Straphangers Not Happy With Expected Weekend Subway Service Disruptions
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is starting the weekend off with overnight service disruptions throughout the system, leaving straphangers traveling at odd hours, stuck.
Seventeen of 22 subway lines throughout Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx will experience disrupted service because of construction work. Lines affected include the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, A, C, D, E, F, G, J, N, Q, R and S.
Courtesy of a new weekday pilot program called "Fast Track," an overnight blitz of repair work on the affected lines will last through Wednesday.
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Train riders on the 3 line will have it the worst. Trains won't be running from 34th Street-Penn Station to New Lots Avenue in Brooklyn.
Several riders voiced their frustrations with CBS 2's Derricke Dennis on Friday night.
"Definitely troubling for me, I work crazy hours, I'm a resident," said Mike Pezold of Park Slope.
"Is there nothing else that the City can do? Did they argue that they have no other option?" asked Philip Hood of Midtown.
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"I probably won't make any plans in the city if the trains are going to be out," said Naomi Rivera of Williamsburg.
It's apparently the price commuters will pay for having a construction-free holiday season, and eventually a smoother, trouble-free ride.
The MTA said what will happen this weekend into next week really isn't all that different than what's happened before.
"It seems like a shock because we cut back so much in December," MTA spokesperson Deidre Parker told 1010 WINS. "We're really just coming back to what we usually do. If you look at our advisories that lead up to Thanksgiving you'll see that this was pretty much the same level of work that we were doing before. This is something that goes on year-round."
"I have to find a different route now. I don't know which one, but I'll find a way," said Tenesher Young of Bushwick.
"It's ultimately going to provide better service, so if you can plan around it, plenty of ample notice, it's no problem," said Adam Crawford of Long Island City.
Concentrating the work in such a short amount of time, the MTA says, will save $10-$15 million in repair costs.
Straphangers, however, wonder if those savings will be passed on to them.
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