Updated 10/09/2009 10:55 PM
Riders Brace For Citywide Subway Disruptions
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Subway riders around the city will want to leave themselves some extra time to get where they're going this weekend.
Every subway line except for the M train and two shuttle trains will have service changes.
The full list is at mta.info, but here are some examples:
• The R line will skip all stops between 34th Street-Herald Square in Manhattan and 36th Street in Brooklyn.
• The F line will have no service between Jay Street and Church Avenue in Brooklyn.
• The C line will skip all stops between 145th and 168th Streets in Manhattan, and shuttle buses will replace the A line between 168th and 207th Streets.
• Westbound 7 trains will skip all stops from 111th Street to 33rd Street in Queens.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials say there will be service disruptions and changes on every line except the M train, the 42nd Street shuttle in Manhattan, and the Franklin Avenue shuttle in Brooklyn.
Shuttle buses will replace trains for parts of seven lines in Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn.
An MTA spokesman said much of the maintenance and repair work involves signals or track lighting, or replacing components like the road bed, track, switches and other sub-systems.
The spokesman also said weekends are the best time to do the work, since there are far fewer subway riders. Also, some of the work is outdoors in areas where system upgrades can't be performed in winter.
Nevertheless, riders say the repairs are going to cause headaches.
"It's gonna be a problem for me, even to find an alternate train route," said one straphanger. "I can't take an alternate train route because they are all going to be effected. Not only that, weekends you expect to relax a little, you expect it to be smoother, easier, less crowded, more space."
"I don't have a license, I don't drive. So this is what I have to rely on," said another. "I come from afar, 134th Street in Harlem. So it's not a good thing. And I'm not thinking about walking."
"I don't drive. I don't have a car. My only source of transportation is the MTA," said a third. "That means I have to get up extra early. "
For a full list of service changes and alternate routes, see mta.info.