Conductors told to not hold doors

Your conductor is not being rude, just following the rules.

Courteous conductors are being told to never hold the doors open to let riders dash to a new train across platforms during rush hours.

And if you're lost and in need of direction, tell it to the intercom. Conductors are now being told to point riders to blue-lit Help Points, information kiosks or other MTA station workers, to answer questions.

It's all part of the MTA's effort to cut seconds from the time a train sits in a station, and to keep them flowing.

An eight-point memo Monday obtained by the Daily News gives conductors a refresher on “optimal operation.”

One instruction tells conductors to never hold train doors open for transfers between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m., and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Another point instructs conductors to tell riders to ask questions to the MTA's customer-friendly Wayfinders staff, station agents, platform workers or kiosks and intercoms. Straphangers are resigned. “If I ask a question, they're always happy to oblige,” commuter Misch Enriquez told The News as she stepped onto an uptown No. 6 train at Grand Central.

Justice Patterson, a Manhattan high school student at Grand Central, said he'd be annoyed to see his transferring train pull out before he can step onto the platform.

But he admitted he'd be just as annoyed waiting in a station for other commuters to make their transfer.

“It depends on where you are in the situation,” he said. “I guess it keeps the trains going. If they're not held up, more trains will come faster.”

The notice against holding the doors open for rush hour transfers is a reminder to conductors, but telling confused riders to ask other MTA staff is a new instruction, according to MTA spokesman Shams Tarek.