Revise Tunnel Plans
By Stephen P. Dobrow

This article is a transcript of Dr. Dobrow’s testimony at MTA hearings at Long Island City H.S.

This hearing shows that we are nearing the end of the four-decade-old debacle that has come to be known as the 63rd Street Tunnel project. After a long debate, the tunnel was built but the connections in Queens left out.

A decade ago, speakers at a public hearing revealed a number of defects in the Transit Authority’s plans for a connection to the Queens Boulevard IND. Among the defects cited were the bypassing of the developing area around Queens Plaza, disruption of current travel patterns (including dropping Queens Boulevard express service to Sixth Avenue via 53rd Street and cutting back Brooklyn-Queens crosstown service), reduction of transfer connectivity, failure to develop new mainline capacity in Queens and dependability questions. But the TA paid no attention. The federal government paid for three academic studies of the tunnel connections. Alternatives were suggested. But the TA paid no attention.

So here we are, in 2001, with a service plan based on the assumption of a net increase in local service to Manhattan, no increase in express service, diversion of some existing express service to the new tunnel and curtailment of crosstown service. Plus insufficient equipment to run proper service complicated by the Manhattan Bridge problems.

Services via 63rd Street will bypass most of Long Island City, have only one inconvenient stop on the East Side of Manhattan, and not have a transfer to the Lexington Avenue IRT. (Indeed, the ‘R’ train, a Queens Boulevard local, has the best connections with the IRT and has had capacity available for decades.)

Under the TA plan, ‘F’ trains will operate via 63rd Street rather than 53rd Street with the attendant disbenefits thereof. Current ‘F’ riders going to places bypassed in the reroute have the option of transferring to the crowded ‘E’ train or the slow ‘V’ train.

The best way to balance potential benefits and disbenefits is to route only some of the current 6th Avenue ‘F’ service via 63rd Street. In the peak hour of the rush, depending on the mix between 6th and 8th Avenue services, ‘F’ service via 63rd Street should be limited to six to 10 trains with the rest (to 10 trains) using the existing route via 53rd Street. The spaces left by 63rd Street trains would be filled with ‘V’ Queens Boulevard–53rd Street–6th Avenue locals to keep the 53rd Street tunnel operating at full capacity (not cutting it by 20 percent as the TA proposes). The service via 63rd Street would get a different letter and be express all the way to/from 179th Street. Midday Queens Boulevard express service would be similarly based around three services: 53rd Street–8th Avenue, 53rd Street–6th Avenue and 63rd Street–6th Avenue.

Another change needed is to have service from 6th Avenue to the 53rd Street line except during late night hours, not just weekdays.

During the last decade, ‘G’ ridership has gone up; more people are living in Greenpoint and Williamsburg. Don’t break the connection between Brooklyn and Queens. There is track capacity on the local tracks. Keep the ‘G’ running to Forest Hills.

The message is clear. Revisions are needed.

Stephen P. Dobrow is president of the Committee for Better Transit, Inc., Long Island City.