There was a lot of excitement about the re-introduction of the W train in Astoria last week, but newly released timetables revealed that there would be 20 fewer trains per day to and from Astoria.
DNAinfo first reported the reduction, noting that the N/W will run slightly less frequently than the N/Q because the W does not run to Brooklyn. Councilmen Jimmy Van Bramer and Costa Constantinides released a statement on Monday, one week after the W officially began running, to demand that the MTA add trains to the line.
“It is unacceptable that increased service for Upper East Side residents has translated to fewer trains for people in Queens, who have just as much right to functional, timely public transit as Manhattanites,” they said in a joint statement. “We are demanding that the MTA restore these 20 trains to the N/W line in Astoria—because all New York City residents should have access to transit.”
But MTA officials says that during peak hours, service remains unchanged. Kevin Ortiz, spokesperson for the MTA, said that the agency schedules as many trains on the line as the infrastructure can handle. This translates to 15 trains per hour between the N and Q and 15 trains per hour between the N and W.
Ortiz also said that wait times remain the same or improve during 17 of the 24 hours each weekday. He also added that the W train is a much shorter line, which means there will be more reliable service than the Q or N because those lines can be impacted by service disruptions in Brooklyn.
“The impact on Astoria customers is negligible,” Ortiz said. “All this said, we will monitor W/N/Q ridership closely over the coming months, and if necessary we will adjust schedules where feasible.”
The W train, which runs from Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria to Whitehall Street in Lower Manhattan, was introduced in 2001 after the Manhattan Bridge north tracks were closed for reconstruction. The MTA put the W line on hiatus in 2010 due to budget cuts, and Astoria commuters relied on N and rerouted Q trains instead.
