Train service is going to be really, really bad this weekend, and other bad transit news

The MTA has chosen this weekend to start needed repairs on the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, A, C, D, E, F, G, J, L, N, Q, and R lines (a full list of service advisories is here). Some stops will be skipped, and parts of routes replaced with shuttle bus service.

Note: there will be handicapped-accessible stops affected. Call 718-596-8585 or (TTY) 718-596-8273 between 6 AM and 10 PM if you need help arranging an alternative route.

In other really, really bad service news, the MTA released a report yesterday on the performance of the F line, which runs between Coney Island and Jamaica. The report (pdf), which was based on a study requested by Brooklyn State Senator Daniel Squadron, concludes that service on the F line is so exceptionally bad that it's screwing up service on the E, G and V lines, which share tracks with it along some of its route.

The MTA proposes to solve the problems by adding more, newer trains; improving on-track barriers so trains don't have to slow down alongside track work; revising the schedule (ridership has increased 15% since the last time the schedule was adjusted); and no longer skipping stops in an attempt to speed up during rush hour (which, it seems, actually does cause stranded riders travelling to the skipped stations who are late for work to hold up trains they can't squeeze themselves on to, something some F riders - me, for instance - were already pretty well convinced of).

Squadron says the report is "thorough, transparent and gives us a road map for improvement." Even more impressively, perennial MTA gadfly Gene Russianoff, of the Straphangers Campaign, says the review was "comprehensive," and that "The MTA has really created a model here for how to respond to a line that's in trouble."

That's for another weekend, though. This weekend, there's pretty much no hope.