V (New York City Subway Service)

The V Sixth Avenue Local is a service of the New York City Subway. It is colored orange, since it uses the IND Sixth Avenue Line through midtown Manhattan. The Template:NYCS V operates weekdays, from 71st–Continental Avenue–Forest Hills to Lower East Side–Second Avenue, running local in both Queens and Manhattan. The Template:NYCS V train is a supplemental service, in that every station on its route is also served by at least one other service. It does not operate late nights and on weekends.

The following lines are used by the and Template:NYCS 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

Service history

The Template:NYCS V train is the New York City Subway's newest service. It made its debut on December 17, 2001, running weekdays, replacing the Template:NYCS G train on the local tracks of the IND Queens Boulevard Line in Queens, and replacing the Template:NYCS F train on the 53rd Street Tunnel route to Manhattan. The Template:NYCS F train was re-routed through the IND 63rd Street Line, which opened for full-time service the day before. In Manhattan, between 47th–50th Streets and the Template:NYCS V train's Lower East Side-Second Avenue terminal station, Template:NYCS V and Template:NYCS F made identical stops.

On January 23, 2005, a fire destroyed the signal room of Chambers Street on the IND Eighth Avenue Line. Template:NYCS V service was temporarily extended to Euclid Avenue. For more information, see Eighth Avenue Line fire.

Controversy

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

The New York Times described the service plan as "complex and heavily criticized." In response to complaints from Template:NYCS G riders, who lost their transfer to Manhattan-bound trains at Queens Plaza, the MTA agreed to install an underground moving walkway between Court Square and the 23rd Street–Ely Avenue station, where Template:NYCS E and Template:NYCS V trains are available. 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."

The Template:NYCS V's debut also made some Template:NYCS F riders unhappy:

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?

Four months after it opened, the Times reported that 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."

Station listing

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

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

External links

• MTA NYC Transit — V Sixth Avenue Local
• MTA NYC Transit — F–V schedule (PDF)

References

• Line By Line History