed South exit and snow removal in winter would also be great. And surveillance cameras so we can catch those people who constantly graffitti/scrawl over the walls of the overpass.
10 minutes (often more) wait is an issue--it means that trains are held longer at every station as each one is filled with people waiting for a train and delays the commute further. It means being late to work or appointments, it means missing other trains. It means padding my commute by often over 20 minutes just to deal with the likelihood of a late train and a slower passage into work. Some of us have jobs where we cannot be late and have lengthy commutes. 10 minutes between trains means something to us. And when service is posted as being every 3-4 minutes and ridership is up to record heights, it makes for more crowded, delayed and uncomfortable rides.
If Bloomberg's fee for certain commuters goes into effect, best if MTA gets cracking with the frequency and service improvements of the trains!
I dont know why people bitch about the F. Yes, its gotten a lot more crowded and I think we'd all lvoe more trains. But ALL OF THE TRAINS are crowded. NYC is going thru a boom and there are more people everywhere. Thats something the MTA should respond to all over...lets not take it out on our poor orange ring line.
An express from my stop to my final destination sounds great but Im guessing that an express train would likely skip my stop or skip my final destination making it much worse. So I'll stick with what I got.
So just add more trains and we'll be golden.
I'm not sure the folks posting here commute! The F is fine in the mornings, but totally deteriorates by evening...trains are as much as 15 minutes apart, which is not true for any other lines like the 2,3,4,5, A. And late nights are the worst - it takes 45 minutes to get back to brooklyn from lower manhattan. Maybe they could transfer the director of the 2,3 line (consistently the one that works) to the F for a time.
"...Culver Viaduct rehabilitation, which will affect subway service from Smith-9th Street to Church Avenue, by the end of this year."
--What are the affects that the MTA rep is referring to? Will there be no service between these two stops? 10-minute waits are better than no train service at all. Anyone have a clue as to the specifics of the alluded to effects?
I googled Culver Rehabilitation Project and it seems it's going to last for five years. I also saw that a fire at Bergen Street's other station makes an express train impossible for the moment.
http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/30/8/30_08whatthef.html
let's send this to the mta guy!
I like the suggestion at the end of this article - why not just extend the V from 2nd ave out to Church Avenue? Even if it's just at rush hour making express stops (or the F makes express stops while the V makes local), this would alleviate the traffic on the most crowded part of the line.
The F train at rush hour is a nightmare. Far too crowded and it takes forever to get home at the end of the day.I don't understand why we can't have an express train again as they did in mayor Koch days. The tracks are there. Let's use them!
I'm baffled at the spotty service of the F Train line, which I assume that the MTA will constantly pin on "Signal Problems" or "Construction." It has been going on as long as I have been living along the line. Rush hour service should be no more than a couple of minutes late for both evening and morning commute, a fifteen minute delay going into or from Manhattan extends my commute to almost 1 1/2 hours. Cars are packed, trains go express for no reasons, other than ambiguous delays, trains stop between stations to let other trains go by. You would figure that the line manager would have the schedule worked out, so trains moving opposite directions would not cause a delay. I advocate extending the G Train to Church Ave, as an Express from Hoyt/Schmerhorn, it would still make the line the shortest in the city. Or extend the V Train from Manhattan to Church, I always seem to see two V trains pass before an F arrives.
I totally agree. All the other lines have 2 trains (local and express). The F line in Brooklyn is the only one with one single train running! The V train is already available to make local stops... it has to go to Brooklyn!!!
Also, I have been living in NYC for over 10 years, and I ride the subway every day... but since I moved to the area a few months ago, I have noticed one too many roaches on the F trains!!Never noticed them before on any other subway line.
Extending the V to Church Ave or even Kings Hwy would be a great idea. Make the V local and the F express. I'm sure that would solve tons of transit nightmares.
I actually changed my workday to accommodate the train schedule. I was leaving work at 6pm just to arrive home the same as if I left at 7pm. I asked my boss if I could work 11 to 7 instead and it's really helped me avoid a lot of crowds and the breakdowns of service. In the winter that schedule is fine, but now that it's warm and sunny out I want to be getting home earlier- but the rush hour commute is just so miserable. The trains are always switching to express anyhows, so why not just make it official.
Oh it used to be such a fast ride to Art & Design back in 1972. The F Express at Church avenue, next stop 7th followed by Jay Street. It took less than 10 minutes to get from Church to Jay. The G train also left from Church avenue, did the local thing to Bergen along with the F local. It was budget cuts in the 70's that killed the express. The MTA ran a much smarter F train back then, hands down!
Ron Lopez
It is true that the F needs to have an express line reinstated.It is ridiculous that almost every other line in the city has an express too. We really need it, especially at rush hour at the end of the day.
Please, please no express. The service at Ft. Hamilton Parkway is bad enough and you know they'll say the line can't take more traffic further up (even if it is Jay St-Delancy) and cut the service for those of us who live near Ft. Hamilton. It's frustrating enough as it is with summer weekend service cancellations just starting (again, for the fifth-sixth year in a row) and the by now routine having to get off at 7th Ave and wait for the next F. It's even worse to hear an F expressing by in the morning when there's been no train for over 10 minutes and you are realizing you will be late for work.
Better service for all, not an express train for a few!
The F does have an express. It's in Queens.
