Message To MTA:

Over the weekend, Councilmembers Eric Gioia and John Liu, joined with Tom Finkelpearl, executive director of the Queens Museum of Art, and various community leaders and business owners to address the MTAs service shut-down of the No. 7 subway line.
"Queens has 2 1/4 million people, with 400,000 who ride the No. 7 every day. Failures of service mean a stranglehold on the economic development and the quality of life for Queens residents," said Gioia.
The weekend of January 10-11 was the seventh consecutive weekend without service between Queens and Manhattan on the No. 7 train.
In addition to making commutes long and frustrating, service inconsistencies also translate to an inability to reach the cultural centers of Queens, among them the PS 1 Contemporary Art Center and the Queens Museum of Art.
"MoMA brings 500,000 people to Queens per year. The average person spends $40 per day when visiting these institutions," said Gioia. "Over the past few years, Queens has undergone an economic renaissance. The failures of the MTA are stunting this."
"The MTA needs to understand that, especially in Queens, the No. 7 is the means by which people reach cultural institutions. If MTA thinks closing the No. 7 on weekends is minimizing the economic impact, theyre wrong. We need service seven days a week," said Liu.
In order to rectify the situation, the councilmembers are calling on the MTA to: limit shutdowns to two weekends per month; provide advance notice to riders of long-term shutdowns, both on the website and directly to those who ride the trains; provide explanations for scheduled service disruptions; solicit community input when it comes to scheduling service shutdowns; and create an e-mail alert to inform riders of planned shutdowns ahead of time.
Additionally, the MTA is being asked to provide express bus service between Grand Central Terminal and Queensborough Plaza, and between Grand Central Terminal and the Vernon-Jackson subway stop in conjunction with the existing shuttle bus service between the stations that are shut down.
"Transit officials need to work more closely with neighborhoods when planning major service diversions and do a better job informing riders about them," said Gene Russianoff, staff attorney for the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign, a transit riders group. "Seven weekends of diversions for the 7 line made holiday travel and shopping a nightmare for many riders."
"There are never unexpected closures on the 2 or 4 lines. The MTA doesnt help the outer boroughs; we want them to better serve all the people of New York. That is why the City Council and State Legislature are working to make the MTA more accountable," said Liu.