MTA Appreciates 'Fun and Unique' Study Showing That 2 and C Trains Are Awful

The C train lumbers into a station.

The annual "State of the Subway" report by the Straphangers Campaign is out today. The J and Z lines came out on top, a first for them, and the 2 and C lines were rated worst out of all, to no one's surprise. It's the third year in a row that the C, colloquially known (among someone somewhere, probably) as a "shitwagon," has come in last.

The study compares service on 20 subway lines, then gives them a "MetroCard Rating," then profiles each of the lines. It's the fourteenth year that the campaign, a part of the New York Public Interest Research Group, has done the study.

According to Gene Russianoff, staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign, this is the "fifth time in 14 years that C line has come in last. It was dead last in amount of service, how far train travels without a breakdown, and in-car announcements."

"It would have done worse except it did well in three other measures," Russianoff said, including cleanliness. It also isn't over-crowded, since people probably know to stay away from it at this point.

As for the 2, this is the first time it's ever scored last in the study, mostly because of its issues with overcrowding and being dirty.

Does the MTA care about these studies illustrating the suckage of many of their subway lines? Russianoff said that the MTA's responses to the Straphangers study have "varied over the years." They sent us the following statement with regard to the 2011 edition:

Each month, New York City Transit reports on a wide range of performance indicators that are always available for riders at mta.info. We always appreciate and consider the Straphangers Campaign's fun and unique take on subway and bus service.

Fun and unique. Ouch.

[rgray@villagevoice.com] [@_rosiegray]

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