The E still stands for "Extremely crowded," the F for "Full" - and, frustratingly for subway riders on those lines, the new V seems to mean, "Very roomy."

Three months after a series of service changes - affecting about 500,000 commuters a day and intended to relieve overcrowding by shifting E and F riders onto the V line - the problem persists, according to a recent survey by the Straphangers Campaign and riders interviewed by the Daily News.

Riders have not jumped to the local V train in huge numbers and apparently prefer being sardined to being seated, just to ride an express E or F. Cars were standing-room-only on all Manhattan-bound E trains pulling into the E. 53rd St. and Lexington Ave. station during two recent rush-hour periods, the survey found. The vast majority of Queens-bound trains were very crowded.

Meanwhile, the arriving V trains were found to have seats available and plenty of standing room, with few exceptions. After getting off an E train, college student Sharon Wilson, 24, of Queens, said: "It's just as bad, just as crowded. It's shoulder-to-shoulder, face-to-face, toe-to-toe."

Even at the beginning of the E line in Jamaica, 49-year-old Sharon Grimes couldn't get a seat. "It's just as crowded as before," Grimes said. "I'm standing the whole ride. The changes have done nothing for me." She said some Manhattan-bound Queens riders take E trains eastbound a stop or two toward Jamaica Center - first stop on the line - then switch to a westbound train to Manhattan in hopes of getting a seat.

The big problem, riders said, is that commuters are still crowding the old lines because they want an express trip, not the slower-going V train.

"The E trains are jammed to the rafters with peoples' faces smushed up against windows, and the V trains have spare seats. The problem for many riders is the V train is a local and too slow, it doesn't go where riders want to go, or both," said Gene Russianoff, a lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign, part of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

"Subway riders are voting with their feet," Russianoff said.

The changes that went into effect in December also sent F trains to the 63rd St. tunnel from the 53rd St. tunnel. The number of trains from the Queens Blvd. corridor to Manhattan per hour during peak times increased to 50 from 41. Nonetheless, F trains remain jammed, riders said.

Indeed, many trains during Wednesday's morning rush were full to capacity at the Lexington Ave./63rd St. F train stop, preventing passengers from boarding.

Sharifa Singh, a 28-year-old department store clerk from Forest Hills, said she thought F trains had improved since the changes, though only marginally. "The F train is a little less crowded since the V started running, but not by much," she said. "Still, it's the express, while the V is just too slow to take."

Some riders said they take the V train - sacrificing time for comfort - because the lost minutes weren't crucial for them.

The Transit Authority said it's still too soon to call the V line a failure. "We need to have reliable ridership data and travel pattern analysis before considering significant changes," said spokesman Al O'Leary. "Our goal is to provide the best mix of local and express service."


Copyright © 2002, New York Daily News, Inc.

This article originally appeared here on the New York Daily News website.