All articles by Hannah Frishberg

There aren't any new station closures planned for this weekend, but there are delays galore: Q trains will be running every 30 minutes in Brooklyn and 4 trains every 16 between 125th Street and Woodlawn. Incredible how the MTA can, in theory, time planned delays to the minute but not good service, isn't it?
Here's the full slate of service changes

Among other bad news – including the fact that the L train will hardly be running on weekends for the rest of October – the fact that the 7 train service will be suspended between Queensboro Plaza and Hudson Yards, making Comic-Con much more difficult to access than it would usually be, stands out as beyond poor planning. But the MTA on Friday did map out multiple transit alternatives to make your 7-less trip not so bad, including overnight shuttle service at 42nd Street, shuttle buses running every five minutes, and special (and discounted) Long Island Rail Road service that will get customers between Manhattan and Citi Field. Here's the lot of it...
Expect 12-minute minimum delays across the 2 line

Yesterday, the 163rd Street-Amsterdam Avenue C station reopened for service in both directions after being closed since March for extensive renovations. In addition to structural improvements, cosmetic additions were added in the form of four new glass mosaic murals by area artists. That's the good news – the bad news is there's no 5 train service this weekend and the D and F trains are once again masquerading as one another for a large number of stops.
Here are all the planned service changes for this weekend

Straphangers can expect planned delays on the entire 2 and M lines this weekend, which will respectively be running with 12-minute and 20-minute delays (incredibly exact estimates for an agency rarely known for predictable service). Otherwise, this weekend has a relatively non-crippling array of planned service changes.
Here's the full line-up

Almost two decades later, the WTC Cortlandt 1 station has reopened, and boy does it look spiffy. Maybe not two decades worth of no service spiffy, but certainly it's in better shape than most other subway stations. Meanwhile, weekend G service is once again modified, all M trains are running with (at least) a 20-minute delay between trains, and D, F, and A trains are masquerading as one another.
Now, for the full roster of bad news:

Looking for a study in why passive sentence structure is a poor way to communicate, especially in the context of public transit service announcements? English teachers take note: the MTA's Weekender is a bonafide study in this. Below, a translation of the poorly written, redundant and unclear information available for this weekend's subway service changes. And to boot, beginning at a time this weekend the MTA can't, apparently, be bothered to make publicly available online, the Manhattan-bound 1 platform at 238th Street will temporarily close through winter 2019 – South Ferry-bound trains will skip 238 Street during this time.
Buy the ticket, take the ride

This Labor Day weekend, there will be the usual slew of service changes in addition to some special ones just for the holiday. The 2 train will be skipping Church Avenue in the wee hours of Monday during the J'Ouvert Festival – an odd rerouting, seemingly in the name of obstruction, likely to limit attendance to the celebration, which has attracted controversy following past years' violence. The Eastern Parkway-Brooklyn Museum stop will be passed during the West Indian Day Parade. In good news, southbound service at the Cathedral Parkway-110th Street B and C stop – which has been closed for four months for structural repairs – will resume at noon on Sunday and northbound service at 5am on Tuesday. As well, regular A and Rockaway Park Shuttle service will resume on Tuesday following a disruptive summer of flood protection work. Plus, the LaGuardia Link Q70 bus will operate free of charge all weekend.
Here's what else is in store

The M train is not running this weekend, a fact the MTA buries in the second sentence of a note about station improvements along the J line. As well, beginning the Monday, the 167th Street B and D station will be joining the slew of other "temporarily closed" stations until January 2019. Strangely, the MTA does not list any service changes for the L train, despite an extended closure of weekend service between Brooklyn and Manhattan.
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This weekend, the L continues its mini shutdown and is not running between Brooklyn and Manhattan, A and S service remains confusing and limited in the Rockaways, and the G train is taking a summer vacation and going on hiatus, leaving a free shuttle bus and the F to pick up the slack. And beginning this weekend, 5 trains will stop running in a hunk of the Bronx through September.
Read it and weep

On the heels of the news that the L train will not run between Brooklyn and Manhattan for 15 weekends, yet another subway station is also temporarily closing. This time, it's the 174-175 Street B, D station, which will be modernized as part of an $88 million contract to repair a total of three stations in Harlem and the Bronx in dire need of renovations. It will close through December beginning Monday.
Here are all the service changes to anticipate this weekend

Despite continued work in the Rockaways, E and F train riders share the pity prize for most debilitating service changes this weekend. The E will be masquerading as both the F and R, in parts, and skipping a huge portion of its usual stops, including express stations, while the F will be masquerading as the E (naturally) as well as the A, in parts. This weekend's work also holds particularly unpleasant change-ups for N and R straphangers.
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On the heels of a slew of stations closing "temporarily," this weekend's subway agenda is quite reasonable. Still, though, a number of lines will be skipping multiple stops, masquerading as other trains, and running at spaced out intervals – see the full damage below.
It's the most functional weekend schedule in some time

Monday will be a dark day for straphangers: At 5am, the 145th Street 3 station will close through November, the 23rd Street F, M station will close through December, and the Jamaica Center-bound 104th Street J, Z platform will close through January. This compounds the usual slew of service changes and the fact that the M is simply not running this weekend, and the E and F are having a masquerade as one another. In good news, by the MTA's estimates the Avenue U, Avenue P, Avenue N, Bay Parkway and Avenue I Manhattan-bound platforms should be reopening this month.
Compared to the above, the other changes are more palatable

Beachgoers, beware: there aren't any A trains running to Far Rockaway-Mott Av, nor Rockaway Park Shuttle service at Broad Channel, through the end of the summer. Some seriously poor timing on the MTA's part, but the agency has never been known for greatness or awareness. As well, a slew of stations remain closed in Manhattan on the A, C and B lines and new this weekend, an elevator is being installed at the 62nd Street/New Utrecht Av D, N station, causing the closure of its transfer passageway through August. Beginning 5am Monday, the 57th Street F station will also close, through December.
There are of course plenty of temporary service changes as well