No Revolution Can Save the No. 9 Train

On a weekend otherwise marked by flag-waving and parades, no fanfare accompanied the march into oblivion of the no. 9 subway line. Its official demise comes today, apparently to the utter indifference of West Side commuters.As of 5:30 this morning, the no. 9 line – which cohabitated with the no. 1 line along the West Side from South Ferry in Lower Manhattan to 242nd Street/Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx – had existentially reached its last stop. Since the train functioned only during the weekday rush, however, the no. 9 met its real end Friday, when the last train left Chambers Street at 6:52 p.m., a New York City Transit spokeswoman, Marisa Baldeo, said.In the subterranean world of the red line yesterday, hardly any evidence remained that a no. 9 train had ever existed. At station entrances and on platform signs, the line’s circular emblem had been blotted out with black paint. Passengers disembarking from a no. 2 or no. 3 express at 96th Street were advised that “transfer is available to the 1 train,” with the no. 9 option conspicuously absent to the habituated ear. In stations and on New York City Transit’s Web site, system maps had been replaced with grids from which the no. 9 was noticeably expunged.The line’s inglorious end went unnoticed by many riders on the West Side, some of whom hadn’t known about the decision to merge the no. 1 and no. 9 lines and expressed indifference upon learning of it. At Times Square yesterday, one regular 1/9 rider, Meine Gpoboffua, said with a shrug: “It’s all the same to me.”The post-no. 9 era will be all the same for most West Side riders, particularly those who live between South Ferry and 137th Street, a segment along which both the no. 9 and no. 1 trains made all local stops. Commuters living between 137th and 242nd streets, however – where the no. 9 provided “skip stop” service – greeted the passing of the line with joy.On a flier at 157th Street – one of the stations skipped by the no. 9 – that announced the lines’ merger, a tagger had scrawled, “Yay! Back together again!” At the station, mourners were few. Two riders, Cameron Miles, 23, and Scarlett McEachern, 29, said the 9’s confusing skip-stop service burdened riders with unnecessary transfers and the occasional missed station stop. The all-in-one service, Ms. McEachern said, “will be so much better.”

No Revolution Can Save the No. 9 Train

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