How bad is the E?

The E, the Queens superhighway

The E is the blue express of the Eighth Avenue Line, running from World Trade Center in the Financial District up through Midtown and out to Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer in Queens — the fastest way from Midtown to the airport corridor and one of the busiest rides in the system. It shares almost all of its Manhattan track with the A/C but runs express where they crawl.

The E's Queens end is where its legend lives. From Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue east through Elmhurst, Kew Gardens, and into Jamaica, the E is the express spine of western-central Queens, moving a staggering number of riders every rush hour. That stretch — the Queens Boulevard Line — is one of the highest-ridership railway alignments in North America, and the E is its chief express.

Rider well-knowns: the E is the disciplined Queens commuter's line — efficient, punctual when running, and crushingly crowded at peak because everyone knows it's the fast way in. Its World Trade Center terminal gives FiDi and the World Financial Center a direct express artery, and the connection at Roosevelt Avenue to the 7 is one of the busiest and most important in the city.

The E has a rare kind of focus: it knows exactly what it's for — express service along one of the city's busiest corridors — and it does that one job superbly. When it's on time it's boringly, beautifully on time, which is why it consistently scores high: in a city of dramatic trains, the E is the one that just shows up.