I’ve always thought of the subway as something of an equal-opportunity headache. This past week, the MTA made it a migraine when it released a plan for express F train service.
The line that runs from the southernmost point of Brooklyn (Coney Island) through Manhattan and into Queens has been divided between some marginal winners and some big losers. This plan contemplates no increase in trains and overall service, so if your stop is one offering the express F and you catch one, you will have shaved some time off your trip, and thus become a modest “winner.” If, however, you don’t have the express option you are now left to rely on a station that will have less frequent train service and no less travel time once you get on a train. In an unintentional homage to Donald Trump, you are a “big loser.” MTA officials themselves have said 48% of riders will be positively affected by the services while 52% will be negatively affected by this plan.
Much of the discussion surrounding this win-loss divide has been portrayed as the northern parts of the F line, “Brownstone Brooklyn,” complaining versus those in southern Brooklyn feeling that they finally got something good as opposed to the usual short end of the stick. This is a false dichotomy and ignores reality in favor of some facile and perhaps cynical simplicity.
For instance, in Red Hook, a neighborhood that already requires one to either walk or take a bus to the Smith and 9 Street station, commuters will now have added time to their trip every day. Yet if you live conveniently near an express stop in southern Brooklyn, while you may be catch the express and arrive a little early to work, there is no guarantee of catching one (since there is no increase in overall trains). So you still have to leave your house at the same time.
I am not a transit expert, but I am a lifelong rider of the F train, and this plan makes absolutely no sense to me. I am in good company, because Councilman Brad Lander agreed when I spoke with him this past week.
“We can’t allow Brooklyn residents to be polarized against each other,” Lander said. “And portraying this as wealthy Brownstone Brooklyn vs. working-class Southern Brooklyn ignores the thousands of NYCHA residents in Red Hook and Gowanus Houses, all of whom lose under the MTA proposal. I sincerely hope we can find a solution that adds service along the F Express line without doing so much gratuitous harm to tens of thousands of straphangers at the F Local stations.”
I hope that Lander’s sentiment carries the day as opposed to some of his council colleagues, who dismiss criticism of this plan as “not very New York like.” Few things are more New York than telling it like it is, and this is a bad plan. We shouldn’t have to accept this plan, nor claw tooth and nail to preserve the status quo.
As the people that fund the system, we should accept nothing less than a MTA that pulls every lever possible to ensure that everyone’s transportation time is reduced. This is an important issue in any city. As our city becomes denser, and we inch ever closer to 9 million residents, this becomes increasingly important.
But what do I know? That and a token will get me more “quality” time on the F train.
Michael Racioppo is the First Vice Chairman of Community Board 6, and the Executive Director of the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation. He has previously worked for Joan Millman. He is a member of the Independent Neighborhood Democrats. Follow him at @mike_racc at Twitter.
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well done young man.