Does the Flushing and Jamacia neighborhoods of NYC become their own satellite metros of NYC?

[ProgressiveModerate]

Sorry about the confusingly worded question. This is really a unique situation because Jamacia and Flushing are just neighborhoods of NYC, but in many ways it feels like their own small metros

Both neighborhoods are notably denser and more built up than the communities around them. There are a lot of newer apartment and even office blocks spawning up. According to DRA, the Flushing neighborhood grew by ~15% the Jamacia neighborhood grew about 30% from 2010 to 2020.  Both neighborhoods contain a lot of employment, including white-collar sorts of jobs.



For reference, here are my rough neighborhood definitions for Jamacia (Green) and Flushing (Blue).

To me, Flushing feels sort of like the downtown/central business district for all of the Asian communities further out in Queens. Lots of mall/office complexes filled with tons of different Asian cuisines and whatnot. According to DRA, Flushing is 75% Asian, with the next biggest group being Hispanic (~15%). Whites are only about 6%.



From google maps it almost looks like it's own mini-city.



This map shows where jobs are located. This map is from 2014, but I imagine Flushing still stands out as an employment hub.

Jamacia isn't really associated with any one race of ethnicity at this point but feels like somewhere that's rapidly being gentrified. Extremely racially diverse and heavily non-white. It's very conveniently located with a major LIRR station, a major bus hub, and 4 subway lines (E, F, J, and Z), not to mention the JFK airtrain. According to DRA, Jamacia is roughly 38% Asian, 27% Hispanic, 26% Black, and 7% white.

From my understanding, the city made a pretty proactive effort to revitalize Jamacia back in the 1980s, redeveloping Archer Avenue (the main Avenue), building the BMT and IND Archer Avenue subways (today E, J, and Z trains), and moving/building several city facilities there. Since then the neighborhood has continued to boom



Jamacia neighborhood; very built up and lively.



The absurd amount of transit of the Jamacia neighborhood. As one can see, there are provisions for the J/Z to be extended further into Jamacia, and the E to be extended Southeast Queens.

Could both of these neighborhoods become satellite communities of NYC and gain their own unique spheres of political influence? How would it influence city and state politics? It would be truly the first case where you have competing Business Districts within a single city. If it weren't for NYC they'd definitely be treated as their own unique cities/metros.

[Sol]

It's pretty common for there to be secondary commercial and business districts in a city.

[Хahar 🤔]

It's pretty common for there to be secondary commercial and business districts in a city.

The most immediate example of this for me is how when you stand on a hill with a good view of Atlanta, you can see four clearly distinct built-up areas all in a row, three of which are within city limits. Downtown Atlanta in particular has lost out because of its northerly competitors.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

There's already multiple examples of these in Brooklyn and the Bronx and multiple core areas on Manhattan as well.

[Tintrlvr]

It's pretty common for there to be secondary commercial and business districts in a city.

NYC has these already, too. Long Island City and Downtown Brooklyn, as well as outside of NYC proper but clearly in the core urban area, downtown Jersey City. Even the Midtown vs. Financial District distinction (Midtown having originally been the satellite but overtook the Financial District as the main commercial center) matches this (not all of Manhattan is the CBD).

[ProgressiveModerate]

It's pretty common for there to be secondary commercial and business districts in a city.

NYC has these already, too. Long Island City and Downtown Brooklyn, as well as outside of NYC proper but clearly in the core urban area, downtown Jersey City. Even the Midtown vs. Financial District distinction (Midtown having originally been the satellite but overtook the Financial District as the main commercial center) matches this (not all of Manhattan is the CBD).

The difference is that Long Island City, Williamsburg, and Dpwntown Brooklyn are directly adjacent to the existing CBD of Manhattan below 60th St, and are more Residential in nature.

Flushing and Jamacia are further out in Queens; it’s take someone at least 30 minutes to get between midtown and Flushing or Jamacia

[It’s so Joever]

Flushing absolutely feels like its own little hub. Probably the third most interesting part of NYC!

[Tintrlvr]

It's pretty common for there to be secondary commercial and business districts in a city.

NYC has these already, too. Long Island City and Downtown Brooklyn, as well as outside of NYC proper but clearly in the core urban area, downtown Jersey City. Even the Midtown vs. Financial District distinction (Midtown having originally been the satellite but overtook the Financial District as the main commercial center) matches this (not all of Manhattan is the CBD).

The difference is that Long Island City, Williamsburg, and Dpwntown Brooklyn are directly adjacent to the existing CBD of Manhattan below 60th St, and are more Residential in nature.

