Yesterday, Tuesday, January 5, area commuters joined City Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr. in a rally at the Ditmars Boulevard terminus of the W subway-elevated train line to protest the elimination of the line, one of a number of cuts the Metropolitan Transit Authority plans to make in order to alleviate a budget shortfall of some $383 million.

The MTA, the nation's largest transportation agency, will, as has been widely reported, do much more than eliminate the W line. Subway headways on weekends and in early morning hours will increase, guaranteeing longer waits between trains and guidelines for off-peak subway loads will increase as well, meaning that these trains will be more crowded. Express bus service will be adjusted to reflect demand; low performing weekend express bus service will be eliminated. Local bus service on low-performing routes will be discontinued and restructured. The Cross Bay Bridge toll rebate program for Rockaways residents will be eliminated. Car consists will be reduced and load standards increased. Service on commuter railroads will be reduced. Access-A-Ride service will be reduced to meet the minimum standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Of even greater significance is the MTA’s plan to reduce and ultimately eliminate free subway and bus passes for students in New York City public schools.

All of these draconian cuts will seriously impact the quality of life for the citizenry of the Big Apple. Elimination of the W line, however, will affect among the greatest number of New Yorkers swiping fare cards through turnstiles to get wherever they have to go.

The W subway line runs along the N line route from the Whitehall Street station at the tip of Manhattan Island to Ditmars Boulevard and 31st Street in Astoria. While at first glance it may seem only a minor and inconsequential adjunct to the N line, further reflection will soon disabuse anyone of the notion that the W line is in any way superfluous. Besides most of Manhattan, the W line serves a series of burgeoning neighborhoods in Long Island City and Astoria. One reason new condominiums, co-operatives and rental apartment buildings are springing up throughout these neighborhoods is their proximity to a reasonably uncrowded mass transit route that provides frequent service on a 24/7 basis. Retail stores, large and small, are opening to serve the people who inhabit the new residential buildings. A goodly number of the proprietors and staff of those establishments travel to their places of business on the W line. The same holds true for the owners, managers and staff of the many hotels being built or as we speak open for business in Long Island City. Their owners and staff live in or have an easy commute to Long Island City. Many of the hotel guests are choosing to stay in a section of Queens just across the Queensboro Bridge for Manhattan and commute to their destinations via the W line.

Elimination of the W line will take the N line back to what it was 15 and 20 years ago—fewer and more overcrowded trains running less frequently because only so many trains can occupy the same stretch of track during a given span of time. Station platforms will be more crowded and therefore more dangerous. Equipment breakdowns will happen more often because trains running on only one line will be serviced less frequently than will trains running on two lines with different maintenance schedules. The end of the W line will also see a drop in fare box revenues as more people seek alternate means of getting to work or other destinations that do not involve subway cars crammed to the rafters on every weekday and a good part of the weekends as well.

The W line is a vital part of New York City as a whole, as well as of the neighborhoods through which the Queens segment of the route runs. We could say that eliminating W train service is penny wise and pound foolish, if not for the plain fact that there is nothing remotely wise about this course of action. We hope that Councilmember Vallone and the area residents who joined him in raising their voices in protest Tuesday morning were heard and heeded. Yes, the MTA has a deficit to make up. Yes, sacrifices from all of us—those who use the MTA and those employed by it—are called for. Yes, we are certain that all New Yorkers will do their part to remedy a grim situation. Eliminating one of the most heavily used subway routes in the city of New York is not the solution. There surely exists a better way to achieve this goal.