Number 9

The manic rumbling of the hydra-headed skip-stop 1/9 is coming to an end, making sign makers happy:

The No. 9 train has six days left to live, but it has already begun to disappear.

Platform by platform, station by station, workers are erasing evidence of the line’s existence on hundreds of signs hanging above the tracks and at the entrances to the subway system. By Tuesday, the No. 9 line will officially and forever be no more.

(Sewell Chan — so serious sounding!)

“Skip-stop service on the 1 line is an idea which today doesn’t make sense for our operations or our customers,” said Lawrence G. Reuter, the president of New York City Transit. “By eliminating skip-stop service, the majority of riders along the 1 line will benefit from shorter travel times and will no longer have to stand on platforms as trains pass them by during rush hour.”

The No. 9, then, enters a graveyard of other route designations that have graced the subway map over the years. The No. 8, an elevated line, ran above Third Avenue in the Bronx until it was demolished in 1973. Double-letter designations – like the AA, GG and QB – were phased out in 1986. The JFK Express ran alongside the A train, from Midtown to Howard Beach, Queens, until 1990.

The No. 9’s death has been slow and painless. Over the last few weeks, workers have been placing black vinyl patches over 904 signs on platforms and entrances at 45 stations: 37 along the line itself and 8 transfer stations.

See also: “Number 9 . . . Number 9 . . .” Blog Entry (1/12/05)