I agree! The F line on York Street may be okay for now, but imagine another 2000 people waiting for their morning commute. I can picture traffic in that long tunnel stretch I walk every morning to get to work by 9. It will be a huge problem.
The V needs to be exteneded (allowing either the F or V to run express)into Brooklyn and the York Street station needs a major upgrade and new enterance at Jay and Front. Without this DUMBO will slow this line down even more, especially with all the new residents that are on their way in. That neighborhood will see population increase more and more in the coming years and needs the transportation badly.
Compared to the amount of people that need an F express there are few people that would be inconvenienced. most people get off at either 7th Ave or Church Ave.
thanks
That used to be true but it hasn't been the case for the last 2-4 years.
I've seen the train empty when it goes express from 7th Ave to Church. Both 15th St and Fort Hamilton have huge numbers of people using the stations today and they need good service too. I don't think an F-express is the answer as it will undoubtedly create a two tier system. It may help some people, but more will be hurt as I can't see the MTA maintaining even the current level of local service if an express exists.
We need another line. Bring the V to Church Avenue. The tracks are there. It's time to use them. The boom is here.
Bring the G around to Church Avenue or beyond.
I can't count how many times we been held up because of a G train sitting at 4th Avenue. If we're going to be inconvenienced by the G, at least allow us beyond 4th to use it!
And over the past two years, there has been a MAJOR increase in filth and homeless people. Not a day goes by when I'm not riding somewhere on the F within a putrid smelling car inhabited by the homeless.
I think both of the above suggestions are good although I'm sure that the MTA will say the tracks aren't good enough to bring the V out here (Bergen street fire that closed that part of the tracks, congestion further up the line).
And I was out late at an after-work function last night--virtually every train car had 4-10 homeless people sleeping in it. I wish the city and the mental health dept. would do something to help these people. Of course, I realize that there is no mental health dept and that there are few resources for the ill and unfortunate in this society.
On another note, I was scared walking out of Ft. Hamilton Pkway at 1:30 am. There were odd looking people hanging about the station who had no interest in getting on trains and it made me more angry about the MTA staff reduction (not to mention that I use the other end of this unwieldy station where there is just one, usually unhelpful, clerk).
The V train needs to be extended into Brooklyn. I commute on the F train everyday during rush hour and it is mess. Train are overcrowded, filthy, and run slow because of an "earlier incident".
Also, the York Street station needs to be overhauled to accommodate the population growth in DUMBO.
Please help...
I know everyone wants the V to go local in Brooklyn and make the F express. I have a different idea that would not only make life easier for F riders in Brooklyn, but E and V riders in Queens. The 6th ave line connects to the J train in Manhattan and the J has an express track in Brooklyn. If the V were run on the express track in peak direction on the J line and then connected to the Atlantic branch of the Long Island Rail Road, all those riders from Jamaica would have an express, 3 stop, back door entry into Manhattan. That would allow the MTA to decrease service on the E train and increase service on the F train. With the additional F trains, half could run express in peak direction and half could run local. That way, you get 4 express routes (V on the J express, F exp in Bk, E exp in Qns, and F exp in Qns) whereas before there were only 2.
From what I have gathered, once the viaduct has been re-habbed, there is some sort of plan to re-instate some type of express service in brooklyn. Which would be a welcome addition. Sometimes I take the n/r express on 4th ave and it gets me to mid-town in around 20 minutes, sure beats my 40 minute commute now on the f from 7th ave.
Express service means more trains, they already don't have enough trains as it is. MTA is very bad at making these type of changes.
Sorry guys I think we should be planning to move closer to the city or put up with the commute.
did anyone notice that they didnt do any work on the entrace to church ave sttaion even though it was closed for 2 months? they just cleaned it up a bit and thats it! and it took em 2 months to do that...just shows that in the end we all live in the soviet union here in brooklyn.
:)
About a year ago when I moved to Windsor Terrace/Kensington I was thrilled to have a train so close to my house (Ft Hamilton.) After about a month of riding it, I was furious! The service has been CONTINUALLY slow and interrupted. Especially most recently. I have not had a single morning and evening commute, (I get on the train around 9:15am and 7pm, respectively) that has not stopped because of "train traffic" or "signal problems." And when I ride other train lines I get EXTREMELY jealous that they have newer and cleaner trains and we're stuck with the old dirty ones.
And the fact that we don't have an MTA employee on the south end is a problem. Around 10pm one night when I got off the train with my friend we got to the turnstile to exit and there was a homeless man laying on the floor by the exit, completely EXPOSED and had just finished..."pleasing himself in a sexual way." I was shocked. It was still fairly early and the idea that a young kid could have seen that just made me sick.
So, all in all, the F train is NOT my favorite train.
I agree with the last post. That's horrific. We need manned posts at both sides of the Ft Hamilton station 24/7. Because of Robert Moses, the geography it traverses makes it unique and alienating. Even a broken machine means crossing bridges--OK in the day, really sketchy at night. I've had the scary experience of being chased on one of those bridges by a homeless man who was pleasuring himself, which occurred in broad daylight after I got off a train.
And going back to the old solution of closing the S. Exit at night is no solution. I was always scared to cross those bridges and when it snows, they're lethal.
The Ft. Hamilton station needs more attention all around, better staffing, snow removal in the winter, graffitti removal--and of course, more trains.
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