Archive for July, 2010
Jul
20
Planning for the future before planning for tomorrow
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One of the great problems urban planners face today is a lack of foresight and connectivity. City leaders like to plan for two or three decades into the future, but they hate to figure out how best to keep their municipalities running next year, next month or even next week. New York and its public transit system are no exception. With separate capital and operating budgets, the MTA is planning for the long-term future while fare hikes and service cuts are our short-term destiny.
This week, the great Windy City is taking the chance to glimpse three decades into the future. Chicago, as The Times detailed this windy, has issued the preliminary version of its “Go to 2040″ plan. The report explores how Chicago is going to grow to become even more of a super-region in the American midwest while facing the challenges — congestion, transportation, environmental — that come with it.
One of the main centerpieces of the plan concerns Chicago’s public transportion ambitious. Much as our MTA suffers from financial neglect, the Chicago Transit Authority has faced its own fiscal challenges, and at a high level, “Go to 2040″ urges city leaders to do what you would expect. It calls for more investment in public transportation infrastructure, a push for making Chicago a high-speed rail hub and a clear commitment to maintenance and expansion of the current commuter rail and El systems. These projects, ideally, would be funded through revenue from congestion mitigation plans.
If those broad strokes of a more nuanced plan than what I’m presenting sounds familiar, well, that’s because it is. Three years ago, Mayor Michael Bloomberg put forth his own three-decade plan, and when PlaNYC 2030 came out, most transit advocates rejoiced. Bloomberg had published his own 16-point plan that would make New York a more sustainable city by 2030. Unfortunately, the plan hasn’t gone as its proponents had wished, and the city had no fallback.
In a PDF report card from April, the minds behind PlaNYC 2030 assessed their progress, and the results were dismaying to say the least. Of the 23 milestones to be achieved by the end, 11 fell into the “not yet achieved” category, and only four are fully achieved with a handful of others in progress. Of those initiatives not attained, the big ticket items stick out. The city hasn’t addressed its congestion problems; it has not improved freight movement or capacity; it has not increased capacity on commuter rail or key congested subway routes. While not a total failure, increased bike lane mileage and a few half-hearted bus-rapid transit routes are not the milestones the city had hoped to be celebrating this year.
Meanwhile, on a day-to-day basis, the MTA is struggling to make ends meet. In 2008, then-MTA head Elliot Sander spoke of the authority’s own 40-year plan and the promises of the circumferential subway route. Just over two years later, current authority CEO and Chair Jay Walder has had to engage in a nearly unprecedented slashing of service and will soon announce some very steep fare hikes. The MTA might have the outlines of a plan for 2050, but it does it have one for 2011?
That is the essence of city government right now. It’s far easier to write reports about the city decades from now when my theoretical children are my current age. It’s easy for politicians and bureaucrats in New York and Chicago who will be long gone from their jobs by 2030 and 2040 to look toward a better, more sustainable future. But they also have to look toward next year. They have to establish a fallback plan when congestion pricing proves inanely politically unpalatable. They need to answer the funding crises of today before setting forward the spending plans of tomorrow. It is a lesson though that often goes unlearned.
Jul
19
Uncomfortably, buses carry religious messages
Posted by: | CommentsEvery few months, some interest group — a union, a political party, a religious organization — buys some ad space from the MTA on its buses or subways, and New Yorkers are converted into people with no tolerance for opposing viewpoints. Today’s controversial ad comes to us from Metro New York, and it concerns a Muslims for peace advertisement.
According to Metro’s Carly Baldwin, the warring ads concerning Islam — one ran recently calling for support from former Muslims — has led one MTA Board member to question religious ads. “I don’t think we should be having any religious ads on our facilities,” Andrew Albert said. “I understand if you run one, you must run them all. The question is: Should we run any of them? Somebody is going to get offended.”
Somebody will get offended no matter what advertisement is up. In fact, those who built the subways were offended by the mere presence of ads. Here, the MTA has a First Amendment obligation to accept the ads. As long as any religious group is allowed to advertise, including atheist groups, all religious groups must be allowed to advertise. Of course, the authority could bar religious advertisements altogether, but in a time of crushing debt, cutting off a revenue stream seems to be a bad idea whether someone’s feelings get hurt in the process or not.
