As I sat in the last car of my Coney Island-bound F train en route to 7th Ave., I glanced up to check out the placard ads decorating the car. My eyes quickly landed on the SubTalk ad. It was promoting the Second Ave. Subway!
As you can see — and if you can’t, click the above picture to make the image bigger — the MTA is already starting to promote the Second Ave. Subway, six or seven years before it aims to see the light of day. It will indeed help relieve overcrowding on the Lexington Ave. line.
When I saw this ad, I smiled and thought optimistically about the Second Ave. Subway. To me, this ad is a sign that the MTA is committed to perhaps finishing at least section I of the subway. If all they have for now is a train that runs from 96th St. and 2nd Ave. through the Upper East Side before cutting west to join up with the existing Q line, that will be progress.
Maybe we’ll never get the Second Ave. Subway. Maybe this budget drain and the bad economic times will mean the end of the current Second Ave. Subway project if they run out of money with a 15-block tunnel. Maybe with the volume of federal contributions, the MTA will push this project through this time. But no matter; the Second Ave. Subway is making its presence known even if it’s just through a SubTalk ad in a lone F car.
One day, we’ll ride on that Second Ave. Subway, and that SubTalk will promote Phase II of the Second Ave. Subway. Hopefully, that isn’t just a dream.
16 comments
According to the MTA’s EIS, Phase One of the 2nd ave subway has a projected ridership of 200K people per day. If it’s true, then even the 15-block spur would go a long way to take some pressure off of the dangerously overcrowded Lex Ave line.
I have been waiting for a Second Avenue subway update on Second Avenue Sagas. Glad to hear that the project is still full steam ahead (for now at least).
This is a sign worth stealing, because it will be a collector’s item in 2025 when the project still isn’t finished.
In early 2007, when the project was starting, the estimated year of completion was 2012. In less than two years, it’s been pushed back three years.
To me, this ad is a sign that the MTA is committed to perhaps finishing at least section I of the subway.
Well, and to build up some good will before they announce their service cuts and fare hikes. Bloomberg is doing the same thing with the city budget.
It’ll happen. They’ll cut a ton of service before they cancel this.
(Probably will be delayed some more though)
And I thought Texans and Georgians were non-chalant in delivering questionable “good” news.
Next up: “Hey, the Second Avenue Subway will be finished when it’s finished. Stop complaining already!”
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