Gryffindor via Wikimedia Commons
If you take the Lexington Avenue line during rush hour, your morning or evening trip might look a little different starting next week.
The MTA announced earlier this week that weekday rush-hour service on the 4 and 5 trains — along with the 2 and 3 lines on the West Side — will shift on Monday, May 18. The 4 and 5 are the express trains running along the Lexington Avenue line, serving Upper East Side commuters throughout the neighborhood.
Advertisement
According to the MTA, the changes are designed to better match service to actual ridership data, moving trips out of quieter hours and into busier ones. The agency says the adjustments are cost neutral, were greenlit by the MTA Board in January, and target delay reduction for the roughly 1.2 million daily riders who use all four affected lines combined.The biggest changes hit the 5 train. On the northbound side, the MTA is adding two trips in each of the 7 a.m., 8 a.m., and 6 p.m. hours — a meaningful uptown bump during peak commuting windows. To balance it out, one northbound 5 trip will be removed from the 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 4 p.m., 5 p.m., and 8 p.m. hours. Southbound, two morning and afternoon trips (one each from the 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. hours) are being shifted earlier, with both ending up in the 6 a.m. hour. The net effect: more service at the absolute peak, less in the shoulder hours.
The 4 line sees smaller adjustments. Northbound, one trip is being added in the 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. hours, and one is being cut from the 10 a.m. hour. Southbound, one 8 a.m. trip is moving down to 5 a.m., and one 9 a.m. trip is being eliminated. The 4 will run one fewer trip overall once the new schedule kicks in.
Advertisement
UES riders who occasionally hop on the 2 or 3 line when crossing town should also be aware that those lines are seeing their own reshuffles starting Monday — including added northbound trips during the early morning and a late-night reroute of five downtown 2 trains onto the local track between Times Square and Chambers Street.The MTA’s full staff summary presented to the board in January lays out the trip-by-trip breakdown across all four lines.
Have a news tip? Send it to us here!