Jul
19
For 1 points north, two years of rehab work
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Dyckman St., shown here in 2005, is in dire need of a station rehabilitation. (Photo via flickr user masck)
Back in the day, I used to ride the 1 train from 96th St. north to its terminal at 242nd St. on a daily basis. It would take me to high school, and as the years worn on, I grew familiar with the stops north of Dyckman St. where few people would get on or off. The route map — 207th, 215th, 225th across the water but part of Manhattan, 231st, 238th, 242nd — is ingrained in my memory, and although I haven’t made the trip in nearly a decade, I still have a soft spot for these stations.
Now, these stops are gearing up for a rehab, and those commuters coming from Northern Manhattan and the Bronx are in for two years of service changes and weekend delays. The work — two simultaneous projects — are a bit of a $47 million effort to rehab the oft-neglected parts of the 1 line is not without controversy.
The problems themselves are fairly straightforward. The biggest piece is a complete rehab of the Dyckman St. station. Similar to the schedule along the Brighton Line in Brooklyn, the southbound and northbound platforms will both close for stretches of ten months as crews deconstruct and reconstruct the station. Work at the stop will include the restoration of the concrete wall along Hillside Ave.; replacement of stairs; repairs of the ceiling; reconstruction of the platforms and canopies; and new windscreens and guardrails. Additionally, the tracks around the station will be replaced as well.
Starting in September, the northbound platform will close for the work, and that closure will last until June 2011. Then, in July 2011, the southbound platform will close until August 2012. Per Transit, “During this time people will have to walk to the next station or ride back to Dyckman on the opposite platform.”
Beyond Dyckman St., the station work will go on during weekends only. At the five stations to the north, Transit will engage in some component-based work as platforms, canopies and stairs will be rehabilitated. As of now, Transit plans to shutter those stations for 14 weekends between September and June 2011 and then in additional 14 from July 2011 to August 2012, and every station from 242nd to 181st St. will be closed.
This sounds simple enough, but a few interesting details have raised some eyebrows. First, the Dyckman St. station will not become fully accessible during the rehab. Transit officials say the money isn’t there to bring elevators or ramps to the stop. They also claim that the station “does not fit the criteria for a key station” and is not on the list of 100 “key stations” to become ADA-compliant by 2020. Dyckman, said Deirdre Parker to DNAInfo, is “not a terminal point, is not a transfer point to other bus or subway lines, is not near any major activity centers and ranks 185th out of 422 stations in ridership.”
Advocates for the disabled dispute these findings and bemoan the state of accessible stations in Northern Manhattan. “It is an area that is really underserved by mass transit as it is,” Michael Harris said. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense to deprive an entire community of the subway.”
To compensate for the service outages, the MTA will run shuttle buses from 242nd St. in the Bronx to 207th St. on the A and will allow free boardings on the M3 from 168th St. and north. The agency however won’t add more A trains during the work, and many Inwood residents fear overcrowding. Despite these inconveniences and relatively low ridership, these stations have needed the work since my high school days, and the 1 will be better off for it.
After the jump, a rendering of the new look for Dyckman St. Read More→
Jul
19
To fix a fiscal problem, unlimited cards become limited
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For over 12 years, the MTA has been giving away transit trips. When it was introduced back in 1997 and put into circulation in 1998, the unlimited ride MetroCards revolutionized transportation in New York City, but it also drastically lowered the cost straphangers pay per ride. Now, facing a massive budget deficit, the MTA plans to scale back its unlimited ride cards, and the riding public isn’t going to be happy.
The problem is simply one of economics. By charging people a flat rate for a week’s or a month’s worth of subway and bus rides, the MTA is both encouraging use and fiscal abuse. All of a sudden, rides that we wouldn’t make — a two-stop ride to avoid the rain or midtown crowds — are worthwhile because those trips lower the per-trip cost of an unlimited MetroCard.
While more New Yorkers are taking the subway now than at any time since the automobile age, the MTA is making less per ride than they were 15 years ago. In fact, in April 2010, the average non-student fare across subways and buses — and accounting for higher express bus rates — came in at $1.48. In nominal dollars, that’s just ten cents higher than the average 1996 fare of $1.38, and in constant 1996 dollars, the April total was $1.02, a whopping 36 cents less per ride than we paid in 1996 when tokens were the currency of the subway.
