Stability of service ranks second only to safety among the features sought by subway riders. Many people get jobs, buy or rent homes, decide on schools for their children based on mass transit connections. For them, it’s vital that a subway route which runs today, continues to run into the future. Truncating or eliminating a route creates a miserable burden!
On the Queens Blvd. line, the E and F express trains provided a direct link to the 53rd St. area, a major commercial and employment center. In addition, both lines provided riders a critical transfer point at 53rd St. and Lexington Avenue to the #6 trains for midtown Manhattan and then an easy transfer at Grand Central to the #4 and #5 trains for lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. This riding pattern endured for sixty years and some 900,000 daily riders expected it to continue.
Local service on Queens Blvd. was provided by the R and G trains with the latter providing the only direct link between Brooklyn and Queens without entering Manhattan. Northern Brooklyn was growing rapidly and ridership on the G soared to 100,000 daily riders. Some of these people depended on transferring at Queens Plaza to the E, F and R trains while others continued to their jobs in Queens.
