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 Sixth Avenue Local | |
 | |
| Northern end | 71st Avenue |
|---|---|
| Southern end | Second Avenue |
| Stations | 24 |
The V Sixth Avenue Local was a rapid transit service of the New York City Subway. It was colored orange on the route sign and on station signs and the NYC Subway map, as it represented a service provided on the IND Sixth Avenue Line through midtown Manhattan.
The V service operated weekdays only from approximately 6:30 a.m. to midnight, from 71st Avenue in Forest Hills, Queens to Second Avenue in Lower East Side, Manhattan, making all stops on its entire route.
The V route had no elevated stations, remaining fully underground during its entire run.
Service history
The V train made its debut on December 17, 2001, replacing the G train on the local tracks of the IND Queens Boulevard Line in Queens and the F train on the 53rd Street Tunnel route to Manhattan on weekdays only. The 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 V train's Lower East Side – Second Avenue terminal station, V and F made identical stops.
On January 23, 2005, a fire destroyed the signal room of Chambers Street on the IND Eighth Avenue Line. V service was temporarily extended to Euclid Avenue until C service was restored on February 2.
The V service was discontinued due to budget reductions. The V made its last trip on Friday, June 25th, 2010.
New service plan and controversy
The V was introduced to give residents along the Queens Blvd line direct local service to 53rd Street and the Sixth Avenue Line, solving overcrowding issues at 23rd Street – Ely Avenue. 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 and M) on the Queens Boulevard Line. In addition, a free out-of-system MetroCard transfer to 45th Road – Court House Square (7 and <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. Columnist Kennedy sought out and interviewed some 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 Avenue 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]
V train elimination
In late 2009, the MTA discovered that it was confronting a financial crisis; many of the same service cuts threatened just months earlier during a previous budget crisis were revisited, including the ending of rush-hour M service. In response to extreme public outcry to the cuts, which included the ending of the Student MetroCard program, the MTA chose to review its proposals in an attempt to minimize the impact on riders. One of the proposals considered involved the complete phasing out of M service; the V would then serve as the route's replacement. Using the Chrystie Street Connection, a then-unused track connection between the BMT Nassau Street Line and the IND Sixth Avenue Line, the V would no longer serve its current terminus, Second Avenue. Instead, the V would leave Broadway – Lafayette Street and serve the current M train stations from Essex Street in Manhattan to Metropolitan Avenue in Queens.
The MTA has determined that this move, while still a service cut, would actually benefit M riders; approximately 17,000 weekday riders use the M to reach its stations in Lower Manhattan, whereas 22,000 weekday riders transfer from the M to other lines to reach destinations in Midtown Manhattan.[5] This proposal would also benefit J/Z riders in that with the merger of the M and the V, Z service would be retained; previously, the Z was proposed for removal as part of the service cuts, ending skip-stop service along the BMT Jamaica Line and turning the J fully local. Additionally, this merger would open up new travel options for northern Brooklyn and Queens J/Z and M riders in that it would allow direct and more convenient access to areas that are not currently served by those routes, such as Midtown Manhattan. However, the merger would also inconvience riders at the Second Avenue station, which would only be serviced by the F.
On March 19, 2010, it was decided that then new service pattern would retain the M designation instead, which would now be designated with an orange symbol as a IND Sixth Avenue Line train, while the V designation will be discontinued. Many MTA board members opposed the elimination of the M designation, saying that riders would be more comfortable with an M designation rather than a V designation, and because the M has been around longer than the V. [6][7]
The V made its last trip on Friday, June 25th, 2010 with the last train leaving Lower East Side – Second Avenue bound for Queens at 11:33 pm.[8] The last V train bound for yard is at 12:38 at 71st Avenue when the party group left
Route
Following lines
The following lines were used by the V service:
| Line | Tracks | Time |
|---|---|---|
| IND Queens Boulevard Line from 71st Avenue to Queens Plaza | local | weekdays only |
| IND Queens Boulevard Line from Queens Plaza to Fifth Avenue/53rd Street | N/A | |
| IND Sixth Avenue Line from 47th–50th Streets – Rockefeller Center to Second Avenue | local |
Stations
For a more detailed station listing, see the articles on the lines listed above.
| Station service legend | |
|---|---|
|
Stops all times |
|
Stops all times except late nights |
|
Stops late nights and weekends only |
|
Stops weekdays during the day |
|
Stops rush hours in the peak direction only |
| Time period details | |
|
Station is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act |
| ↑
|
Station is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act in the indicated direction only |
| ↓
| |
|
Elevator access to mezzanine only |
- ^ Kershaw, Sarah (December 2, 2000). "Proposed Line Would Lighten Subway Crush". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
- ^ Kennedy, Randy (July 9, 2002). "When One New Train Equals One Less Express". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
- ^ Kennedy, Randy (May 25, 2001). "Panel Approves New V Train but Shortens G Line to Make Room". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
- ^ Kennedy, Randy (December 18, 2001). "Lonesome Newcomer, Taking It Slowly, Seeks Riders". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
- ^ "2010 NYC Transit Service Reductions" (PDF). MTA New York City Transit. January 27, 2010. p. 9. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
- ^ Grynbaum, Michael M. (March 19, 2010). "On the Subway, V Is for Vanished". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
- ^ http://mta.info/news/pdf/NYCT_Summary_of_Revisions.pdf
- ^ DeJesus, Juan (June 25, 2010). "Last Stop: New Yorkers Bid Adieu to V and W". WNBC. Retrieved 2010-06-25.