Here’s a quick question: What’s the worst subway line in New York? The answer is usually, “Whichever one you have to ride with a self-styled Lloyd Dobler making eyes at you,” but today we have a different, more scientific answer courtesy of the Straphangers Campaign’s State of the Subways report card. That answer? The 2 train is 2014’s worst subway line in New York. Come on down, 2 train and get your crown made of dead rats, puke and various pieces of garbage!
Now, it’s not as if the Straphangers Campaign just decided to up and pick a fight with the 2 train. No, their bestowing the unwanted honor on the 2 train comes from careful surveying of all of the lines of the lines’ scheduled service, service regularity, train breakdowns, seat availability, cleanliness and understandable in-car announcements during 2013. The 2 train was found lacking in three important categories, according to the State of the Subways findings: it had more mechanical-based delays than the average line, it showed up less regularly than the average subway line and it fared the worst of all train lines on the ability of a rider to snag a seat during rush hour, with only 23% of passengers able to sit during rush hour on the 2, compared to 41% of passengers on the average line.
Each line was given a MetroCard value ranking, ranging from $2 for the top-ranked 7 train down to $1.30 for the hated 2 train. Our old friend the C train came in second-to-last, with a $1.35 ranking, so C train users shouldn’t laugh that much, especially since according to the survey the C train had a metric ton of mechanical breakdowns and did the worst in the whole system on in-car announcements. It was clean though, so there’s that.