There is a possibility that F train express service will be reinstituted in 2013, but it’s not cause for celebration in this neck of the woods. The express train will stop at Church Avenue, Seventh Avenue, and Jay Street, where there is supportive infrastructure. Bergen Street, Carroll Street, and Smith/9th Street will be bypassed, along with others. Well, that’s unexciting.
Your Nabe: While Bergen Street at one time served express trains, it no longer can, because its lower level station did not receive necessary renovations in the 1990s, Lunden explained. The former express platform now stores lighting, HVAC and mechanical equipment, he added.
One benefit to riders on the local would be a less crowded commute, as longtime express line advocate and Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association member Gary Reilly has pointed out. The hope is that once the MTA completes repairs to the elevated Culver Viaduct, along which the F travels, the set of express tracks that currently sits unused along the F line will be reactivated.
Diana – It’s very exciting. The upshot of the F Express for Carroll Gardens is: same train frequency, but with fewer passengers per train, due to the extension of the V to Brooklyn.
So Carroll Street station users (myself included) gain a tremendous quality of life improvement in the form of less crowded trains. Riders at express stations gain even greater benefits. It’s a win for everybody.
A subway commute that feels less like a cattle car is something we can all get excited about.
Best,
Gary
Very true, Gary. We’ll have to wait a few more years to see how much it helps!
Will people continue to say that once they start to see (or hear at Bergen Street) F trains whizzing by while waiting for the V?
Assumption about service levels is only that. There are no guarantees that express trains would come in addition to the ones already running local — and plenty of reasons to think that the current service pie would simply be sliced differently. That might leave CG with less crowded trains, but fewer of them. Never understood why CG folks were so excited about this idea. Great if you live at Church Ave. For us, not so much.
I don’t even use the F anymore. I walk over to the Heights and take the R. The F sucks . But I disagree the Bergen stop should be xpress
my wife does the same thing “me”. she was fed up with the F, especially on her evening commute. to tired of watching 3 Vs go by before a packed F showed up, she now takes the 6 to the 4 and walks over to warren street from borough hall. she says its quicker.