However, to make room for V trains on Queens Boulevard, the train was cut back to a new weekday terminal at Long Island City–Court Square and the train was rerouted via the 63rd Street Connector. In Manhattan, the and V made identical stops between 47th–50th Streets and the V train's Lower East Side–Second Avenue terminal station. To prepare for this service, rush hour service was simulated twice on Saturdays during the previous spring. The first time, the V, labeled as S, ran via 63rd Street, the F ran via 53rd Street, and the G ran to 179th Street. It was particularly done to see if it was possible to maintain existing G train service along Queens Boulevard with the new V train added on. When this test became unsuccessful, the V's eventual service pattern (via 53rd Street) was tested on September 8, and was a success. Due to the September 11 attacks and numerous services being disrupted by damage sustained in the attacks (including R service along Queens Boulevard), the V train's entry into service was delayed for 3 months. Controversy The new service plan was designed to redistribute Queens-bound passenger loads along the heavily used IND Sixth Avenue Line by encouraging use of the additional local trains provided for shorter trips, and to improve service and transfer opportunities for passengers using local stations along Queens Boulevard. The New York Times described the service plan as "complex and heavily criticized." New York Times columnist Randy Kennedy wrote that four months after it opened, the service was operating at only 49% of capacity. However, ridership had "increased 30 percent since it began, and every new V rider, as lonely as he or she might be, relieves crowding on the ." Several years experience with the service running, has shown its value and seen further gains. V trains, while by no means consistently full, have taken some load off the train; however, some riders have complained that the passenger load on the train has worsened, while others said it has gotten better, due to its becoming the only express train that runs along 53rd Street. The overcrowding on the E train was, in part, due to riders' propensity to board an express even in situations where it offers no real advantage in travel time over the local. Conductors were asked to make scripted announcements to urge riders to use the V, noting