The MTA is recommending that beginning next year half of the
F trains running through central Brooklyn run as express trains during the
busiest times of day.
The express line would run between the Jay Street MetroTech
station in Downtown Brooklyn and the Church Avenue station in Kensington. The
express line will stop once at 7th Avenue in Park Slope during
morning and evening rush hours. The other half of the trains will continue to
make all the stops between Jay Street and Church Avenue.
If the recommendation is accepted it would be implemented by
the fall of 2017.
The recommendation was made in a feasibility study released
this week by the MTA and made at “the request of F train riders and elected
officials in Brooklyn.”
The study was able to precisely quantify the benefit of
introducing the express line. The researchers found that each express passenger
would save on average 3-4 minutes on their commute, while those taking the
local would lose 1.3 minutes. Multiplying by the expected number of passengers
yields a “net travel time benefit of 27,000 minutes.”
"F express trains would be slightly more crowded than
current F trains," the MTA said, "although still within NYC Transit's
loading guidelines, while the F locals would be less crowded. There would also
be increased stair crowding at a couple of local stations due to larger PM exit
surges per train."
