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Construction on CitiField has left Mets fans with even fewer parking spaces. As an incentive to get people out of their cars and onto the subway, the Metropolitan Transit Authority has introduced express service on the 7 line after the Mets’ home games.

Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing) credits Elliot Sander, new Executive Director and CEO of the MTA, for the development.

“For years the MTA somehow found it impossible, but people are very happy the new leadership has worked its miracle,” Liu said.

The Willets Point/Shea Stadium station’s one express track is sandwiched by two local tracks. From now on, at the conclusion of each home game, the trains on this middle track will reverse their direction and begin heading toward Manhattan. This schedule accommodates the extended rush hour out of Manhattan as well as the stream of sports fans, eager to get home.

The express trains will arrive every six minutes for an hour following the game and will cut travel time down by five minutes.

“Shaving time off the homebound trip is important to everyone,” NYC Transit President Howard H. Roberts, Jr. said. “And our Operations Planning and Department of Subways personnel have come up with a plan that makes the trip home that much easier.”

“While six [or five] minutes may not seem like a lot of time, it’s an eternity for frustrated passengers,” Liu said, adding that Flushing residents will appreciate the reduced traffic on the streets.

Although the new service is particularly attractive for those traveling to Manhattan, Liu points out that it will also benefit New Jersey residents who take the NJ PATH train.

In addition, the MTA hopes that the new service will reduce foot traffic for LIRR passengers headed for the Port Washington branch stop located just beyond the Willets Point/Shea Stadium station.

On July 13, one day after the launch, an anonymous contributor to www.metsblog.com expressed the sort of passion for public transportation that can only come from a true New Yorker.

“It only took them 42 years to figure that out!” the blogger wrote. “I thought there was an actual reason they could never do that before. Whoever in the MTA made this decision should be proud, and all his predecessors are idiots.”