The ‘Rogue F Express’ is Now Official
The F train is about to get a lot faster for some Brooklyn passengers, and a lot slower for others. It all depends on where you live.
Launching in September, two peak-direction F express trains will run during rush hour in Brooklyn each weekday between Church Avenue and Jay Street-MetroTech, skipping six stations and stopping only at Seventh Avenue. The MTA announced the change earlier this month following its approval from President Andy Byford and other executive board members.
Monday’s presentation was the final step before the MTA could shelve public discussion on the matter, and council members and assemblymen seized the public-comments segment to get in their last statement of support or opposition.
“Today, I’m here representing thousands of straphangers with signatures I have from the six local F stations that you are proposing to cut service for,” Council Member Brad Lander said. “The current proposal adds no train service whatsoever. Your press release laughably overstates the benefits.”
Lander has led a charge against the change since 2016 when the MTA released a report weighing the impact of the change. Lander said the change will extend commute times for local riders at the skipped stations. With no dedicated track, commuters will watch the diamond-branded express trains barrel through the stations at Bergen Street, Carroll Street, Smith-9th Street, 4th Avenue, 15th Street-Prospect Park and Fort Hamilton Parkway.
NYC Transit stated in its report that an estimated 13,700 local riders would be burdened by a longer commute, while 12,900 riders would benefit from a shortened one. The stops skipped are among the busiest on the line, with the report specifically mentioning congestion at Bergen Street as a concern.
Local commuters like lifelong Carroll Gardens resident Paul Intartaglia, 47, will have to wait an estimated additional five minutes for the next local train during their morning and evening commute.
“It’ll change my whole routine,” Intartaglia said. “Why do I have to waste 10 minutes of my life waiting at the platform now? They’re just doing this to boost their on-time performance.”
The F line’s 26-station stretch in Brooklyn is the longest of any line in the subway system without express service, according to NYC Transit’s Committee Book. But riders like Intartaglia and David Lurie have noted for months that some F trains have already been running express , especially when overcrowded. The rogue trains have spurred the Twitter hashtag #RogueFExpress.
“They’ve been doing express forever, but they don’t talk about it,” Intartaglia said. “I’ll get on, it’s packed, and the conductor will announce that the next stop is Church Ave. Then I have to catch the train back to my station at Carroll Street.”
Lander commissioned a survey in January for F-line riders and found that at least one stop was skipped by at least one train nearly every day in Brooklyn, according to Patch.
“This fake express train is, in part, a symptom of the problem. Management is trying to make it look like they are responding, even if the response if really just making things worse,” Lurie said. “So now the formerly rogue trains will be acknowledged and official, but a cogent rationale for their existence is still absent.”
But some council members at Monday’s meeting praised the change, noting how it will shorten travel times for south Brooklyn commuters who face around an hour-and-a-half ride to Manhattan via the F line without the express service.
“I, too, don’t want to see any service reduced,” Council Member Kalman Yeger said. “We’re asking some people in New York City to wait on the platform for approximately a minute more. In exchange for which, those who live further away will see their commutes reduced by 20–30 minutes.”
Board Member Andrew Albert pushed for the revitalization of the original F express track underneath Bergen Street that ran in the 1970s, saying that having a dedicated express track would help shorten the local wait times. Judy McCain, senior director of Service Planning at NYCT, responded by saying that renovating the track would total at over $75 million and is currently not under consideration.
