I’m confused!
The #5 train on the Dyre Avenue line runs from the Bronx, travels through Manhattan and into Brooklyn during rush hour. Thousands of people use this train everyday, packed in like sardines on one of the busiest routes in the entire system. Its sister train, the Nereid Avenue #5, runs on the same track from E. 180th Street in the Bronx all the way through to the last stop in Brooklyn, and it too is a rolling sardine can. Each train is driven by a motorman and a conductor who rides in the middle of the 10 cars.
It’s no secret, that despite the large volume of riders who live or work on the east side of Manhattan, the only subway available is the Lexington Avenue line which is comprised of both # 5 trains and the #4 train which runs down the west side of the Bronx, through Manhattan and into Brooklyn. When you factor in commuters and tourists, more than a million riders per day utilize the east side trains. So what logic is NYC Transit Authority employing when service is cut on one of these lines?
No, this is not a rhetorical question; it is simply hard to figure out why the #5 train ends at the Bowling Green station in lower Manhattan for passengers headed downtown during off- peak hours. Cost-cutting measures don’t seem to make sense, as mentioned beforehand, transit employees are needed to drive the train whether it travels the entire route or not.
So, were the decision-makers thinking the bulk of riders dissipate out of the system altogether after the morning rush hour ends? This line of thinking doesn’t make sense either, because if you ever ride the Dyre Avenue #5 train leaving the Bronx after 9:00am, observe closely: the trains are still crowded with passengers heading to Manhattan.
It is true that some of these passengers will transfer in the Bronx from the #5 train to the #2 train which does run its entire route from the Bronx to Flatbush Brooklyn, 24-7, alleviating some crowding and solving this whole conundrum of reaching Brooklyn during off-hours. However, some riders board trains on the east side of Manhattan, and I’m absolutely certain they will not want to make the foot-killing transfer to the west side at Grand Central ( E. 42nd Street) or any points from mid-town to down town merely to catch the #2 train. It’s tedious, tiresome and completely undesirable, even for the most energetic commuters.
Perhaps transit officials used telepathy to determine that the bulk of the riders’ final destination is somewhere in Manhattan, therefore, putting them off the train at Bowling Green somehow made the most sense, that is, if you prescribed to this shaky method of decision making.
Recent information on the internet and on the MTA website states that weekdays, the #5 train will run its complete route from the Bronx to Brooklyn during daytime hours but all other hours except late nights, it stops at Bowling Green. Huh?
Late nights weekdays = 11pm to 5:30am
Weekends late nights = 10:15pm to 6am
Rush hour = 6:15am to 10:00am; 3:15pm to 8:45pm
Rush hour peak direction = 6:15am to 9:00am; 4:30pm to 7:45pm
If someone can figure out what “daytime” hours are, please write to me! In the meantime, if I ever want to travel to Brooklyn on the #5 train I will call MTA first, to confirm that trains are running the entire route.
Accurate information must be made public otherwise, passengers will continue to be irate waiting at the Bowling Green stop for another train that will transport them into Brooklyn where transferring to yet another train is the last thing anyone wants to do. Got it?
Truncated service is a bad idea.
Dyrerider rides the #5 train from the Gunhill Road stop in the Bronx.
Opinions expressed on this blog are of Dyrerider, not MTA.
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