Photo: iStock
March 9, 2015 By Christian Murray
He’s bombarded with Tweets, Facebook messages and E-mails whenever the No. 7 train goes down.
He hears stories of people freezing on the platforms, standing in overcrowded stairwells, as well as commuting on jam-packed trains.
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, the recipient of a growing number of messages, will be sharing some of these stories at 8:00 am Wednesday when he holds a rally at the 40th Street subway station.
“The morning rush hour into Manhattan has gone from bad to worse and the MTA should hear about it,” Van Bramer said.
Several No. 7 train riders will be providing their own accounts of how the poor service has inconvenienced them.
“I am fed up and the MTA needs to hear from all of us,” Van Bramer said. He said it didn’t matter that it is a state-run agency–they just need to hear from the public.
Van Bramer said the delays are affecting people’s quality of life. “Many people are late to work or have to leave much earlier to ensure they arrive on time.”
Van Bramer said that the MTA’s response to his complaints have been insulting: “They say the No. 7 train is one of the best in the city… and that the delays are caused by people jamming the train,” he said. “This is blaming the victim.”
“The weekend closures are bad enough,” he said, “but compounded by all these rush-hour delays—it’s a disgrace.”
Rally:
Date: Wednesday, March 11
Time: 8:00 am
Location: 40th Street Station/Plaza
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76 Comments
This is why I get on the 7 in LIC at 8am or 10am. My only major problem with the 7 train is when it rains it’s always delayed!
A problem on the #7 line that can never be corrected is that it is reduced to only one track in each direction between Times Square and Queensboro Plaza. If a train breaks down, all the trains behind are stopped until the problem gets fixed.
Subway systems the world over are set up like that and they operate much more efficiently. There is absolutely no excuse for this horrendous level of service.
I’m a hipster. I only eat organic gluten free zucchini muffins.
cmon people, put down the crunch n munch and get tush in gear now and walk to the N!! youre all chubby and you know you need to burn cals!!!! stop complaining and your fat azzez in gear sunnyside! come on nowiiii especially you !
MTA has shown absolutely no progress since I moved to the ‘hood 15 years ago. They are still working on the tracks from Queensboro to 42nd holding us hostage on the weekends and the weekly service is at its all time worst. Takes 45 min to go 5 stops on the morning commute. Lets strike MTA! Hop the turnstiles or get on bikes new Yorkers until they stop robbing NYC straphangers mentally and financially dry and show us some damn progress. Check the history of their OT records. That’ll be s tell tale sign as to whats taking them so long.
I had the same idea. Probably not possible, but if we could get everyone to jump the turnstiles until they have sufficiently addressed the problem, that might get some real attention. The problem is, there would have to be a specific demand attached to an action like that, and I don’t know what that would be.
If that were to happen, even for one day, they’d cry broke even more and our fare would increase to $5 one way.
That is a possibility. But it would really make a powerful statement they couldn’t ignore. No point discussing it, really. Not very realistic.
We just need to organize. Simple social media pages under the same name NO PAY FOR THE MTA. We will need to take a moth to gather momentum then post a plan of action. Date/Time to jump.
To the guy above saying that white ppl complaining makes a difference—racism does exist, but not in NY—-we have classism here. We live in immigrant neighborhoods and our 7 line has only 3 stops in Manhattan so they think we are not important. Unless of course when the US Open is on, then we have to have service for the rich ppl, regardless of race!
Just an aside, stop texting on the stairwells ppl! It is very inconsiderate! You are slowing everyone else down!
Can’t wait for Los Mets to come north, then the 7 will run on the weekends. Avance Los Mets!
The line wasn’t built to endure the type of winter we have had. We should anticipate this becoming the new climate for NYC. Currently, the promenade has about a foot of standing salty water in it due to lack of drainage. The second that splashes on the third rail, the line goes down. There’s no easy fix.
