The V Reaches The Land Of Average
Jamaica/179th St. bound F train departing the 2nd Avenue station. Resized photo courtesy of Eye On Transit.
I have to admit it gets hard coming up with titles for these “Rider Report Card” entries. Anyhow, it is time for the V to get its time in the spotlight. The line (which many still hate to this day for even existing) showed a slight improvement as it finished with an overall C grade. This is compared to the C- it earned for itself in the 2007. Lets go straight to the breakdown:
V Train Riders Top 10 Priorities; 2007 priority rank in ( ):
01. Reasonable wait times for trains ( 1 )
02. Minimal delays during trips ( 2 )
03. Station announcements that are easy to hear ( 3 )
04. Adequate room on board at rush hour ( 4 )
05. Train announcements that are easy to hear ( 5 )
06. Cleanliness of stations ( 6 )
07. Cleanliness of subway cars ( 8 )
08. Sense of security in stations ( 9 )
09. Working elevators and escalators in stations ( 10 )
10. Sense of security on trains ( 11 )
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Complete V train riders priorities 2007 priority rank in ( ):
01. Reasonable wait times for trains ( 1 )
02. Minimal delays during trips ( 2 )
03. Station announcements that are easy to hear ( 3 )
04. Adequate room on board at rush hour ( 4 )
05. Train announcements that are easy to hear ( 5 )
06. Cleanliness of stations ( 6 )
07. Cleanliness of subway cars ( 8 )
08. Sense of security in stations ( 9 )
09. Working elevators and escalators in stations ( 10 )
10. Sense of security on trains ( 11 )
11. Station announcements that are informative ( 7 )
12. Courtesy and helpfulness of station personnel ( 14 )
13. Comfortable temperature in subway cars ( 12 )
14. Train announcements that are informative ( 13 )
15. Lack of scratchitti in subway cars ( 16 )
16. Signs in subway cars that help riders find their way ( 18 )
17. Ease of use of subway turnstiles ( 15 )
18. Signs in stations that help riders find their way ( 19 )
19. Availability of MetroCard Vending Machines ( 17 )
20. Lack of graffiti in subway cars ( 21 )
21. Lack of graffiti in stations ( 20 )
Click here for the breakdown of votes in this section.
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Now here is the graded breakdown for all 21 categories; 2007 grade in ( ):
01. Minimal delays during trips C (C-)
02. Reasonable wait times for trains C- (C-)
03. Adequate room on board at rush hour C+ (C)
04. Sense of security in stations C (C)
05. Sense of security on trains C (C)
06. Working elevators and escalators in stations C- (C-)
07. Signs in stations that help riders find their way C+ (C)
08. Signs in subway cars that help riders find their way C (C)
09. Cleanliness of stations C- (C-)
10. Cleanliness of subway cars C- (C-)
11. Station announcements that are easy to hear D (D)
12. Station announcements that are informative D+ (D+)
13. Train announcements that are easy to hear D+ (D+)
14. Train announcements that are informative D+ (D+)
15. Lack of graffiti in stations C+ (C+)
16. Lack of graffiti in subway cars C+ (C+)
17. Lack of scratchitti in subway cars C (C-)
18. Courtesy and helpfulness of station personnel C (C-)
19. Comfortable temperature in subway cars C+ (C)
20. Ease of use of subway turnstiles B- (C+)
21. Availability of MetroCard Vending Machines B- (B-)
Click here for the breakdown of votes in this section.
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A quick glance of the grades makes me ask where is the improvement that warranted an uptick in overall grade? The biggest change in ranking was “Station announcements that are informative” which dropped out of the top 10 priorities to #11 (#7 in 2007). This does does not warrant an uptick in the grade though. I am curious of the metrics used to figure out this grade.
Pretty much what I wrote in 2007’s results analysis continues to ring true today. Here is a sample of that analysis:
Personally I think this line got what I & many others expected it to get. In reality, it is hard to imagine a part time line that only runs during the week to score very high. I am sure it does not help that many see the V as being the evil choice that took away F service from the extremely busy 53rd Street corridor. Lets look at a few of these grades more closely.
Let me start with the #1 priority of “reasonable wait times for trains”. This priority ending up at #1 does not surprise me as when one waits for the V, you get the feeling the service is consistently sub par. I have had many adventures on the V & it seems to be one of many lines that seem to have riders waiting forever until the next one arrives. I usually tend to hop the V in Manhattan & when I just miss one, I expect to wait a minimum of 10 minutes for the next one to arrive. Depending on my location, I expect to see either multiple E or F trains to arrive before the next V.
Click here for the complete 2007 analysis.
The responder amount was over 600 less from 2007’s report card. This once again continues the trend of riders paying less attention to these cards or simply not knowing they were being run again. Either way, a different marketing tactic must be used for the next round of report cards if such an event will occur.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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