I was mildly aware that the MTA was holding the Z train (among others) for ransom, as the do every few months. They said they would kill the Z if we didn't pony up the dough, and they appeared crazy enough to go through with it. Well, I think we did pay up, but they still said they were gonna end the Z anyway. And nobody paid much attention after that.
At least I didn't. Boro prez Marty Markowitz held a funeral for the Z train a long time ago, and I guess I just thought it was a matter of time. I don't usually ride the Z, but the stations before and after mine are served by it. This means during rush hour (assuming I get a job soon) all the people normally riding the Z would get packed into my J train. Of course they'll probably have to run a lot more J trains, so the loss of the Z would be in name only for people who live as close to Manhattan as I do (people further out, especially in Queens would feel the burn of having to stop at every single stop all the way up).
What I didn't know was that the MTA had issued a similar threat against the M train. Marty had a funeral for that train as well (hey Marty, instead of spending all your time and our money having these ridiculous photo-ops, why not try using your office for something practical like finding jobs for your constituents!), but I didn't hear about any of it until yesterday. So sorry if this is old news for everybody else, but it blows my mind.
See, the M train is now on the chopping block. If removed, the V train will be extended all the way to Middle Village, the full range of the M train on this side of Brooklyn (the M's intermittent service to West Brooklyn would be eliminated altogether). Meanwhile, the Z has quietly been released under its own recognizance. Former M train riders in Bushwick and Queens will be able to take one train up through midtown and into Astoria, if they feel like it. J train riders will have a relatively simple connection to get the V at Myrtle-Broadway, although it still might be easier to go to Essex St and switch there.
Either way, this doesn't actually sound like a service reduction for us. Maybe Manhattan V-train riders will be annoyed, but Manhattanites are always annoyed about something. Now of course the MTA probably has something up their sleeve to make this change a bad thing for everybody involved, like running one train an hour or something. Still beats the G train!
Check this out: some history on the J/Z lines, turns out our elevated platform dates back to the steam era (1888).
