V (New York City Subway service)

Sixth Avenue Local
Queens-bound V train of R46s at 34th Street–Herald Square
Western end	Lower East Side–Second Avenue
Eastern end	Forest Hills–71st Avenue
Stations	24
Started service	December 17, 2001; 20 years ago (2001-12-17)
Discontinued	June 25, 2010; 11 years ago (2010-06-25)
Route map Legend trains continue north  G   R   V  Forest Hills–71st Avenue 67th Avenue 63rd Drive–Rego Park Woodhaven Boulevard Grand Avenue–Newtown Elmhurst Avenue Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue 65th Street Northern Boulevard 46th Street Steinway Street 36th Street trains continue south Queens Plaza trains continue south trains continue south Court Square–23rd Street Queens Manhattan Lexington Avenue–53rd Street Fifth Avenue/53rd Street trains continue north trains continue south trains continue north 47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center 42nd Street–Bryant Park 34th Street–Herald Square 23rd Street 14th Street West Fourth Street–Washington Square Broadway–Lafayette Street Bleecker Street trains continue south  V  Second Avenue trains continue south no regular service trains continue south Legend Lines used by the Other services sharing tracks with the Unused lines, connections, or service patterns  V  Termini of services Cross-platform interchange Platforms on different levels This diagram: view talk

The V Sixth Avenue Local was a rapid transit service in the B Division of the New York City Subway. Its route emblem, or "bullet", was colored orange since it used the IND Sixth Avenue Line in Manhattan.

The V operated weekdays only from approximately 6:30 a.m. to midnight between 71st Avenue in Forest Hills, Queens and Second Avenue, near the border of the East Village and the Lower East Side, Manhattan.

The V debuted on December 17, 2001, when the connection from the IND 63rd Street Line to the IND Queens Boulevard Line opened as a replacement for the F, which was rerouted via this new connection, on the IND 53rd Street Line. Except for a brief period in early 2005, the V had the same service pattern during its eight-and-a-half-year history. As part of a series of service reductions to close a budget gap, the V train was eliminated on June 25, 2010. With the exception of service at Second Avenue, it was combined with the M train, which was rerouted from Lower Manhattan and South Brooklyn via the Chrystie Street Connection.

Service history[]

Former use[]

Originally, the V was used to indicate provisional routes running on the IND Sixth Avenue Line; older rollsigns had the orange V emblem with the text "via 6 Avenue" as a provisional service if ever needed.

Initial service plan[]

The V was originally conceived as a Sixth Avenue extra since the early 1980s, running via 63rd Street. It appeared as an orange bullet on rollsigns. The V also appeared on the digital signs of the R44s and R46s with any route and designation combination that could be used for the Sixth Avenue Line.^[1] On May 31, 2001, the MTA Board approved the operating plan for the opening of the 63rd Street Connector, including the beginning of V service, which was to begin on November 11, 2001.^[2]

The V made its debut on December 17, 2001.^[3] It was introduced to provide riders at local stations along the IND Queens Boulevard Line with direct service to Manhattan via the IND Sixth Avenue Line, and to resolve overcrowding issues at 23rd Street–Ely Avenue. The V service added nine additional peak-hour trains coming into Manhattan from Queens Boulevard.^[4] However, to make room for V trains on Queens Boulevard, the G train was cut back to a new weekday terminal at Long Island City–Court Square and the F train was rerouted via the 63rd Street Connector. In Manhattan, the F and V made identical stops between 47th–50th Streets and the V train's Lower East Side–Second Avenue terminal station.

To prepare for this service, rush hour service was simulated twice on Saturdays during the previous spring. The first time, the V, labeled as S, ran via 63rd Street, the F ran via 53rd Street, and the G ran to 179th Street. It was particularly done to see if it was possible to maintain existing G train service along Queens Boulevard with the new V train added on. When this test became unsuccessful, the V's eventual service pattern (via 53rd Street) was tested on September 8, and was a success. Due to the September 11 attacks and numerous services being disrupted by damage sustained in the attacks (including R service along Queens Boulevard), the V train's entry into service was delayed for 3 months.^[1]

Controversy[]

The new service plan was designed to redistribute Queens-bound passenger loads along the heavily used IND Sixth Avenue Line by encouraging use of the additional local trains provided for shorter trips, and to improve service and transfer opportunities for passengers using local stations along Queens Boulevard. The New York Times described the service plan as "complex and heavily criticized." New York Times columnist Randy Kennedy wrote that four months after it opened, the service was operating at only 49% of capacity. However, ridership had "increased 30 percent since it began, and every new V rider, as lonely as he or she might be, relieves crowding on the E."^[5] Several years experience with the service running, has shown its value and seen further gains. V trains, while by no means consistently full, have taken some load off the F train; however, some riders have complained that the passenger load on the E train has worsened, while others said it has gotten better, due to its becoming the only express train that runs along 53rd Street. The overcrowding on the E train was, in part, due to riders' propensity to board an express even in situations where it offers no real advantage in travel time over the local.^[6] Conductors were asked to make scripted announcements to urge riders to use the V, noting that they had a better chance of getting a seat on the train.^[7] By May 2002, ridership started picking up on the V, and crowding on the E was reduced from 115% of capacity during rush hours to 96%.^[8]

Not all F riders were happy. Columnist Kennedy sought out and interviewed some who were not happy with the V's debut:

Last week, there were two express trains (the E and the F) running along Queens Boulevard to 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue, the station where many people catch the Lexington line. Now, there is only one express (the E) and a local (the V) going to that popular station. And the other express (the F) detours to a less popular station, 63rd and Lexington, where you cannot transfer to the Lexington Avenue Line without walking outside for a few blocks. So the questions being asked privately, and sometimes very publicly, in Queens stations yesterday were: Do I take a train not going where I'm going and — God forbid — transfer? Do I take a relatively uncrowded train that goes where I'm going but that gives me the scenic tour of subterranean Queens?^[9]

On January 23, 2005, a fire destroyed the signal room of Chambers Street on the IND Eighth Avenue Line. V service was temporarily extended to Euclid Avenue until C service was restored on February 2.^{[10][11][12][13][14]}

Merger of V and M trains[]

In late 2009, the MTA confronted a financial crisis, and many of the same service cuts threatened just months earlier during a previous budget crisis were revisited. One of the proposals included completely phasing out M service and using the V as its replacement. Under this proposal, the V would no longer serve its southern terminus at Lower East Side–Second Avenue. Instead, after leaving Broadway–Lafayette Street, it would use the Chrystie Street Connection, a then-unused track connection between the BMT Nassau Street Line and the IND Sixth Avenue Line, and stop at Essex Street in Manhattan before serving all M stations to Metropolitan Avenue in Queens.

The MTA determined that this move, while still a service cut, would actually benefit M riders, as approximately 17,000 of them traveled to its stations in Lower Manhattan, whereas 22,000 transferred to other lines to reach destinations in Midtown Manhattan.^[15] Additionally, this merger would open up new travel options for northern Brooklyn and Queens J/Z riders, in that it would allow direct and more convenient access to areas that were not served by those routes before such as Midtown Manhattan.

On March 19, 2010, it was decided that the new service pattern would retain the M designation instead, which would now be designated with an orange symbol representing an IND Sixth Avenue Line train, while the V designation will be discontinued. Many MTA board members had opposed the elimination of the M designation, saying that riders would be more comfortable with an M designation rather than a V designation, and because the M has been around longer than the V.^[16][17]

The V ceased operation on Friday, June 25, 2010, with the last train bound for Forest Hills–71st Avenue leaving Lower East Side–Second Avenue at 11:33 p.m.^[18] Official M service via the Chrystie Street Connection began on Monday, June 28, 2010.

From July 3, 2017, until April 27, 2018, reconstruction work on the BMT Myrtle Avenue Line resulted in a limited number of M trains operating between 71st Avenue in Queens and Second Avenue in Manhattan, during rush hours, replicating the V train's original routing prior to its discontinuation.^[19]

Final route[]

Lines used[]

The following lines were used by the V from December 2001 to June 2010:

Stations[]

For a more detailed station listing, see the articles on the lines listed above.

Station service legend
	Stops all times
	Stops all times except late nights
	Stops late nights and weekends only
	Stops weekdays only
	Stops weekdays in the peak direction only
Time period details
	Station is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act
↑	Station is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act in the indicated direction only
↓
	Elevator access to mezzanine only

	Stations		Subway transfers	Connections and notes
Queens
Queens Boulevard Line
	Forest Hills–71st Avenue		E F G R	LIRR Main Line at Forest Hills
	67th Avenue		G R
	63rd Drive–Rego Park		G R	Q72 to LaGuardia Airport
	Woodhaven Boulevard		G R
	Grand Avenue–Newtown		G R
	Elmhurst Avenue		G R
	Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue		E F G R 7  (IRT Flushing Line) at 74th Street–Broadway	Q33 bus to LaGuardia Airport Q47 bus to LaGuardia Marine Air Terminal
	65th Street		G R
	Northern Boulevard		G R
	46th Street		G R
	Steinway Street		G R
	36th Street		G R
	Queens Plaza		E G R
	23rd Street–Ely Avenue		E  G  (IND Crosstown Line at Long Island City–Court Square) 7  <7> ​ (IRT Flushing Line at 45th Road–Court House Square; MetroCard-only transfer)
Manhattan
	Lexington Avenue–53rd Street		E  6  <6> ​ (IRT Lexington Avenue Line at 51st Street)
	Fifth Avenue/53rd Street		E
Sixth Avenue Line
	47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center		B D F
	42nd Street–Bryant Park		B D F 7  <7> ​ (IRT Flushing Line at Fifth Avenue)
	34th Street–Herald Square		B D F N  ​Q  ​R  ​W  (BMT Broadway Line)	PATH at 33rd Street
	23rd Street		F	PATH at 23rd Street
	14th Street		F 1  ​2  ​3  (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line at 14th Street) L  (BMT Canarsie Line at Sixth Avenue)	PATH at 14th Street
	West Fourth Street–Washington Square		B D F A  ​C  ​E  (IND Eighth Avenue Line)	PATH at 9th Street
	Broadway–Lafayette Street		B D F 6  <6> ​ (IRT Lexington Avenue Line at Bleecker Street; transfer to downtown trains only)
	Lower East Side–Second Avenue		F

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to V (New York City Subway service).

• "MTA NYC Transit - V Sixth Avenue Local". Archived from the original on September 27, 2011.
• V Train Timetable (2006)