MTA Now Encouraging Riders To Race Through Atlantic Avenue Terminal

Last night we encountered a potentially dangerous new practice the MTA has adopted at the Atlantic Avenue Terminal.

If we get to a station in Manhattan and it looks like the B just came we sometimes take the D and transfer at Atlantic. It's a long walk, but usually an interesting one, especially with the MoMa satellite exhibition. Last night as we were getting off the D and heading up the stairs to transfer to the B/Q, we heard the following announcement:

"Ladies and gentlemen, there is a Stillwell Avenue-bound Q train approaching Atlantic Avenue."

Strange, we thought. We've never heard that announcement before. We couldn't hear it in the main terminal, only on the Atlantic-Pacific platform where the D dropped us off. We knew the B/Q platform was a good 3-5 minutes away, but we figured if they were making the announcement there it meant everyone who could hear it had a chance of making the connection to the Q. So we ran up the stairs and jogged quickly through the terminal at a speed that would not have been possible if it was the slightest bit crowded. We raced down the stairs to the Q/B platform just as the Q train was closing its doors and taking off without us.

So if a couple of able-bodied young folks like ourselves couldn't make the connecting train after running through the station, why would they make that announcement? It seems like it will only encourage people to sprint through the station and potentially hurt themselves or others along the way.

Maybe in the future they could add to the announcement, "You have no chance of making this Stillwell Avenue-bound Q train, so take your time."