I have used the 7 train my entire life and I am a 37 year old native of Sunnyside and there have been decades of track work and no improvements! All you see is construction workers standing around looking at their phones with no supervision on the weekends. They could get work done quicker if they actually worked. We need to post videos to a website. Perhaps a class action lawsuit will get some attention for lost wages, aggravation, and lost jobs for some! Someone start a petition! Perhaps skipping 33rd street in the morning can force the students to walk from 40th street or make them take the express train so they have to take the train back from QB plaza. Most of these kids don’t pay fares, take up all the seats to play video games on their phones, and hold the doors for their friends! The new trains do have less seats and nowhere for ppl to even hold onto poles when standing in the middle of the cars! We need more local trains for sure, it should be 1.5 or 2:1 ratio. Maybe they could make morning flushing bound trains hit 61st street and have it sent back to Manhattan every other train? I am thinking out of the box here—- I know. We can certainly do away with token booth clerks and some janitorial ppl. Don’t make them lose their jobs—make them operate trains so we have more trains and the same amount of labor. Most of us get transit checks or cards from vending machines. We live in civilized neighborhoods so it stays pretty clean. Clerks are for tourists who are not in Queens and we don’t need pretty trains with stops displayed—we live here, we know the stops and have phones with that info! What will happen when the train extends to the West side—it will only get worse! Longer train line, more crowds coming back from Manhattan and of course the influx of trust fund babies coming here for the new constructions they are building now as our politicians throw out zoning restrictions for the almighty buck! I was one of the only ones speaking up against the 5 Pointz Factory tear down (for many reasons) as that just gets the ball rolling for all of this other BS! Why don’t they let us natives take the “affordable housing” and stop catering to the outsiders. Rent control served a purpose but now all of Manhattan is a homogenous playground for rich kids who know nothing about what I miss—the old New York. We are so soft we can’t even run a train when it snows 3 inches which was not a problem when I was a kid so our transport has gotten worse—does that make sense? Excuses, excuses— excuses with the weather is unacceptable. I even had a train delayed an hour just recently when I was coming home from 5th Avenue in Manhattan bc it said there was a police investigation at Main Street Flushing at the other end of the line! WTF—-excuses, excuses! I am done and so are the property values in Sunnyside if the 7 train BS continues!
I also thought some kind of group effort, be it in the form of a petition or posting videos to a website, will be a good start. I have been writing to the Mayor (through his website) about the 7 train for the past 2 weeks. My hope is that he will start to see that this is a serious issue. So the more of us that writes to him the better.
Yeah, right. I wrote to him multiple times to stop the rezoning of LIC for this very overcrowded reason. What happened two weeks later? More announcements about moving forward with rezoning and the Yards. He doesn’t care. He’s so arrogant to think he knows what’s best for the city. He can’t even show up on time.
Wait, you wrote the Mayor and told him NOT to re-zone L.I.C. and two weeks later he went ahead an re-zoned anyway?! Doesn’t he realize that you know what’s best for the city? I don’t blame you for being all worked up!
this is absolutely the truth — and people are seeing this more and more — forget about breaktime — that is forever for them —
Now that white people are complaining people are listening? we were complaining about the 7 for years before you hipsters moved in. Now it gets attention.
actually you are right the 7 was the Dinkins ghetto train and had to have police on each cars going to the mets games…..nasty ride….
Oh it doesn’t stop at 40th street. Splat.
Just what have you been doing all these long years to improve service? I bet your behind has never attended a single community meeting or protest of any kind. All you live for is to blame others. I bet the minute any real act of civil participation is required of you, you’ll disappear. Why don’t you show up at the rally tomorrow? You want to blame “white people”? Why don’t you show up at the rally tomorrow and do just that? Show up and tell everyone there that 7 train service should not be improved because it’s what “white people want”. Perhaps if you had been more civic minded over the many years you claim to have lived here, 7 train service would never have gotten this bad. Many of us other long term residents are pleased that at least some of the new people moving into the area are participating in a way that is benefiting the ENTIRE neighborhood. We sure as can’t say that about you. So…show up or shut up!
