The MTA Permanently Cuts C and F Subway Lines

By Yehudit Garmaise

    While the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) temporarily cut subway service on all of its lines in the spring after COVID-19 left the agency with a shortage of healthy crews, the agency has permanently removed the C and F lines from service.

    Before the pandemic forced the MTA to start reducing subway service, the F line trains had been running with a shortage of subway cars, called R179s, which were moved to A and C lines that had many subway cars taken out of service because they had door malfunctions.

    In June 2020, the MTA had to pull subway cars from the F line again from service again after two of them came unhitched in a Manhattan subway tunnel.

    The MTA restored all other subway lines over the summer, however, the cuts on the C and F lines will remain permanent.

    The shortage of subway cars over the summer increased New York City commuters’ wait-times on the C line from eight minutes to 10 minutes during rush, Zach Arcidiacono, a Transport Workers Union Local 100 official who represents train operators on the subway’s lettered lines, told the NYDailyNews.

    Rush-hour wait-times for the F line jumped increased from less than five minutes to 7.5 minutes, and midday service wait-times on the F line increased from seven minutes to eight minutes on weekdays, Arcidiacono said.