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TA's Ready to Roll Out V Train Ads
By PETE DONOHUE (New York Daily News)
Maybe it's a language problem.
The Transit Authority will distribute brochures to 120,000 would-be V
train riders — including promotions in Spanish, Korean, Chinese and Russian —
telling them of the advantages of switching to the usually little-used line.
The campaign will be part of an extensive marketing effort to increase
ridership on the unpopular V, which was launched late last year to alleviate
crowding on E and F express trains.
V trains usually run at a roomy 49% of capacity because they make more
stops and take more time on runs between Forest Hills, Queens, and the
lower East Side.
The promotional campaign will highlight that it takes only five minutes
more on the V from the major transfer hub at Roosevelt Ave. in Queens to
E. 53rd St. and Lexington Ave., the first Manhattan stop for westbound riders.
The TA also will give away MetroCard holders, and run ads in newspapers,
including foreign-language papers, and on cable TV."Stay on the V!" posters
also will appear in subway stations and on E trains.
F Train Crowding Eases
Before the TA launched the line in December, E trains were running at 104% of
capacity at peak travel times. By March, ridership dropped to 96%.
Crowding on F trains, which had been at 95% of capacity, also eased, to 85% in March.
Ridership on R trains, previously at 71% of capacity, was stable at 72%.
TA President Lawrence Reuter has said the V train is slowly gaining
ridership and alleviating crowding.
But a lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign, part of the New York Public
Interest Research Group, Gene Russianoff, called such improvements modest.
He also predicted the TA's new marketing campaign would not help. "It's good
money after bad," Russianoff said. "I think it's a waste. Queens riders have
voted thumbs down on the V.
"Ordering them to stay on the V, or rewarding them with MetroCard holders,
isn't going to change the strong preference to take an express E train.
Like the V itself, the ad campaign is destined to flop."
The service changes introduced in December included rerouting F trains
through the 63rd St. subway tunnel. Critics of the plan have urged the TA
to return F trains to the Lexington Ave. line because many riders need
to transfer trains.
Original Publication Date: 5/9/02
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