Finally, They Break Down The Walls Of Jericho…. (Ok so maybe not Jericho)
Not the 42nd Street Shuttle but a Shuttle train nonetheless! Resized photo courtesy of Eye On Transit
The MTA must be ecstatic that they finally broke down the walls of Jericho, (ok maybe not) in terms of the overall grade for a line in their “2007 Rider Report Cards”. Unfortunately the MTA might have to not get too ecstatic about the grade as the first overall grade to reach any sort of B grade status was not a full line but instead a shuttle. The bread winner so far goes to the 42nd Street Shuttle which finished with an overall grade of a B-. Now lets breakdown the entire report card:
Top 10 priorities that 42nd Street 
train riders’ would like to see improvement on:
01. Adequate room on board at rush hour
02. Reasonable wait times for trains
03. Cleanliness of stations
04. Station announcements that are easy to hear
05. Minimal delays during trips
06. Train announcements that are easy to hear
07. Comfortable temperature in subway cars
08. Sense of security on trains
09. Station announcements that are informative
10. Sense of security in stations
Now here is the entire order of 42nd Street train riders’ priorities:
01. Adequate room on board at rush hour
02. Reasonable wait times for trains
03. Cleanliness of stations
04. Station announcements that are easy to hear
05. Minimal delays during trips
06. Train announcements that are easy to hear
07. Comfortable temperature in subway cars
08. Sense of security on trains
08. Station announcements that are informative
10. Sense of security in stations
11. Courtesy and helpfulness of station personnel
12. Cleanliness of subway cars
13. Ease of use of subway turnstiles
14. Availability of MetroCard Vending Machines
15. Signs in stations that help riders find their way
16. Working elevators and escalators in stations
17. Lack of scratchitti in subway cars
18. Train announcements that are informative
19. Signs in subway cars that help riders find their way
20. Lack of graffiti in stations
21. Lack of graffiti in subway cars
Now here is the graded breakdown of all 21 categories:
Minimal delays during trips B
Reasonable wait times for trains B
Adequate room on board at rush hour C
Sense of security in stations B-
Sense of security on trains B-
Working elevators and escalators in stations C+
Signs in stations that help riders find their way C+
Signs in subway cars that help riders find their way C+
Cleanliness of stations C
Cleanliness of subway cars B-
Station announcements that are easy to hear C
Station announcements that are informative C
Train announcements that are easy to hear C
Train announcements that are informative C+
Lack of graffiti in stations B
Lack of graffiti in subway cars B
Lack of scratchitti in subway cars B
Courtesy and helpfulness of station personnel C+
Comfortable temperature in subway cars B-
Ease of use of subway turnstiles B
Availability of MetroCard Vending Machines B-
I find this report card either downright comical or worried that we have people severely lacking common sense filling them in. I want to first tackle the desire to have adequate room on board during rush hour. Yes, I will be the first to admit the cars on the shuttle look like a can of sardines. However the shuttle is 1 stop long, I think dealing with a crush load for 1 stop between Times Square & Grand Central is more than doable for straphangers.
Also another angle to look at with this being their biggest priority is the fact they are implying that there needs to be more Shuttle trains in service. Now this is where I wish these people would think before voting. The shuttle service only has 3 tracks at its disposal & during rush hour all 3 tracks are in use. Considering there is only one stop on the shuttle with 3 tracks available, how many trains can you expect to run? The Shuttle is clearly running at the highest possible capacity so nothing can be done here. Lets use some common sense people!
The next one is reasonable wait times for trains. Seriously how long does one on average wait for a shuttle train. I can’t recall ever waiting more than 2-4 minutes in my life for that shuttle at either end. I don’t think this request is valid as the shuttle can only run so fast & it does a pretty good job as it is.
The next priority is cleanliness of stations. Lets see the shuttle only serves the 2 busiest stops in the entire system which the MTA spends a lot of time cleaning up all the time. Can you eat food off the floor, not a chance but you won’t be able to do that at any station. These two stations are kept up pretty well especially being seen as symbols of our entire system although false ones as us veteran straphangers know.
As far as delays go, you are going one stop, how many delays could you possibly face? I start to wonder if these voters are mad because it doesn’t take 1 minute to load in, pull out & arrive at the other end & depart! Seriously where do they come up with these things?
The only upside to all of this or downside depending on how you look at it, is that only 380 people submitted rider report cards for the shuttle. Now this is a ridiculous low number considering the millions who use it every year. However on the flip side this tells us that we did not have many lacking common sense. Take your pick on what side of the line you are on……..
xoxo Transit Blogger
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