By Jeff Foreman
I really appreciate the very creative idea the Riders Alliance had for focusing attention on the insufficient service provided to 7 train customers like myself. They took the governor—or a life-size cardboard cutout of him since he wouldn’t show up—for a ride on the 7 train. It was appropriate because the MTA has been taking 7 train customers for a ride without bothering to show up for quite a while.
No. 7 train service is insufficient because it breaks down far too often, has frequent long delays, and is at or above capacity routinely during peak usage hours, even as we add thousands of housing units in Long Island City destined to further burden this already overburdened line. Operating a complicated and important transit system like the MTA means the occasional—but should mean only the very occasional—delay or total unavailability of service. On the 7 line it means far more and worse than that. It has become all too frustrating, unreliable and time consuming.
I catch the 7 at the Vernon-Jackson stop. Because there is no reasonable alternative subway anywhere close by, it’s very expensive to buy a monthly pass on the 7 train when work responsibilities often demand I pay for alternate transportation after I’ve paid for my MTA card and gotten to the station. Other times the common breakdowns and delays just result in unplanned doubling, tripling or quadrupling of my travel time.
So my thanks to the Riders Alliance and our Councilman, Jimmy Van Bramer, who have been waging the fight for reasonable service and a strategy to solve our transit problems. I’m glad they’re fighting for me.
Jeff Foreman
Long Island City