Flushing and Jamacia are further out in Queens; it’s take someone at least 30 minutes to get between midtown and Flushing or Jamacia

Williamsburg is decisively not a business district and not worth having as part of the discussion. Nobody is suggesting otherwise.

I agree LIC and Downtown Brooklyn have gained some residential character in recent years, but they are decidedly commercial historically, much more so than any part of Flushing or Jamaica. Jamaica in particularly still has barely any commercial development, just a lot of hotels (because of proximity to JFK and transportation links) and some new residential highrises. Flushing is somewhat different as it does have some commercial development recently, although even then the new highrises are all residential.

And it's honestly a pure mistake (the kind made by people who live outside NYC trying to analyze it) to refer to the CBD as "Manhattan below 60th St". A majority of the land area of that region is definitely non-CBD.

[ProgressiveModerate]

It's pretty common for there to be secondary commercial and business districts in a city.

NYC has these already, too. Long Island City and Downtown Brooklyn, as well as outside of NYC proper but clearly in the core urban area, downtown Jersey City. Even the Midtown vs. Financial District distinction (Midtown having originally been the satellite but overtook the Financial District as the main commercial center) matches this (not all of Manhattan is the CBD).

The difference is that Long Island City, Williamsburg, and Dpwntown Brooklyn are directly adjacent to the existing CBD of Manhattan below 60th St, and are more Residential in nature.

Flushing and Jamacia are further out in Queens; it’s take someone at least 30 minutes to get between midtown and Flushing or Jamacia

Williamsburg is decisively not a business district and not worth having as part of the discussion. Nobody is suggesting otherwise.

I agree LIC and Downtown Brooklyn have gained some residential character in recent years, but they are decidedly commercial historically, much more so than any part of Flushing or Jamaica. Jamaica in particularly still has barely any commercial development, just a lot of hotels (because of proximity to JFK and transportation links) and some new residential highrises. Flushing is somewhat different as it does have some commercial development recently, although even then the new highrises are all residential.

And it's honestly a pure mistake (the kind made by people who live outside NYC trying to analyze it) to refer to the CBD as "Manhattan below 60th St". A majority of the land area of that region is definitely non-CBD.

Ok fair enough.

I'd consider everything in Manhattan below 60th St to be part of the business district, except perhaps the far east and lower east sides which are very Residential.

Even though there is a river separation, I still consider downtown Brooklyn and LIC to be part of this contingous business district given it takes under 5 minutes to get between them.

In this large buisness district though you have several distinct peaks: lower Manhattan and Midtown Manhattan are obviously distinct, and more robust, but to call the area in between them not a buisness district doesn't seem fair..

Flushing and Jamacia are clearly discontinuous even from the more generous definition of this business district.

I do agree with you about there being a distinction between Flushing and Jamacia. Flushing def has more pre-existing commercial development; Jamacia is more rapidly developing though and who knows maybe in the end it'll be mostly Residential. The jobs map shows a notable density in Jamacia compared to the surrounding communities, but def not as extreme as Flushing.

One bad thing about Jamacia that may stunt it's potential long term is the relative lack of parkspace, and at this point new parkspace is going to be hard to create. One thing you might be able to do is build a park over the LIRR ROW.

At least Flushing is near the whole Flushing Meadows Corona Park Complex (though I think it's unfortunate how the park is surrounded by giant highways, interchanges, and 2 massive subway train yards).

[ProgressiveModerate]

It's pretty common for there to be secondary commercial and business districts in a city.

The most immediate example of this for me is how when you stand on a hill with a good view of Atlanta, you can see four clearly distinct built-up areas all in a row, three of which are within city limits. Downtown Atlanta in particular has lost out because of its northerly competitors.

Those are all still in relatively close distance and I'd argue is just one large business district with multiple cores.

In NYC, you have a lot of residential neighborhoods separating Flushing and Jamacia from the main buisness district (Midtown Manhattan).

[Хahar 🤔]

It's pretty common for there to be secondary commercial and business districts in a city.

The most immediate example of this for me is how when you stand on a hill with a good view of Atlanta, you can see four clearly distinct built-up areas all in a row, three of which are within city limits. Downtown Atlanta in particular has lost out because of its northerly competitors.

Those are all still in relatively close distance and I'd argue is just one large business district with multiple cores.

In NYC, you have a lot of residential neighborhoods separating Flushing and Jamacia from the main buisness district (Midtown Manhattan).

