Rogue F Trains Are Skipping Stops In Brooklyn, Councilman Says

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — F train riders who feel like getting to their stop between Jay Street and Church Avenue has turned into the luck of the draw are far from alone, a survey created by Councilman Brad Lander shows.

In fact, nearly every day in January at least some riders have fallen victim to what Lander has dubbed the #RogueFExpress, or an F train that switches to express service with little or no notice at Jay Street, often trapping passengers inside until they are far away from home.

Lander created the survey in the hopes of getting answers from the MTA about the run-away trains. The problem used to happen only from time to time, but over the last two months his constituents and, coincidentally, his own family, have told him it's become a regular issue, he said.

"It's no fun to wait for the next train, but its really rotten to get on the train and not be able to get off," Lander said. "I think everybody could agree, if you get on a train that skips your station that it was scheduled to stop at and didn’t, that’s not right."

The more than 150 responses his survey has gotten so far reveal that the rogue trains happened almost every day in January and for many days in December, with some days as many as 20 people reporting the incident. Lander hopes to keep the survey up for a few more days before presenting the data to the MTA.

So far, the transit officials have given only occasional answers about the service switch-up, he said. They will respond to users on Twitter or other social media to explain that an unruly passenger, NYPD incident or something else caused the shift.

But, when asked why this seems to happen regularly, not just once in a while, officials have gone silent.

"We keep saying back, 'Obviously something more systematic is happening,'" Lander said. "Has a choice been made to do (express trains) more regularly? Unfortunately the MTA has not been honest with us."

Lander said that while adding more express service could be a good thing for some riders, it shouldn't be done by eliminating local trains.

More than half the respondents to the survey also noted that they didn't hear any announcement the switch to express was happening.

Lander admits this may not mean the announcement wasn't made at all — as many riders wear headphones or sometimes announcements are hard to hear — but that these reasons are "cold comfort" to those who get stuck on the train.

MTA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images.