Yesterday evening I was surprised to see the normally ancient R-train sporting a set of the much newer R160 cars.
Now since others have been down this road before, I wasn’t going to assume anything except that a bunch of old cars were in the shop during last night’s rush hour. As it turns out, I was probably right.
While Bay Ridge commuters get stuck with the same mid 1970s R46 cars that can be seen on the C Line, there seems to be more public outcry concerning the C. After all, the C-train was recently issued the lowest grade in the system for the fourth year in a row as part the annual Straphangers Campaign report card.
The more comfy R160 car – featuring state of the art controls, the latest climate and public address systems, as well as a better suspension – which usually translates into a smoother ride, was first rolled out in early 2007.
While the city has recently ordered 300 new subway cars, they haven’t actually been built yet and aren’t planned to be put into service until at least 2015.
Also, not being the worst line in the system, the R might merely be seen as the obedient but ignored middle sibling of New York City Transit – with a summer job in retail instead of a semester abroad.