Flushing is about eight miles from midtown Manhattan.

[ProgressiveModerate]

It's pretty common for there to be secondary commercial and business districts in a city.

The most immediate example of this for me is how when you stand on a hill with a good view of Atlanta, you can see four clearly distinct built-up areas all in a row, three of which are within city limits. Downtown Atlanta in particular has lost out because of its northerly competitors.

Those are all still in relatively close distance and I'd argue is just one large business district with multiple cores.

In NYC, you have a lot of residential neighborhoods separating Flushing and Jamacia from the main buisness district (Midtown Manhattan).

Flushing is about eight miles from midtown Manhattan.

That's far by nyc standards. Crazy how in places like Houston and Dallas, a single neighborhood can be comparable to the size of a single NYC borough.

[Del Tachi]

It would be interesting to make a list of primary commercial areas by city/metro

In New Orleans, the two largest business districts are the CBD, which is centered at Poydras/St. Charles Avenue.  You also have a lot of high-rises along Canal Street, but they're all hotels (so does that count?)  The secondary business district would be Lakeside in Metairie. 

[Kali Redcoat]

As other commenters have noted, Jamaica and Flushing aren't alone as secondary CBDs for NYC, Long Island City and Williamsburg seem pretty much like built-up downtowns to me. That being said, they are of course not spillovers from Manhattan south of 59th. Both areas have given me vibes of places that people commute to, not just local hubs attracting workers from nearby.

Jamaica is ridiculously well connected to transit and by several different means, and is unironically probably the most connected place in the entire city despite being on the eastern edge of the city. In terms of vibes, it seems to not be dominated by any one ethnicity, but it is disproportionately Bangladeshi, black, and Hispanic. I remember a population density map showed that it is one of the most densely populated residential areas in Queens, and in the top fifty one-square mile plots for the whole US.

Flushing is somewhere I have less familiarity with, but it is more of a hub for the East Asian community in the NYC metro than Chinatown, which is somewhat small in comparison and slowly gentrifying. I remember reading that Flushing is the third largest CBD in NYC, after the financial district and midtown. It is connected on the 7, one of the busiest lines on the entire subway, and a branch of the LIRR. I notice a lot of businesses headquartered in Flushing as well. Not exactly a contender against the two hotspots in Manhattan but definitely something that stands on its own.


Also OP, why do you consistently misspell Jamaica?

[ProgressiveModerate]

As other commenters have noted, Jamaica and Flushing aren't alone as secondary CBDs for NYC, Long Island City and Williamsburg seem pretty much like built-up downtowns to me. That being said, they are of course not spillovers from Manhattan south of 59th. Both areas have given me vibes of places that people commute to, not just local hubs attracting workers from nearby.

Jamaica is ridiculously well connected to transit and by several different means, and is unironically probably the most connected place in the entire city despite being on the eastern edge of the city. In terms of vibes, it seems to not be dominated by any one ethnicity, but it is disproportionately Bangladeshi, black, and Hispanic. I remember a population density map showed that it is one of the most densely populated residential areas in Queens, and in the top fifty one-square mile plots for the whole US.

Flushing is somewhere I have less familiarity with, but it is more of a hub for the East Asian community in the NYC metro than Chinatown, which is somewhat small in comparison and slowly gentrifying. I remember reading that Flushing is the third largest CBD in NYC, after the financial district and midtown. It is connected on the 7, one of the busiest lines on the entire subway, and a branch of the LIRR. I notice a lot of businesses headquartered in Flushing as well. Not exactly a contender against the two hotspots in Manhattan but definitely something that stands on its own.


Also OP, why do you consistently misspell Jamaica?

Lol mb, i just get into habits of mistyping certain words (I always mispell definately for instance).

The reason I sort of argue aginst Williamsburg and LIC really being their own CBDs is because subway ridership stats just don't back it up. The heaviest ridership (entrances) at stations like Queensboro Plaza (7, N, W) and Bedford Avenue (L) is during the 7:00, 8:00, and 9:00am hours, suggestion people are leaving these communities to go to work more than people are actually working at them (in which case ridership would be higher in the evening rush).

Downtown Brooklyn does actually have higher afternoon/evening ridership numbers, so we can infer that it is fair to say downtown Brooklyn is more of a place people go to during than day (presumably for work).

Either way though, I feel this is sort of irrelevant to the discussion around whether or not Flushing and Jamacia are their own mini-buiness hubs, because even if LIC and Williamsburg are their own buisness hubs as well, Flushing and Jamacia are pretty far out from them.