Now, as The Times and the Wall Street Journal both detail today, the MTA is trying to combat this money lost to inflation. Andrew Grossman of The Journal uses a messenger service to make the point. Once, messenger services used bicycles to navigate New York, but as the cost of a subway ride decreased and worker’s comp insurance increased, these messengers turned to the subway. Some use as many as 20 MetroCard swipes per day, and they average around 20 cents per ride. Under the new scheme, they would go through a 30-day/90-ride card in under a week.
A Wall Street Journal graphic shows how MetroCard prices are outpacing inflation.
Grossman’s is an extreme example, but it’s clear how the MTA views this fare hike. Although the entire package of fare hikes should generate a 7.5 percent increase in fare revenue, frequent riders who the MTA feels do not carry their share of the funding burden are going to have to pay more. These fare increases, too, are outpacing inflation as well, and in The Times, Michael Grynbaum focuses on how the MTA is cutting service and raising fares amidst a recession.
The MTA is doing away with most bulk discounts and plans that incentivize better transit use. The 30-Day MetroCard will probably sit at $99, just under that psychologically important $100 mark, and off-peak fares on Metro-North and LIRR would be reduced. “Most board members would prefer we don’t just raise everything 7.5 percent,” Mitchell Pally, an MTA Board representative from Long Island, said to The Times. “Yes, we want to raise more revenue, but we don’t want to discourage ridership.”
Others in planning positions at the authority recognize the pickle in which the MTA currently finds itself. They’re trying to figure out how best to adjust fares so as not to discourage riding. “It doesn’t take much to dissuade people who are newly arrived to go back to their old ways if the economic incentives are not as good as they once were,” James Blair, the Metro-North riders’ representative to the MTA Board, said.
Therein lies the rub. The MTA just engaged in a very public plan to cut service. Two subway lines and countless bus stations got the axe, and just six months later, the authority will start to charge more for less. In the past, when fare hikes have come with service increases, the public has grudgingly accepted the higher rates, but I wonder how straphangers will respond this time. Will they hold their elected representatives responsible for abdicating their transit funding responsibilities? Will they turn to their cars and bikes while turning away from the subway system? And will these increases be enough to save a debt-ridden public transit system? Even as I ask the questions, I remain skeptical of the public’s willingness to pay more for less and less and less.
Jul
17
July 16-19 weekend service changes
Posted by: | CommentsI’ll pretty these up in the morning. For now, here are the weekend service changes as provided to me by New York City Transit.
From 4 a.m. Saturday, July 17 to 10 p.m. Sunday, July 18, downtown 1 trains run express from 137th Street to 96th Street due to track panel installation north of 125th Street.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, July 17 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 19, downtown 1 & 2 trains run express from 96th Street to 72nd Street due to the 96th Street station rehabilitation.
From 11:30 p.m. Friday, July 16 to 5 a.m. Saturday, July 17, from 11:30 p.m. Saturday, July 17 to 7 a.m. Sunday, July 18, and from 11:30 p.m. Sunday, July 18 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 19, free shuttle buses replace 2 trains between 96th Street and 149th Street-Grand Concourse due to track switch renewal north of 135th Street. During this time, 2 trains run in two sections:
- Between Brooklyn College-Flatbush Avenue and 96th Street, then rerouted to the 1 line to 137th Street
- Between 149th Street-Grand Concourse and Wakefield-241st Street
Customers may transfer between the 2 and free shuttle buses at 96th Street or 149th Street-Grand Concourse.
From 11:30 p.m. Friday, July 16 to 5 a.m. Saturday, July 17, from 11:30 p.m. Saturday, July 17 to 7 a.m. Sunday, July 18, and from 11:30 p.m. Sunday, July 18 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 19, free shuttle buses replace 3 trains between 148th Street and 96th Street. 1 and 2 trains replace the 3 between 96th Street and Times Square-42nd Street due to track switch renewal north of 135th Street.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, July 17 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 19, there are no 5 trains between East 180th Street and Bowling Green due to a chip out at Brooklyn Bridge. 2 trains replace the 5 between East 180th Street and 149th Street-Grand Concourse. 4 trains replace the 5 between 149th Street-Grand Concourse and Bowling Green.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, July 17 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 19, 6 trains service is extended to/from Bowling Green due to a track chip out at Brooklyn Bridge.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, July 17 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 18, Manhattan-bound 6 trains run express from Parkchester to Hunts Point Avenue. Note: At all times until October 2010, the Manhattan-bound 6 platform at Parkchester is closed for rehabilitation. Manhattan-bound 6 trains stopping at Parkchester will use the Pelham Bay Park-bound platform.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, July 17 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 19, Brooklyn-bound A trains run local from 59th Street to West 4th Street, then on the F to Jay Street due to work on the Fulton Street Transit Center.
