Say No To Diversions!

If it seemed there were more subway diversions than normal last weekend, it was not your imagination:

“I can’t get a break,” Robert Boone muttered angrily on Saturday as the announcement came over the loudspeaker and he learned he was on the wrong subway train. When Johnie Mae Simmons saw that her train, usually an express, was making local stops, she let out a loud sigh. And when Ellen P. Winn was asked to describe her weekend travel routine, she declared, “It’s a nightmare.”

Weekend service diversions – in which trains are rerouted, schedules altered and riders befuddled, all because of construction or repair work – have become a pervasive element of the subway-riding experience. Over the weekend, all 19 regular lines had at least one departure from their regular service pattern. (There are a total of 26 lines. The three shuttles had no diversions, and the B, V, W and Z trains do not run on weekends.)

But it’s because it’s a 24-hour-a-day system, blah, blah, blah:

In most other transit systems, track and signal maintenance occurs at night, but in New York City, where the system never fully shuts down, construction projects and repair work can be performed only on weekends, transit officials say. Hence the diversions.

But even those riders who profess to understand why the diversions are necessary gnash their teeth with impatience. To gauge how the weekend service changes affect riders, a reporter picked a simple route – from 135th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard in Harlem to President Street and Nostrand Avenue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn – and had arrived at the point of origin at 10 a.m. on two consecutive days, Friday and Saturday.

On Friday, the trip took 54 minutes, on the No. 2 express train. On Saturday, the trip required another half-hour – and two additional trains.

< zagatreading>:

Weekends become a pain in the ass for everyone. “I’m late for class,” some say as their 5 train circles back up the east side of Manhattan. Others “go into Manhattan less because it’s such a pain,” which for those “with an active social life” presents a problem. In the end there is not much one can do beyond “leaving extra early” for these “out of control” diversions: “There’s no choice.” And, what’s more, in the end, “Nothing ever seems fixed.”

< /zagatreading>

(As a parenthetical — this is how we geek out — the indispensible Sewell Chan explains what’s going on when the 2 is running on the 5 and vice versa: “On weekends, the Nos. 2 and 5 trains in Manhattan essentially become circular lines. The No. 5 travels clockwise, down the East Side (its normal route) and up the West Side (acting as the No. 2). The No. 2 travels counterclockwise, down the West Side (as it usually does) and up the East Side (replacing the No. 5). Got it?” Got it, SC . . . thanks!)

But down to business — the Times does the math, and it’s not pretty:

An analysis by The New York Times shows that there have been about 760 service changes, including station closings, so far this year, and reveals that no weekend has been immune. The least troublesome weekend was March 12-13, which had two diversions scheduled. The most inconvenient was Oct. 8-9, when 33 diversions were scheduled. The N line had experienced the most diversions – at least 72, or nearly 10 percent of the total. It was followed by the D, with 63 diversions.

In nearly 100 instances, riders were instructed to take shuttle buses when their normal trains were canceled.

Sons a bitches!