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| Re: M Line via 6th Av. (1424323) | |||
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Re: M Line via 6th Av. |
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Posted by Michael549 on Tue Jan 17 11:46:07 2017, in response to M Line via 6th Av., posted by transitbuff on Mon Jan 16 23:26:41 2017. Here's your basic problem and it began in December 2000, when the F-train which had ran along 53rd Street for decades, would now begin running along the 63rd Street Tunnel to and from Queens.For decades, the major business district of Manhattan ended at about 60th Street with the largest concentrations of workers. (That is not to say that other large concentrations of workers do not exist elsewhere. Or that business districts do not get extended somehow.) The 53rd Street corridor of the IND subway had been in existence since the 1930's, and before that service was provided by the Sixth Avenue IRT elevated line. The other Queens Tunnels along 60th Street, and along 42nd Street also carry huge amounts of folks. Each of these lines benefit from their connections and transfers to other subway lines and their locations in midtown that serve various businesses and facilities. These subway lines are very, very useful. The 63rd Street Tunnel by comparison was dubbed "The Tunnel To Nowhere" because until December 2000 it had no through service to the more populated sections of Queens and few connections to the existing other subway lines. It's every day potential was limited because it was planned for a much larger transit network, but was cut short before its prime. With the F-train re-routed along the 63rd Street Tunnel, the transfer connections that the F-train HAD at Lexington Avenue to the #6 under the Citi-Corp Center were gone and plus the F-train would no longer stop at the Citi-Corp Center! Queens Blvd local station riders could no longer to transfer at Queens Plaza between F-trains headed to and from Sixth Avenue. Remember - the 63rd Street Tunnel was never designed for its current usage! It was adapted as a best close fit. The savior to these problems was the creation of the V-train! The route which was argued about, debated and basically hated by hundreds of transit fans. Lasting almost 10 years the V-train solved the access problems of the Queens Blvd local station riders, and the access issues of getting to and from Sixth Avenue and along 53rd Street for Queens riders. Fiscal crisis issues led to the substitution of the M-train for the V-train along Sixth Avenue and Queens Blvd - an action that many Queens and Brooklyn riders heavily supported with ridership increases. Hundreds of transit fans have expressed their approvals for the current M-train and wonder why it was not done earlier. Your basic problem is this. Like many transit fans - the idea of playing with new toys (new train tunnels, new stations, testing ideas of train routes, etc.) can not be resisted. Nor should it be. There are however times when to look up from your subway maps and track diagrams to actually look at the real people trying daily to get where they want to go, and the places that they travel to and from on a regular basis. The 63rd Street Tunnel existing just outside of the long-time Manhattan Business District boundary is a tough sell. Why did an "out of system" transfer to the heavily used Lexington Avenue station at 59th Street used by the #4, #5 #6, N, W and R trains have to be created? Answer: Because the movement to the 63rd Street Tunnel took away the direct transfer that F-train riders had to the Lexington Avenue subway at 53rd Street. On weekends when the M-train does not run - certain pathways of traveling and transfers do not exist except in a round about way. Regular every day riders do not like "round about" ways for their every day got to get to and from work travel paths. Mike |
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