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’m a regular rider of the nos. 2 and 3 trains. Where I board at Chambers Street, the local is on the left and express on the right. But at 34th street, they’ve switched sides. How is this possible? Why is it desirable?
A: I’ve received two or three iterations on this question, so I guess it’s high time for some investigative reporting. I took to the rails, and it wasn’t long before I realized something: the trains don’t actually switch sides. The source of all the confusion is that at some stops train doors open on the other side of the car than at others. At Chambers Street, the uptown express train doors open on the right side of the train, the local’s doors open on the left. Then up at 34th Street, the express train doors open on the left side of the train, and the local on the right. The effect of the switch is disorienting, especially if you’re on the express and you see the downtown express across the platform at 34th Street. It seems like the trains have swapped positions, but all that’s really happened is that the platform is on the other side.
Why all the switching and swapping?
The MTA has a method to its madness. Many of the stations that serve local and express trains are designed to allow easy transfers across the station. But at stations that serve as junctions for other forms of transit, like trains or buses, they deliberately made the transfer difficult to ease overcrowding on the platform. Your pick of 34th Street is a perfect example. That station serves riders coming in from Amtrak, the Long Island Railroad, and New Jersey Transit trains. If all the people who wanted to go downtown crowded onto one platform, and people looking to transfer from locals to an express did the same, the overcrowding would be horrendous. Riders of the Lexington Avenue line who use the 42nd Street/Grand Central stop are familiar with this problem, when at rush hour people are changing trains and MetroNorth riders are streaming down the stairs. The Lexington Avenue line was built before the others, and the de signers had not yet learned their lesson. Penn Station serves three commuter rails, and The Port Authority at 42nd Street serves buses from all over the tri-state region. Without the extra platforms, rush hour would be an even worse mess than usual.
