Rogue F Trains Skip Stops In BK Almost Every Day, Survey Finds

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A sneaking suspicion that local F trains in Brooklyn have been switching to express service more and more has been all but confirmed by the results of a survey of more than 250 passengers, and has prompted local elected officials to search for answers.

All but four days in January at least some riders have fallen victim to what Councilman Brad 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.

Those numbers are thanks to a survey Lander created back in January in the hopes of getting to the bottom of the run-away trains, which he said his constituents and, coincidentally, his own family, told him recently has become a regular problem.

"We've been told that no scheduled change is in effect, but survey data collected from F train riders...makes that hard to believe," a release about the survey results last month said. "The lack of communication is unacceptable. F train riders and all New Yorkers are rooting for the MTA, but we deserve to know where our trains will stop."

The survey results led Lander, state Sen. Brian Kavanaugh, Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon and Assembly Member Robert Carroll to all pen a letter to the MTA asking about the rogue trains in March. The letter asks that the transit officials set up a meeting with the representatives to discuss the problem.

The survey results revealed that all subways stops between Jay Street and Church Avenue except for 7th Avenue were skipped most often.

Some riders likely like when the train becomes express because they can get to their destination more quickly, the officials said, but for others trying to reach local stops, the rogue trains create a huge inconvenience.

Of the more than 250 riders that answered the survey, 75 percent missed their stop when the F train went rogue.

These results show that the #RogueFExpress is not an isolated incident, as MTA officials have told Lander in the past, but a systematic problem, the councilman said on Twitter. MTA officials in the past have said the with to express service was because of incidents like a sick passenger or NYPD activity.

"To make matters worse, 63% of respondents said they heard no announcement about the change
before they boarded, meaning they were trapped on a train that overshot their destination by as
many as four stops, and were forced to board another train just to come back," the officials wrote in their letter to the MTA.

The officials said letting riders know when the trains will turn to express should be part of the Fast Forward plan, part of which promises the MTA will increase communication with straphangers.

"We request to speak with you as soon as possible to discuss what steps the MTA is taking to
address the “Rogue F Express,” so that our constituents are not left stranded, trapped, or
confused on a daily basis," they concluded the letter.

Lander's office did not immediately respond to a question about whether the MTA has responded to the letter.

When asked previously for comment about the rogue F trains, an MTA spokeswoman would only provide background about the agency's policies for when and how local trains are switched to express service.