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LOUIS LANZANO/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
In diverting the Q line to the East Side, NYC Transit has not decided if the N can handle riders in Astoria 'or if there will need to be trains added,' according to an email obtained by the Daily News.
As the Second Avenue subway promises a new life line in Manhattan when it opens in December 2016, Astoria riders may lose out.
In diverting the Q line to the East Side, NYC Transit has not decided if the N can handle riders in Astoria “or if there will need to be trains added,” according to an email obtained by the Daily News.
The email was sent to at least two riders who inquired to the MTA about Q service in Queens by Joseph O’Donnell, outreach director for the megaproject.
MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz stressed the transit agency is not planning a service cut.
“While the route letters may change, and exactly what will happen hasn’t been determined yet, we have no plans to reduce service on the Astoria or any other line,” Ortiz said.
But the prospect of losing the Q line was a question on the minds of concerned Astoria riders.
"With only one train everything's going to take a lot more time,” said Hanna Durovix, 25, whose commute takes her to Brooklyn and Manhattan. “For now, it’s good.”
Frank Nelson, 52, a Rye, New York, resident who takes the N and Q almost every day to his job in Astoria, complained current service leaves him hanging on the platform.
“Already now, if you're on the N or Q during rush hour it's way too packed,” Nelson said. “It would become ridiculous if they took away even more trains.”
Sen. Michael Gianaris of Astoria said that while the MTA’s assurances sound good, he wants to make sure capacity on the Astoria train lines is maintained.
But given the crowds of waiting commuters he sees from his district office, “what they really should be doing is increasing service,” he said.
THE W IS COMING BACK For goodness sakes.