In Ranking Subways, the #7 Is Number One

The Straphangers Campaign has crowned a new subway line, and the #7 is now king.

Its new State of the Subways survey ranked the #7 highest for arriving regularly, having relatively clean cars, a good chance of getting a seat, and understandable announcements.

At the other end of the spectrum is the #2 train, which had longer-than-average waits between trains and more frequent breakdowns. And did we mention crowding?

#2 train (Boyd Hagen/Flickr)

 "Disparities abound and have come to define our city's subways," said Gene Russianoff, the staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign.

(Surprisingly, the C was not the worst-ranked subway line. "It's usually in permanent possession of the cellar," said Russianoff, "but it loosened up for a moment and the #2 scooted by.")

The C train (Kate Hinds)

But even the #7 has its issues. "It's not a lucky line to be on on the weekends," Russianoff said, "with all the communications-based train control repairs the MTA has been doing. And it can be a very crowded line." But, he said, it benefits from not having to share. "For lines like the L and the 7, that own their right of way, they don't have to inherit the curse of what's going on with the other lines, like the 4 and the 5 do, or the 2 and the 3."

But as with all things experiential, your mileage may vary. "One thing I really come to like about the report is because it's New York, people agree and disagree." Russianoff said. "And we're just giving them the ammunition to back up their stereotyping of the lines with real facts. So I enjoy going to a party and someone saying to me 'they just did that report on the subways, and I can't believe they said the 7 was a good line. They're out of their minds!'"

To read the full report, go here.