Is it because we are white hipsters that they are listening, or is it because we just bother to make noise and complain in a clear and present way? Us ‘hipsters’ have probably improved the overcrowding on the train since we live in apartments as they were built, 1 bedroom apartment with up to 2 tenants, not 18! (and before anyone jumps on me for this comment – from my apartment windows I can see 3 different apartments with gross over tenancy, 1 even has bunk beds in the kitchen!).
Isn’t Van Brammer in favor of up zoning buildings near Queensbrough Plaza?Isn’t he in favor of more condos on in LIC? Won’t this make the 7 train MUCH worse?
It’s been like this for 10 years. Every year a new “improvement” brings about more problems. New Cars, fewer seats. “Trackwork” and “improvements to serve you better” have been going on for over ten years, and I haven’t seen a single countdown clock, or upgrade to a station between 52nd street and Vernon-Jackson. I have been taking this train for my whole life, middle school, high school, college and 3 different jobs with different schedules. The 7 is consistently unreliable and ineffectual with timeliness, efficiency and civility. Jimmy Van B and Mayor DiBlasio need to try to get on a train between 8am and 9:30 and the absolute ridiculousness and nonsense that it is for people to be jammed up against each other on a ride from 40th to the city that is only supposed to take 15 minutes, but somehow usually ends up taking 35.
it has taken less time to build the 7 line then the still, ongoing new signals or whatever. it’s a travesty that would never be allowed to go on in Manhattan.
You want to be heard. Protest on the tracks. Stop the trains. JVB yelling under the train isn’t going to do anything.
You want the MTA to hear you loud and clear, stop the entire morning commute.
Otherwise, you are wasting your breath.
One of the reasons for the over-crowding on the #7 line is that the “new” cars that went into service during the past year have much fewer seats than the ones they replaced.
Yesterday (Monday) Took 45 mins from 33rd to Grand Central due to “stalled train, debris on track, police investigation and train traffic.” At 6:45 a.m. Every Monday after weekend construction it’s a mess.
Considering the 7 train commutes so many folks all the way to Flushing with no real alternative train lines ( unless you want to go to 74th Street or Queensboro Plaza for transfers), why aren’t the train beds as big as those on the N train. That would help a lot with crowding. Also, if DeBlasio’s plan goes through with additional housing in Sunnyside Yard, we are really in for a hot mess!!
One of the major issues is that LaGuardia CC and Aviation share similar schedules to most commuters. When students are on the local to get off at 33rd it prevents people at 52nd, 46th, and 40th from boarding. On days with heavy delays I have actually walked to Queensboro Plaza faster than the train has resumed or the Q32 or Q60. I do snicker when I hear real estate agents in my building trying to sell tenets on the 7 being one of the best in the city, it does seem bastardized and forgotten, if you look after Sandy it was one of the last lines to get running, not even in part. That being said the line is incredibly old running on the narrowest underwater tube that is a hundred ten years old and cast iron sitting at the bottom of a flood basin/train yard and running 13 stories under the middle of the city. If they end up building over Sunnyside Yards I wonder if they will utilize some of the yard to build a new tube, to bury the line, and reroute a dig from the G and connection to the 7 line. Sounds like a literal pipe dream…until the Steinway tube implodes from burden of pension fund expenses and poor maintenance.
Eric Gioia was complaining about the 7 train weekend “work” as far back as 2003. Twelve years ago! These shutdowns are not about getting anything accomplished; the point is to keep the work going to provide jobs. We commuters are collateral damage.
I will be attending, see you at 9:00am
I will be attending to show my support for this community. See yall at 9:00am
The whole mta system is a joke, it’s run by incompetent idiots and the incompetence trickles downward throughout its staff. The employees are rude, stupid and unwilling to assist, and their track work takes twice as long as it should because of the lazy unionized morons that are hired to do the repairs. How many mta track workers does it take to screw in a lightbulb…? who knows, lets throw 8 at it and give them 6 weeks to do it!
MTA need to come down to 40th street between 8.00 – 10.00am and see what goes on. Then head over to queensboro plaza and see what a joke that is too. They need more eyes on the ground.
