page_title: M (New York City Subway service)
section_title: 1986–2004
hierarchical_section_title: M (New York City Subway service) / History / M service / 1986–2004
caption_attribution_description: 19950703 22 Subway, Williamsburg Bridge
context_page_description: The M Queens Boulevard/Sixth Avenue Local is a rapid transit service in the B Division of the New York City Subway. Its route emblem, or "bullet", is colored orange since it uses the IND Sixth Avenue Line in Manhattan.
  The M operates at all times. Weekday rush hour and midday service operates between 71st Avenue in Forest Hills, Queens, and Metropolitan Avenue in Middle Village, Queens, making local stops along its entire route; weekday evening and weekend daytime service is cut back from 71st Avenue in Queens to Essex Street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan; late night service short turns at Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn.
  The M is the only service that travels through the same borough via two different, unconnected lines. Additionally, the M is the only non-shuttle service that has both of its full-run terminals in the same borough. Though the full route length between 71st Avenue and Metropolitan Avenue is about 18.2 miles, the stations are geographically located 2.47 miles apart, marking this as the shortest geographic distance between termini for any New York City Subway service that is not a shuttle service.
context_section_description: A sixth-month reconstruction project on the Brighton Line began on April 26, 1986, and to reduce congestion and delays, weekday daytime M service was shifted to the Fourth Avenue Line's express tracks south of DeKalb Avenue and the BMT West End Line. Service began terminating at Ninth Avenue during middays, and at Bay Parkway during rush hours. This service duplicated a pattern that had last been operated as the TT until late 1967. Manhattan-bound M trains operated from Bay Parkway between about 7 a.m. and 8:20 a.m., operating every 12 to 15 minutes. Bay Parkway-bound M trains left Chambers Street between 4:20 and 5:30 p.m. In 1991, M trains began running with fewer cars at all times except weekdays from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. in order to increase passenger security during overnight hours.
  M service along Fourth Avenue, operating between 6:30 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., was switched to the local tracks on May 31, 1994, switching with the N, which had run local since the M was moved in 1987. The change was implemented on a six-month trial, and was made permanent afterwards. This change was made as part of New York City Transit's Fare Deal, which sought to increase transit ridership by improving service. The change was proposed in November 1993, and public hearings on the change were held. The change reduced travel times by 4.5 minutes for 26,000 people, a majority of the riders on the corridor. As a result of the change, some riders shifted from using stations on the BMT West End Line to the BMT Sea Beach Line, and from Fourth Avenue local stops to Fourth Avenue express stops. Market research found that 44% of M riders felt that crowding decreased, that 35% of M and 30% of N riders used their service more frequently, that 58% of riders thought the change was a good idea, and that only riders at the 45th Street and 53rd Street stations, which received less frequent service, viewed the changes negatively. This change increased operating costs by $245,000.
  The midday M (between 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.) was temporarily truncated to Chambers Street on April 30, 1995 from Ninth Avenue in Brooklyn due to the closure of the Manhattan Bridge during weekday middays for structural repairs. The change was made to provide capacity in the Montague Street Tunnel for the Q, which was rerouted from the Manhattan Bridge. To replace M local service in Brooklyn, midday N trains began making local stops in Brooklyn. In addition, the span of M service to Brooklyn was reduced by fifteen minutes in the early morning and in the late evening by 25 minutes. 
  The elimination of midday service to Brooklyn was made permanent on November 12, 1995, after the six-month repair project was completed, as part of a series of service cuts made by New York City Transit to make up a shortfall in its budget. It had been expecting a $160 million surplus in 1995, but due to reductions in state and Federal contributions, it was left with a deficit which could reach $172 million. The elimination of midday M service to Brooklyn was part of a larger plan to reduce spending in order to avert a fare increase, which Governor George Pataki and Mayor Rudy Giuliani had pressured the MTA to avoid. Only 4,200 riders used M service to Brooklyn during middays, with fewer than 20 passengers per car, or 80 passengers per train (the M used four-car trains during middays). Because of the low cost effectiveness of operating service to Brooklyn and because of the existence of alternate service on the N and R, it was decided to cut the service. This service cut saved $664,000 annually. Three alternative operating plans were considered: maintaining existing midday service, terminating midday service at Broad Street, and operating service as a shuttle like weekend and late night service. It was decided not to terminate service at Broad Street because it negated a large portion of the crew savings due to the need for personnel to relay trains at the Broad Street terminal, longer running times, and because it had the potential to delay J service, which already terminated there. The shuttle option was d
caption: M train of R42s crossing the Williamsburg Bridge in 1995
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