Flushing-Main St and the Stops around Jamacia have higher ridership during the morning rush, however, I think they're a bit unfair to judge given we're talking about the last few stops on the 7, E, F, J, and Z trains. These subway stops can be misleading because many are fed by busses bringing people from further out, so the stops aren't just used by those who live/work in the immediate surrounding community.

Funfact that Flushing Main-St (7) was the 10th busiest NYC subway station in 2022 with over 36k average daily riders. Pre-covid the station had 59k daily riders; it seems like Flushing Main St took at harder ridership hit than most other 7 line stations post-COVID which is interesting; many other 7 line stations have seen ridership approaching pre-COVID levels. According to wiki, the 7 has a total daily ridership of over 800k which is insane; that's the size of basically a whole Congressional District.

Jamacia has several subway stations but they add up to quite a bit:

Jamacia Center - Parsons - Archer (E, J, Z) was rank 29 with ~18k daily riders
Sutphin Blvd - Archer Av - JFK Airport (E, J, Z) was rank 42 with ~15k daily riders
Jamacia - 179 St (F) was rank 62 with ~ 13k daily riders
169 St (F) was rank 187 with ~5k daily riders
Parsons Blvd (F) was rank 212 with ~4k daily riders
Sutphin Blvd (F) was rank 318 with ~ 3k daily riders

I don't have data for the Jamacia LIRR station or the Jamacia bus hub, but I imagine they contribute quite a bit.

[Kali Redcoat]

As other commenters have noted, Jamaica and Flushing aren't alone as secondary CBDs for NYC, Long Island City and Williamsburg seem pretty much like built-up downtowns to me. That being said, they are of course not spillovers from Manhattan south of 59th. Both areas have given me vibes of places that people commute to, not just local hubs attracting workers from nearby.

Jamaica is ridiculously well connected to transit and by several different means, and is unironically probably the most connected place in the entire city despite being on the eastern edge of the city. In terms of vibes, it seems to not be dominated by any one ethnicity, but it is disproportionately Bangladeshi, black, and Hispanic. I remember a population density map showed that it is one of the most densely populated residential areas in Queens, and in the top fifty one-square mile plots for the whole US.

Flushing is somewhere I have less familiarity with, but it is more of a hub for the East Asian community in the NYC metro than Chinatown, which is somewhat small in comparison and slowly gentrifying. I remember reading that Flushing is the third largest CBD in NYC, after the financial district and midtown. It is connected on the 7, one of the busiest lines on the entire subway, and a branch of the LIRR. I notice a lot of businesses headquartered in Flushing as well. Not exactly a contender against the two hotspots in Manhattan but definitely something that stands on its own.


Also OP, why do you consistently misspell Jamaica?

Lol mb, i just get into habits of mistyping certain words (I always mispell definately for instance).

The reason I sort of argue aginst Williamsburg and LIC really being their own CBDs is because subway ridership stats just don't back it up. The heaviest ridership (entrances) at stations like Queensboro Plaza (7, N, W) and Bedford Avenue (L) is during the 7:00, 8:00, and 9:00am hours, suggestion people are leaving these communities to go to work more than people are actually working at them (in which case ridership would be higher in the evening rush).

Downtown Brooklyn does actually have higher afternoon/evening ridership numbers, so we can infer that it is fair to say downtown Brooklyn is more of a place people go to during than day (presumably for work).

Either way though, I feel this is sort of irrelevant to the discussion around whether or not Flushing and Jamacia are their own mini-buiness hubs, because even if LIC and Williamsburg are their own buisness hubs as well, Flushing and Jamacia are pretty far out from them.

Flushing-Main St and the Stops around Jamacia have higher ridership during the morning rush, however, I think they're a bit unfair to judge given we're talking about the last few stops on the 7, E, F, J, and Z trains. These subway stops can be misleading because many are fed by busses bringing people from further out, so the stops aren't just used by those who live/work in the immediate surrounding community.

Funfact that Flushing Main-St (7) was the 10th busiest NYC subway station in 2022 with over 36k average daily riders. Pre-covid the station had 59k daily riders; it seems like Flushing Main St took at harder ridership hit than most other 7 line stations post-COVID which is interesting; many other 7 line stations have seen ridership approaching pre-COVID levels. According to wiki, the 7 has a total daily ridership of over 800k which is insane; that's the size of basically a whole Congressional District.