I don’t understand why you would shut the subway during the weekends in the winter months for track work. It’s COLD, people need the subways working. Why not shut them down late at night, surely the amount of people using the subway then is greatly reduced. And the same goes for the peak of summer, this is hurting the city, and hurting queens.
YES YES YES look at 40th st going to Main St,or the E or F to Jamaica and see how EMPTY the 7 E F trains are.
Its YOUR CHOICE to get a job going into Manhattan using those trains at that hour!!!!
Oh grow up Riki the service on the 7 is horrendous and has been for the last few years
then why do you use it? ride a bus……move closer to your job…you have to learn how to think outside the box ….reverse commute and reverse taxes
Base tax reduction on the number of 2nd 3rd shift nights holiday jobs you create…….LIC is dead after 6pm and so much free parking……..
No different than a wedding dj no decent dj will discount a June wedding but January most will take 50% off……
@Rikki You appear to be quite gullible. Employers pickup and move on a regular basis, you could go broke chasing your desk around. My daughter worked for Citi Banks Domestic custody department, in 5 years the job moved from midtown Manhattan to 111 Wall street then to Tampa, FL then to Latin America and India. I worked for Bankers Trust. Our division moved from Albany Street in lower Manhattan to Jersey City then to Nashville Tenn where the division was purchased by State Street and moved to Quincy, Mass. Rikki join us in the real world.
mac its life dont get bogged down with THINGS…..so moving will be easir
@Rikki You have part of it right. The its life part. Only you may not want to be so eager to surrender your families liberty and freedom to a Corporate Master, dictating your every “move”.
mac thats where things come in……why do you need so much stuff?can you downsize and live below your means?
then you wont have to worry so much at corporate masters….
Offer to work for less if you live very close by…….I would i hate commuting
@Rikki it has absolutely nothing to do with stuff. Most people choose to live where they feel comfortable, safe and have roots. We pretty much live in a disposable society, in many if not most cases, it’s cheaper to replace then to move “stuff” to a new home. The problem with constantly moving for most people is the upheaval, kids and new schools, kids making new friends aging parents and sick relatives who need help. Finding new doctors , dentists and other various professionals. Then to do it all over again and again on a semi regular basis is emotionally draining for most involved not to mention terribly unstablizing for a family .If stuff is the only concern you have regarding relocating, I’m not sure whether to feel sorry for you or congratulate you. The only thing I am sure of is your posts are terribly naive.
naive nope……why cant you find something close to home and offer to take less money so you dont have to deal with the 7?
Its all about options vs mindless complaining…
I DID move close to my job, 5 blocks away in fact (and paid a premium for it), however the company moved, and now I have to take the train, should I have to move apartment? I’d love to be heading away from Manhattan each morning but the industry I am in would never move further into queens, so should I change jobs? You are clearly missing the point here Rikki. The MTA is charging a fee for a service, however the service is not up to par, it is broken, and it needs fixing. If you ordered a sandwich and it was an hour late and missing most of the ingredients, you’d still eat it I’m sure, but would you not complain?
OK no problem…..this is where stuff comes in if you have little it can be moved in one day……
Granted the 7 is not very good….but what is the alternative? people drop cell phones on tracks and try to retrieve it…….thugs jump turnstiles and thefts muggings happen and police investigation stop the train…..all part of BIG city life
just like driving if you want to get there fast dont drive where the big semi drive like long island city greenpoint….trucks have to take the whole road and back up into the loading dock……
We don’t need an alternative, we need the MTA to review their ways of handling problems, and address their spending, redirecting funds to service improvements. There ‘don’t give a shit’ attitude also needs to be addressed. If the MTA bosses took a trip to Europe, or Asia, and took at look at their transport systems, they would be embarrassed and ashamed. The New York system is a joke.
Dropped cell phones and accidents happen, granted, but not every day, that simply is not a good enough excuse.
Train track work has been going on for ages: one MTA employee to do the job and 8 to watch.
Unbelievable. They are paid no matter what and they definitely don’t care about you.
Keep up the pressure.
Shame that there was no pressure when sunnyside was rezoned and now the yards and more in Long Island City.
