NYC subway will take more commuters to Rockaway Beach on weekends this summer

More New Yorkers will be able to get to and from Rockaway Beach on summer weekends solely by train.

The Rockaway Park Shuttle is expanding its service to accommodate more beachgoers on Saturdays and Sundays, letting more people transfer to and from A trains in either direction through September.

“While I can’t offer you a trip to Aruba or to Greece, what I can offer you is great service to one of our New York beaches in the Rockaways,” NYC Transit Interim President Demetrius Crichlow said on Tuesday.

The Rockaway Park Shuttle will expand from an eight-car train to a 10-car train, MTA officials said. The shuttle will operate from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. during the weekends from Rockaway Boulevard for beachgoers traveling on trains serving both the Lefferts Boulevard and Far Rockaway branches.

Funding for the expanded service came out of $35 million outlined in last year’s fiscal budget for subway service extensions. The move comes after transit advocates lobbied for shorter train wait times for commuters.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is facing an onslaught of criticism for pausing congestion pricing, did not appear at an MTA press conference on Tuesday to announce the news. Instead, MTA CEO and Chair Janno Lieber delivered the announcement alongside other transit officials.

“The MTA is the greenest and most hassle-free way to get there,” Lieber said. “Why sit in traffic when you can beat the rush in transit and you can return calls, catch up on your TikToks and you don’t have to worry about any of those aggravated drivers and the congestion?”

However, New Yorkers may still have to deal with limited access to some of the city’s beaches and pools even with the extended service. The city is still scrambling to hire enough lifeguards to service all of the city’s beaches – it still needed hundreds more hires to have a full staff as of last month.

Also starting this month, the B, D, J and M lines will come every eight minutes during midday and evenings on weekends, the MTA said. The 3 and 5 trains will come every 10 minutes during that same time period.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified a stop on the Rockaway Park shuttle.