Jamacia has several subway stations but they add up to quite a bit:

Jamacia Center - Parsons - Archer (E, J, Z) was rank 29 with ~18k daily riders
Sutphin Blvd - Archer Av - JFK Airport (E, J, Z) was rank 42 with ~15k daily riders
Jamacia - 179 St (F) was rank 62 with ~ 13k daily riders
169 St (F) was rank 187 with ~5k daily riders
Parsons Blvd (F) was rank 212 with ~4k daily riders
Sutphin Blvd (F) was rank 318 with ~ 3k daily riders

I don't have data for the Jamacia LIRR station or the Jamacia bus hub, but I imagine they contribute quite a bit.

(BTW you mispelled Jamaica AGAIN in this post too. The best way to get out of the habit of mistyping is by consciously typing the correct spelling over and over.)

I think this discussion is fascinating given that I'm a commuter myself and use public transit (LIRR in my case). There is ridership data for LIRR stations but I'm too lazy to find them at the moment. Something like 90% of LIRR trains stop at Jamaica though, which you can imagine is an opportunity ripe for the plucking. My experience with Jamaica is that indeed a lot of people feed into the end stations from bus routes, I've done so myself and there are always waves of new passengers corresponding with times when NICE and MTA buses load off their riders.

And yeah the 7 is crazy. I honestly can't tell if it or the Lexington Av express is more crowded at rush hour and has more frequent service. I've only ridden it off peak and the express trains are still crowded. I notice a lot of people get off and on at Woodside, and Woodside is also a hub of the LIRR, so I wonder what could be said about Woodside as its own mini hub (albeit lower in rank than Flushing).

[CookieDamage]

Lol no, they cannot be their own metropolitan areas when they are already apart of not only the core NYC area but apart of the city proper as well.

[ProgressiveModerate]

As other commenters have noted, Jamaica and Flushing aren't alone as secondary CBDs for NYC, Long Island City and Williamsburg seem pretty much like built-up downtowns to me. That being said, they are of course not spillovers from Manhattan south of 59th. Both areas have given me vibes of places that people commute to, not just local hubs attracting workers from nearby.

Jamaica is ridiculously well connected to transit and by several different means, and is unironically probably the most connected place in the entire city despite being on the eastern edge of the city. In terms of vibes, it seems to not be dominated by any one ethnicity, but it is disproportionately Bangladeshi, black, and Hispanic. I remember a population density map showed that it is one of the most densely populated residential areas in Queens, and in the top fifty one-square mile plots for the whole US.

Flushing is somewhere I have less familiarity with, but it is more of a hub for the East Asian community in the NYC metro than Chinatown, which is somewhat small in comparison and slowly gentrifying. I remember reading that Flushing is the third largest CBD in NYC, after the financial district and midtown. It is connected on the 7, one of the busiest lines on the entire subway, and a branch of the LIRR. I notice a lot of businesses headquartered in Flushing as well. Not exactly a contender against the two hotspots in Manhattan but definitely something that stands on its own.


Also OP, why do you consistently misspell Jamaica?

Lol mb, i just get into habits of mistyping certain words (I always mispell definately for instance).

The reason I sort of argue aginst Williamsburg and LIC really being their own CBDs is because subway ridership stats just don't back it up. The heaviest ridership (entrances) at stations like Queensboro Plaza (7, N, W) and Bedford Avenue (L) is during the 7:00, 8:00, and 9:00am hours, suggestion people are leaving these communities to go to work more than people are actually working at them (in which case ridership would be higher in the evening rush).

Downtown Brooklyn does actually have higher afternoon/evening ridership numbers, so we can infer that it is fair to say downtown Brooklyn is more of a place people go to during than day (presumably for work).

Either way though, I feel this is sort of irrelevant to the discussion around whether or not Flushing and Jamacia are their own mini-buiness hubs, because even if LIC and Williamsburg are their own buisness hubs as well, Flushing and Jamacia are pretty far out from them.

Flushing-Main St and the Stops around Jamacia have higher ridership during the morning rush, however, I think they're a bit unfair to judge given we're talking about the last few stops on the 7, E, F, J, and Z trains. These subway stops can be misleading because many are fed by busses bringing people from further out, so the stops aren't just used by those who live/work in the immediate surrounding community.

Funfact that Flushing Main-St (7) was the 10th busiest NYC subway station in 2022 with over 36k average daily riders. Pre-covid the station had 59k daily riders; it seems like Flushing Main St took at harder ridership hit than most other 7 line stations post-COVID which is interesting; many other 7 line stations have seen ridership approaching pre-COVID levels. According to wiki, the 7 has a total daily ridership of over 800k which is insane; that's the size of basically a whole Congressional District.