Keep the 7 train rolling.
donut plant opening at van dam and 47th in the spring! keep gentrification comin!! now i dont need to take the 7 to get a decent donut
The area is seeing a great deal of growth. New buildings in Woodside and th QB plaza area alone mean more people to transport. MTA needs to get ahead of this recent round of issues or weekend track work will be least of anyone’s problems.
And Di Blasio wants to dump another 30,000 people in the neighborhood to add to the rush hour nightmare. He says the Sunnyside Yards is the largest undeveloped space in the city? The one between his ears is larger.
Seven is a disgrace every day major delays
I am on the train at 6:15am. It is a crap shoot whether or not the train is going to run. It’s infuriating most mornings.
Oh and Rikki- I’m a teacher. Please find me a public school with flex hours. Also, please tell me again that I don’t work a “real job” because my job is as real as it gets.
Its your choice….and being packed in like sardines is part of the package…..
Or MOVE close by so you can walk or ride a bike or drive to your job……its your choice
I apologize. You guys are right. I am bring a total douche nozzle. I’m having a bad day. Again. I’m sorry.
Thank You for working hard to keep America moving forward.
ha ha hijack my name…..get a grip YOU CHOSE to work a job at those hours
Is there a bigger asshat than me? I submit that there is not. I hate myself.
I’d like to go but I don’t have flex hours (what job is that, I’d like to apply) because I have to go to work. Why is this being held at 8am?
I think this is a GREAT idea, but does the rally have to be AT RUSH HOUR?! That seems to be the worst way to consider alleviating rush-hour delays.
Agreed. And does it have to be at the 40th Street Station? Rather than further inconveniencing commuters who are simply trying to get to work can’t they move the location to some other place under the El? Or perhaps some place that inconveniences the MTA brass?
OH get over it……….NYC has the highest concentration of 9-5 M-F jobs of anywhere i’ve ever lived……..
Its not MTA’s fault you are too lazy to find companies to work for with flex hours or 2nd 3rd shifts…..Its never going to get better
I reverse commuted to kew gardens for a while and the trains ARE FREAKIN EMPTY AT 9am…
Fuck up, you muppet. I work 8-4 M-F and i experience the same bullshit as everybody else. Flex hours? get a real fucking job, loser.
You need to start at 7am….geez i’ve worked in TV stations and had to be there at 530-6 am and had to get up at 4-430am……stop whining……
How come Rikki doesn’t get shit on hate like I do when she is so clearly a bigger bitch?
Maybe because PERSONAL CHOICE MATTERS?
what personal choice you fooking idiot? the choice of having to work a 9-5 schedule or not? You realize how freaking idiotic you sound when you tell people they should work other shifts? it’s idiots like you that have come into sunnyside and pushed for things like idiotic art under the trains.
You have missed the point, and the 7 train is a huge problem.
You really have a fucking screw loose.
Rikki come to the rally Wednesday so that we can tat and feather you.
The 7 train will never be fixed I am convinced somewhere the people orchestrating the MTA are laughing at 7 train commuters and this is some massive prank.
You are the biggest douchebag ever. I can’t believe that you call people “lazy” for not finding jobs with flex hours. You liked your mom when you were a kid didn’t you? HAHAHAHA I’m lost for words.
So this jackass’s idea is people should work different times to alleviate rush hour… What delusional world do you live in man? Too lazy to get flexshift jobs? Yea, i make six figures a year working in finance, but i should quit in favor of a flex time job cuz, slow trains…You should be sterilized you stupid f$$k
Its YOUR choice to make six figures…..you can make less and never have to get on the 7 train…and no more bitchhhing!!!!
i hope something gets done, this has been going on for years. the mta continues to raise the fare, but the service stays the same. they keep shutting down the train during weekends as a way to repair and improve service, but it never changes.
I’m mad as hell and I will jump the turnstile until the MTA goes bankrupt. It technically is bankrupt but the State of NY refuses to declare it because then they’ll lose control.
They can not pay for the pension liabilities! They are bankrupt!