34th Street Subway platforms

Why do the stations at 34th Street have the express-only platforms? They
seem designed to discourage local / express transfers.

willie

On Jan 10, 10:06 pm, "seb(MA)27" <NsOeSbPm...@arsienne.calm> wrote:
> Quoth General Kireiko:
>
> > They shoould walk from 34th to 42nd.  It does a body good.  
>
> That reminds me of once when I was a youth, traveling from the Upper West
> Side to Queens, getting on an Eighth Avenue local at Columbus Circle and
> getting off at 50th Street to change for an eastbound E train.
>
> An older woman on the train made a snide comment about me being lazy
> because I was just taking the train one stop.  She never considered that I
> might be transferring from one line to another.

Why wouldn't you have simply taken a Sixth Avenue train at 59th St.?

On Jan 11, 11:03 am, jdoe <j...@> wrote:
> On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:25:17 -0800 (PST), "Peter T. Daniels"
> <gramma...@> wrote:
> >On Jan 10, 10:06 pm, "seb(MA)27" <NsOeSbPm...@arsienne.calm> wrote:
> >> Quoth General Kireiko:

> >> > They shoould walk from 34th to 42nd.  It does a body good.  
>
> >> That reminds me of once when I was a youth, traveling from the Upper West
> >> Side to Queens, getting on an Eighth Avenue local at Columbus Circle and
> >> getting off at 50th Street to change for an eastbound E train.
>
> >> An older woman on the train made a snide comment about me being lazy
> >> because I was just taking the train one stop.  She never considered that I
> >> might be transferring from one line to another.
>
> >Why wouldn't you have simply taken a Sixth Avenue train at 59th St.?
>
> what 6th ave train stops at 59st? he should have taken a d to 7th ave
> and switched there

The B and the D, numbskull.

General Kireiko wrote:
>
> If the C comes first, you take it to 50th St, cross over, and take the E.
> I don't know if I'd take an A to 42nd for a Queensbound E....
>
> -Doug
>
There is no (longer?) a crossover at 8th Ave. and 50th St.

On Jan 11, 9:46 pm, Walter Theurer <wtheu...m> wrote:
> General Kireiko wrote:
>
> > If the C comes first, you take it to 50th St, cross over, and take the E..
> > I don't know if I'd take an A to 42nd for a Queensbound E....
>
> > -Doug
>
> There is no (longer?) a crossover at 8th Ave. and 50th St.

I was thinking that, but the entrance through the sunken plaza of the
office building seems as though it serves as a mezzanine for both
directions. (Though I've only entered for southbound there.)

AFAIK there has NEVER been a crossover at 50th, especially since the upper
level platform is one level down from the street.

Therefore, it has never been an option to cross over from a downtown local
to a Queensbound "E." (Yes, with an unlimited Metrocard you could do
it....)

And the design of the 7th Avenue station is brilliant in that it facilitates
that transfer - you always go downstairs (Queens to the Bronx, the Bronx to
Queens).


"Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@> wrote in message
news:ba133dbc-bbe3-4fcc-8e45-aad2a81ee3fc@k2g2000hse..com...
On Jan 11, 9:46 pm, Walter Theurer <wtheu...m> wrote:
> General Kireiko wrote:
>
> > If the C comes first, you take it to 50th St, cross over, and take the
> > E.
> > I don't know if I'd take an A to 42nd for a Queensbound E....
>
> > -Doug
>
> There is no (longer?) a crossover at 8th Ave. and 50th St.

I was thinking that, but the entrance through the sunken plaza of the
office building seems as though it serves as a mezzanine for both
directions. (Though I've only entered for southbound there.)

">
> And the design of the 7th Avenue station is brilliant in that it
> facilitates
> that transfer - you always go downstairs (Queens to the Bronx, the Bronx
> to
> Queens).

So what transfer are you making when you go upstairs??

That's the most confusing such station in the system -- everywhere
else the different directions are on different levels, Uptown is
upstairs, Downtown is downstairs: CPW, Queensboro Plaza, 125th/
Lexington. Moreover, the trains at Seventh travel on the left!

E is on one side, B/D on the other. That makes sense. Same as QBP.
Upstairs is downtown - one side via 8th Avenue, one side via 6th Avenue (in
fact, years ago there were large signs to that effect on the upper level).
Same as QBP.

I assume the configuration of the tracks was determined by the overall need
to criss-cross everything mosty efficiently (and virtually imperceptably,
unlike 149th St-3 Avenue, for example), but the way it came out works very
well in terms of passenger flow - you have to assume that most of the
transfers are from downtown E to uptown B/D and vice-versa, which involves
going downstairs. Also, especially now on weekends, from downtown E to
downtown D and vice-versa (to compensate for no weekend V) those are
across-the-platform transfers. Also easy.

The only reason you would go up one level to transfer is to go from coming
up 8th to go down 6th or vice-versa - probably not too common.

Quoth Ed(NY):

> AFAIK there has NEVER been a crossover at 50th, especially since the
> upper level platform is one level down from the street.
>
> Therefore, it has never been an option to cross over from a downtown
> local to a Queensbound "E."

Well, that settles it. I must have been transferring to a southbound E
rather than a northbound E. Whatever.

- seb (MA TWIT)