Jamacia has several subway stations but they add up to quite a bit:

Jamacia Center - Parsons - Archer (E, J, Z) was rank 29 with ~18k daily riders
Sutphin Blvd - Archer Av - JFK Airport (E, J, Z) was rank 42 with ~15k daily riders
Jamacia - 179 St (F) was rank 62 with ~ 13k daily riders
169 St (F) was rank 187 with ~5k daily riders
Parsons Blvd (F) was rank 212 with ~4k daily riders
Sutphin Blvd (F) was rank 318 with ~ 3k daily riders

I don't have data for the Jamacia LIRR station or the Jamacia bus hub, but I imagine they contribute quite a bit.

(BTW you mispelled Jamaica AGAIN in this post too. The best way to get out of the habit of mistyping is by consciously typing the correct spelling over and over.)

I think this discussion is fascinating given that I'm a commuter myself and use public transit (LIRR in my case). There is ridership data for LIRR stations but I'm too lazy to find them at the moment. Something like 90% of LIRR trains stop at Jamaica though, which you can imagine is an opportunity ripe for the plucking. My experience with Jamaica is that indeed a lot of people feed into the end stations from bus routes, I've done so myself and there are always waves of new passengers corresponding with times when NICE and MTA buses load off their riders.

And yeah the 7 is crazy. I honestly can't tell if it or the Lexington Av express is more crowded at rush hour and has more frequent service. I've only ridden it off peak and the express trains are still crowded. I notice a lot of people get off and on at Woodside, and Woodside is also a hub of the LIRR, so I wonder what could be said about Woodside as its own mini hub (albeit lower in rank than Flushing).

According to MTA stats, Lexington Avenue Subway had an average daily ridership of 1.3 million. However; this is just an estimate - it's impossible to get an exact number because at stations with multiple lines, it's impossible to track which line a customer boards, it's impossible to track inter-system transfers, and it's impossible to track those who might ride all the way through from the Bronx to Brooklyn so ride the Lexington Avenue line without actually swiping in to one if it's stations.



Here's the most recent data I could find on subway crowding from an MTA study back in 2014. Since COVID means you have less people going in and out of the CBD during rush-hour, I suspect most if not all of these Volume to Capacity ratios are lower today. MTA defines a subway train being at capacity at 4sqft/rider.

Other changes since 2014 include the 7 train getting New Signals and running more like 33 trains per hour, Second Avenue Subway opening reducing ridership on neighboring Lexington Avenue Subway, and the 7 train extension to Hudson Yards (though I don't think this affects crowding at the 7's peak load point very much).

According to this list, the most overcrowded subway lines during the morning rush in 2014 were:

L from Brooklyn at 103% capacity
4/5 from the Bronx at 102% capacity
7 express from Queens at 102% capacity
M from Brooklyn at 100% capacity
E from Queens at 99% capacity
6 from the Bronx at 95% capacity

The 7 local is apparently only at 81% capacity during rush hours. Ig this divide sort of makes sense since the 7 express stops at many of the highest riderships stations, and many 7 local riders transfer to the 7 express eventually anyways. We see a similar divide with the 4/5 (express) being more crowded than the 6 (local), since the 4/5 tend to stop at busier stations and a very large chunk of 6 riders from the Bronx transfer to the express 4/5 at 125th St.

E from Queens seems to be mostly because of Jamaica

Lexington Avenue express (4&5) is scheduled to run about a combined 29 trains per hour during rush hours; even with better signals it can't run more trains because of some bad junctions and terminals. In practice, usually you only get like 26 or 27tph.

The 6 train can only run a maximum of about 24 trains per hour. This is mostly due to trains having to loop at City Hall, and Pelham Bay Parkway being a terrible terminal (MTA already has to terminate some trains at Parkchester which is less than ideal).

The L train (most overcrowded NYC subway line according to this report) can only run a maximum of 18 trains per hour despite the new signaling because of 8th Avenue Station having bumper blocks so trains have to enter at low speeds. If only the city and MTA would invest a few million in extending the tracks a few hundred feet past the station, you could easily increase L service to 30+ trains per hour but because of politics that is unlikely to happen anytime soon. Honestly really frustrating cause it's such low hanging fruit to fix a serious problem.

[morgieb]

It's pretty common for there to be secondary commercial and business districts in a city.

If anything in certain countries it would be weird for a large city to not have secondary commercial/business districts.