How the short-lived V train altered Queens’ subway lines forever
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The V train pulls into the 34th Street-Herald Square station. Photo by Gryffindor via Wikimedia Commons.
By Jonathan Sperling
In the nine years since the V train made its final run from Manhattan to Forest Hills, Queens’ subway landscape has remained relatively unchanged. The No. 7 train still chugs along to Flushing, the J still takes riders to Jamaica and the N still calls Astoria home.
But when the V train first debuted in December 2001 it created such a subway shakeup in Queens that the borough has yet to recover from it, even after the line was eliminated completely in March 2010.
The V, a local train that made 24 stops on weekdays between Manhattan’s 2nd Avenue Station to the Forest Hills–71st Avenue station, was originally meant to reduce overcrowding on the E and F trains, which both also ran to Forest Hills. At the same time, the G train ran differently than it does today. Instead of its current route, the G would head from Smith–Ninth Streets station in Brooklyn to the Forest Hills–71st Avenue station.
Thus, the MTA faced a problem: the V train route could not be implemented with so many trains already running along Queens Boulevard. This led the MTA to cut service on the G train; instead of the G running all the way to Forest Hills, it would make its final stop at the Court Square–23rd Street Station in Long Island City.
This cutback in G train service launched a domino effect of subway changes, both permanent and temporary. As G train riders protested the loss of 13 stops, the MTA promised to implement full, extended G service on weekends and weekday nights. That didn’t last for long though — by 2010 the G had been permanently cut to Court Square.
What did last, however, was the promise of an easier connection between the G and the E line. Citing the loss of a major transfer point at Queens Plaza, the MTA agreed to install a moving walkway for G train straphangers to transfer from Court Square to the E, which at that time stopped at the nearby, but separate station of 23rd Street–Ely Avenue. This literally paved the way for an easier transfer between the G and E trains, one that remains massively popular today. (In 2011, the complex was connected to the nearby No. 7 line, allowing for free transfers between the 7, G, E and M).
As if it hadn't already been through enough, the G’s service cutback ended up turning into a literal cutback, as the MTA decided to reduce the length of G trains to just four cars, accounting for the increased train traffic and terminal congestion that the V would bring to the Queens Boulevard line. This would allow for trains to be run every 6.5 minutes, while also reducing platform and stairwell crowding at major transfer points.
An old subway map shows the now defunct V train route. Image via the MTA.
The birth of the V train also caused big changes to Manhattan and Queens sections of the F line. The F, which at the time stopped at Queens Plaza, 23rd Street–Ely Avenue, Lexington Avenue–53rd Street and Fifth Avenue-53rd Street stations, began to skip those stops, with service to those stations provided by the V. In turn, the F began servicing stations at 21st Street–Queensbridge, Roosevelt Island, 63rd Street–Lexington Avenue and 57th Street–Sixth Avenue, before continuing on the Queens Boulevard line to Jamaica.
With this change in place, F train riders lost a direct transfer to Manhattan’s Lexington Avenue line, serviced by the 4/5/6 trains. To this day, F train riders must walk outside, from 63rd Street to 59th Street, in order to enjoy a free transfer to the 4, 5 or 6 trains.
When the dust finally cleared, the V train had more than 8 years of ferrying passengers between the Lower East Side and Forest Hills. The time was not without turmoil, however. By March 2002, the V was noted as operating at only 49 percent capacity during rush hour. Yet the V persisted, as Paul Fleuranges, a New York City Transit spokesperson, told the New York Times at the time that ridership on the line had increased 30 percent since it began operation. Slowly but surely, riders were being encouraged to opt for the local V train where one was more likely to find a seat, rather than a more-crowded E train.
''Let's face it,'' Fleuranges told the Times. ''New Yorkers are — how do I say this politely? — New Yorkers are spoiled. We're the only property in North America that has regularly scheduled express service, and people are very reluctant to take locals, even when it makes sense.''
But by 2010, the MTA was strapped for cash and the V, along with the W, was put on the chopping block. With not as much commotion as there was in 2001, the V was eliminated, replaced with the M train. As part of it’s new route through lower Manhattan, the M train’s logo was recolored from brown to orange. Additionally instead of its first/last stop being Manhattan’s Essex Street, the M was sent along the V’s old route, along Sixth Avenue and into Forest Hills, the route it still takes today.
So the next time you’re on your commute and wonder why the G is so short, or why the F stops at Queensbridge, think of the V — gone too soon — and wonder no more.
