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Subway Report Card Ranks L Line Second To 1
The NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign's tenth annual "State of the Subways" Report Card issued last week, rated the 1 as the best of twenty-two subway lines with a "MetroCard Rating" of $1.25 and the C and W the worst at 65-cents. Despite years of upgrades that have caused myriad delays and detours for frustrated commuters, the L Line, with a terminal on Rockaway Parkway, came in second in the annual survey, with a rating of $1.20. The 43-page report is based on an extensive review of official data on subway service, much of which has not been released before on a line-by-line basis. The profiles show six measures of service, based on recent data from MTA New York City Transit, largely covering the last half of 2006. The measures are: the amount of scheduled service and the regularity of train arrivals; mechanical failures of subway cars; chance of getting a seat at the most congested point; cleanliness of subway car floors and seats; and adequacy of announcements. The ratings are a simple method to compare lines and are based on a formula developed in consultation with independent transportation experts. A line could receive a rating of $2.00 if it scored, on average, in the top five percent on the six measures of service. Straphangers Campaign attorney Gene Russianoff said, "The MTA faces billions of dollars in deficits in both its operating and rebuilding budgets. But riders are already paying more than their fair share…the top lines are much better than they used to be, but they have a long way to go…If and when the state legislature approves Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing proposal and other transit aid, it would raise billions of dollars to fix transit and take pressure off the budget." The group's findings show how the city's subways are doing: •The best subway line - for the first time since the group began these rankings - is the 1 because it performed above average on four of six measures: frequently scheduled service, arriving with more regularity, fewer dirty cars, and better announcements. The 1 did not get a higher rating because it performed below average on: a chance of getting a seat during rush hours, and delays caused by mechanical breakdowns. The 1 runs between South Ferry in Lower Manhattan and 242nd Street in the Bronx. •The C and W lines both have a low level of scheduled service, and each performed below average on three additional measures: car breakdowns, chance of getting a seat during rush hours and announcements. The C and W lines operate between in Queens and Manhattan. •Overall, the survey found a mixed picture for subway service. On the plus side, the cleanliness of the interior of cars improved, including the L line, from 79 percent rated clean in the second half of 2005 to 87 percent for the same time period in 2006. But car breakdowns worsened. Two measures remained unchanged: regularity of arriving trains and announcements. The car fleet breakdown rate improved on nine lines, including the L, which was also one of nine lines that declined in arrival time. The report indicated it arrives on time 90 percent of the time, which is a reduction from the last report. At the same time the report card was issued, an MTA board member announced that the future of the so-called Robotrain, which had been planned for the L line and operated by computer, would be scrapped. The high-tech train was supposed to upgrade service and reduce overcrowding along the L line, but years of delays and problems arose when the contractor failed to meet deadlines and performance targets. The state-of-the-art train was initially planned to begin operating in 2004, but after several setbacks and date changes, it is was set for 2010. For the complete Straphangers Campaign report go to www.straphangers.org.
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