If the 4, 5 and 6 trains feel a little less crowded, you can thank the Second Avenue Subway. The opening of the long-awaited subway line is giving straphangers some breathing room. Transit Reporter Jose Martinez has the details.
Anyone who rides the Lexington Avenue line knows just how tight those trains can get. It's the line often described by MTA officials as the most congested transit line in the country.
That's 1.3 million riders a day — or to put it in perspective, more than the combined daily ridership of the transit systems in Chicago, Boston and Washington D.C.
But the MTA says the opening last month of three new Upper East Side stations on Second Avenue has put a much-needed dent in ridership numbers at four stations on the Lexington Avenue line.
The Governor's office saying today that ridership at the 68th, 77th, 86th and 96th street stops has, on average, dipped by 27 percent on weekdays, and up to 46 percent during the height of the morning rush.
And over on Second Avenue, where the new line is averaging about 155,000 weekday riders, straphangers say they're feeling the difference.
"When I walk to Lexington, the subways are so overcrowded and dirty, filthy," said one Second Avenue subway rider. "This is clean. This is what they're all supposed to look like."
In a statement, Governor Cuomo said:
"This project is proof that government can still get big things done and these early ridership numbers send a clear message that when we deliver on our promises New Yorkers respond."
As a former Upper East Side resident, I used to take the bus crosstown to the less-congested C train just to avoid carrying my bulky camera bag on those packed Lexington Avenue trains.