MTA Tests Arrival Clocks 2 Years After 2nd Ave Subway's Debut

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Nearly two years after the celebrated debut of the Second Avenue Subway on the Upper East Side, the MTA is testing out subway arrival time displays in the Q line stations.

The clocks were installed during the week of Dec. 10 – and so far test's have run into some issues. Commuters on the uptown end of the Q line are only offered information about the arrival of uptown trains.

On several occasions last week, clocks seen by a Patch reporter at East 86th and East 72nd street stations did not display arrival times for downtown trains. One observant commuter noted the problem on social media.

"It’s great that the countdown clocks at 86th Street on the Q are on, but what’s the point if it’s only showing times for 96th Street bound trains? I highly doubt many people here care about the trains going only one more stop uptown," a Q line passenger wrote on Twitter, calling the new technology "useless" in a follow-up tweet.

The MTA insists that the displays are simply in a "test" period and that the correct information will be displayed by the end of 2018.

"We committed to configuring these displays with arrival times by the end of the year, are in the testing phase now, and look forward to bringing this convenience to customers soon," Sarah Meyer, Chief Customer Officer for NYC Transit said in a statement.

The Second Avenue Subway opened Jan. 1, 2017 after years of construction and decades of planning. The project extended the Q line to four new stops on the Upper East Side — 63rd Street on Lexington Avenue and 72nd Street, 86th Street and 96th Street on Second Avenue.

Studies have shown that both taxi hails and riders on Upper East Side stops of the Lexington Avenue subway line (4, 5 and 6 trains) have decreased since the new subway opened.

Photo by Brendan Krisel/Patch