Thanks to popular stops running toward Times Square, the Main Street subway station in Queens is now the 10th busiest among the M.T.A.’s routes.
Any travelers on this route wishing to avoid the hordes of tourists, however, are out of luck. The No. 7 line is your only option at the Flushing, Queens, station, which might suit those who work near Bryant Park, Times Square or Grand Central Terminal.
And although this stop ranked as one of the 10 busiest on the subway, those complaining about the crowded commute on the 7 should really try taking a trip on the N train. Seriously. We do. Often. (And the N trains tend to be those narrower, get-to-know-your-neighbor-real-well models, not the spacious, spread-out contraptions common along the 7.)
The N goes to most of the necessary stops for those working near midtown, meaning New Yorkers each morning must bear the crowds running from just north of Coney Island all the way through the city’s main commercial hubs. The N travels to almost half of the 10 busiest stops on M.T.A.’s route, so there is little rest for the weary along runs that can take up to an hour, especially now that it has stopped running express in Manhattan.
Other stations that placed high on the list of the subway’s busiest are, predictably, Times Square, Grand Central Terminal, Herald Square, Union Square and Penn Station. The Main Street station in Queens saw more than 18.6 million passengers during 2010; by comparison, Times Square came in at a staggering 58.4 million passengers.
pengel@observer.com
