#5 Train(s) Going Nowhere Fast!

The excellent rush hour service that existed on the #5 train in the Bronx is taking a reprieve, thanks to the Metropolitan Transit Authority's decision to suspend express service between E. 180th St. and 149th Street and 3rd Avenue. Bronx riders who could count on getting zoomed past seven stops, shaving off at least nine minutes from their commutes in peak directions, must now sweat it out as the train makes local stops and, hope they make it to their destinations on time.

Local service during rush hour has been activated from August 24 to November 13, 2009, in the Bronx due to track and signal improvements, according to signs posted in stations on the #5 route.

Riders can smile at the men in the orange vests and put blind faith that their commutes will improve when the track work ends if they want but the problem is, the work seems to never end. This writer-Dyrerider- has been utilizing the #5 train on the Dyre Avenue and Nereid Avenue line for 16 years and, according to first hand accounts, service changes occur on a regular basis on weekends and during the weekday as follows:

· shuttle train service between E. 180th Street and Dyre Avenue. on weekends
· shuttle bus service between E. 180th Street and Dyre Avenue on weekends
· no # 5 service in the Bronx on the Dyre Avenue line; take the #2 train running
on the # 5 line--on weekends
· no Nereid Avenue #5 trains at all on weekends; use the #2 train
· #5 train terminating at Grand Central Station (E.42nd Street), weekends
· no # 5 train traveling to Brooklyn, weekends
· express service on the #5 line from E. 180th Street to 3rd Avenue; occurs on
some weekends
· #5 trains terminate at Bowling Green during non rush hour, weekdays
· #5 trains stop running the full Brooklyn to Bronx route at 10:30pm -5:59am,
M- F, and from 12 midnight to 6:00am on weekends and instead operates the
shuttle train from E. 180th Street to Dyre Avenue during late night hours from
E. 180th Street to Dyre Avenue

The MTA institutes and suspends these service changes on an inconsistent basis with no discernable end-goal in sight.

Strangely, riders have not asked for more transparency from transit officials in the case of the #5 train’s latest service disruption. People aren't the least bit curious to know exactly what type of track and signal maintenance is so specific and so sensitive that hundreds of subway cars from the #5 and #2 lines which share the same tracks in the Bronx, pass through 3.4 miles of track 24-7 and yet repair work will be thrown off kilter if the express track is utilized during rush hour? Sadly, riders must be so accustomed to unpredictable service it's business as usual for them. Astonishing!

While relief from the longer commute is slated to end in November of this year, skepticism remains for this writer and for good reason. Several years ago the MTA tried to permanently establish local service on the #5 Dyre Avenue route but straphangers fighting back with signed petitions against the idea appeared to be effective as express service was preserved on this route during rush hour in peak directions. Unfortunately due to budget woes transit officials may somehow use dwindling revenue as justification for preserving local service, presumably their wish all along.

Now, #5 train riders must leave home earlier to pad their commute times in correlation to extra stops made on a local route, but no matter how much they adjust their schedules, they cannot predict when train service will disrupt and eat into their reserved time. You do not get a break.

On the surface it seems as if working class people who must use the #5 line to travel into Manhattan from the Bronx and Brooklyn to reach their jobs get the short end of the stick where value vs. cost of a subway ride is concerned. Commuters’ arrival time at work depends on public transit's dependability, and when service interruptions occur, especially in Manhattan, few if any options are left for outer borough commuters to reach their destinations in the city. Two dollars per ride can easily morph into a $10, $15 or $20 cab ride to another train line or, for desperate measures, a ride into Manhattan just to make it to work without nerve-wrecking hassles.

The only upside observed so far with local service in the Bronx is the elimination of the bottle neck after the Jackson Avenue station where Manhattan bound local #2 trains and express #5 trains reach the end of their respective, separate, elevated lines and have to move onto one track entering the Third Avenue and 149th Street station underground. Since both train lines now run on the local track, less “jockeying” for first place occurs.

Another plus? Passengers waiting at the local stops are now able to hop on the first train that comes along instead of waiting for the #2 train (local in the Bronx, both directions at all times) for a quick ride to Third Avenue and 149th Street or 149th Street and Grand Concourse where they would jam into Brooklyn-bound #5 trains on a same platform transfer or dash upstairs for the #4 train. The end result? Less crowding in August when this undesirable schedule started and no upsetting delays after kids returned to school in September.

Will the good times last? Stick around. Dyrerider will definitely keep you posted if the commute dissolves into an overcrowded, chaotic mess.

Dyrerider rides the #5 train from the Gunhill Road stop in the Bronx.


The views expressed on this page belong to Dyrerider and are not endorsed by the MTA.