Transit Authority
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Q: I was at the Yankee-Red Sox game last Saturday and it felt like I had to wait 20 minutes to catch a D train. Does the MTA add extra trains for special events?
A: It sure does. New York City employs analysts responsible for measuring usage rates and determining the best number of trains. Their boss, Shoshana Cooper, spent some time explaining to me how they figure it out.
Among sporting events, only Yankee games are even an issue. When the Knicks, Liberty, or Rangers play at Madison Square Garden, their fans have access to both the red and blue trains, each of which includes three different lines, so overcrowding is minimal at Penn Station. No. 7 trains run so frequently that even during the U.S. Open in August, Mets fans and tennis fans can be moved back into the city in a reasonable amount of time. Oddly, Mets fans seem to need the trains only on weekdays, when Ms. Cooper suspects they come from work. On weekends, they’re more likely to drive.
In the Bronx, the no. 4 and the B and D trains are not, under normal conditions, nearly enough to handle the 55,000 people at a sold-out Yankee Stadium, so they must add extra trains. Timing them for the end of the game is tricky, what with the possibility of extra innings.
Most of the extra trains have to be scheduled far enough in advance to make it all the way down the line to get to 161st Street and Riverside at the right moment. In case of weird games – a 12th inning victory or when the Yanks dominate early like they did on Saturday – Transit keeps “Gap trains” nearby to move people along. The trains lie in wait on a middle track north of 167th Street on the no. 4 line, or farther up Jerome Avenue for the B and D. If the game ends at an unusual time, booth clerks radio in about a gathering crowd and call for the gap trains. Sadly, no one has the job of listening to baseball games to decide when to send the trains (or else I might apply!).
“If the Yankees could avoid these last-minute wins we’d be in much better shape,” Ms. Cooper said.
Next week: How Transit manages the big annual events, like New Year’s Eve.
Got a question about getting around New York? E-mail transit@nysun.com