From 12:01 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, July 17, uptown A trains run local from Canal Street to 59th Street-Columbus Circle due to the installation of track drain pipe.
From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, July 17 and Sunday, July 18, Brooklyn-bound C trains run on the F line from West 4th Street to Jay Street due to work on the Fulton Street Transit Center.
From 11 p.m. Friday, July 16 to 6 a.m. Saturday, July 17, from 11 p.m. Saturday, July 17 to 7 a.m. Sunday, July 18, and from 11 p.m. Sunday, July 18 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 19, Manhattan-bound D trains skip 174th-175th Sts. and 170th Street due to a track chip out north of 170th Street.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, July 17 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 19, D trains run local between West 4th Street and 34th Street-Herald Square due to work on the 5th Avenue Interlocking Signal System.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, July 17 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 19, Manhattan-bound D trains run on the N from Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue to 36th Street (Brooklyn) due to work on the 38th Street Yard.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, July 17 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 19, there is no E service between 34th Street and World Trade Center due to work on the 5th Avenue Interlocking Signal System. E trains run on the F line between Roosevelt Avenue and 34th Street-6th Avenue.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, July 17 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 19, the platforms at 5th Avenue, Lexington Avenue-53rd Street, and 23rd Street-Ely Avenue stations are closed due to work on the 5th Avenue Interlocking Signal System. Customers should take the R, 6, or free shuttle bus instead. Note: Free shuttle buses connect Court Square/23 Street-Ely Avenue, Queens Plaza, and 21st Street-Queensbridge stations.
From 12:30 a.m. Saturday, July 17 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 19, Jamaica Center-bound E trains run local from Roosevelt Avenue to Forest Hills-71st Avenue due to track work south of Elmhurst Avenue.
From 12:30 a.m. Saturday, July 17 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 19, 179th Street-bound F trains run local from Roosevelt Avenue to Forest Hills-71st Avenue to due to track work south of Elmhurst Avenue.
From 10:30 p.m. Friday, July 16 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 19, free shuttle buses replace G trains between Court Square and Bedford-Nostrand Avenues due to a concrete pour north of Metropolitan Avenue.
From 3:30 a.m. Saturday, July 17 to 10 p.m. Sunday, July 18, there are no J trains between Broadway Junction and Jamaica Center due to track panel work at Crescent Street. E trains and free shuttle buses provide alternate service.
From 11:30 p.m. Friday, July 16 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 19, there are no M trains running due to platform edge rehabilitation between Central Avenue and Metropolitan Avenue. Customers should use the free shuttle bus instead.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, July 17 to 5 a.m. Monday, July 19, N trains are rerouted over the Manhattan Bridge between Canal Street and DeKalb Avenue due to the Jay Street station rehabilitation and the construction of the underground connector to Lawrence Street.
From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, July 17 and Sunday, July 18, R trains are rerouted over the Manhattan Bridge between Canal Street and DeKalb Avenue due to the Jay Street station rehabilitation and the construction of the underground connector to Lawrence Street.
Jul
16
What cell phones and iPods hath wrought
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As I’ve mentioned in the past, nothing grates on me more while riding the train than being subjected to another person’s else’s music. I don’t want to hear the strains of Ke$ha or the latest offering from Eminem leaking out of someone’s cheap headphones while they’re sitting 15 feet away from me, and yet, I find this happens more than not in today’s age of iPods and iPhones.
For years, Amtrak has known that the best way to approach this scourge is by designating certain sections of their trains as the “quiet cars,” and now New Jersey Transit is going to pilot a similar program in the express trains that run from Trenton to New York City. Mike Frassinelli from The Star Ledger has more:
The 90-day pilot program will apply to the first and last cars of Northeast Corridor express trains on the line that runs between New York Penn Station and Trenton. If the pilot program is successful, NJ Transit could expand it to its other rail lines and beyond express routes, agency spokesman Dan Stessel said.
Passengers on the library-quiet cars will be prohibited from using cell phones and must disable sound features on pagers, games, computers and other electronic devices. Conversations must be conducted in subdued voices and headphones used at a volume that cannot be heard by other passengers.
NJ Transit will be the largest transit agency in the nation and only one in the metropolitan region to offer the amenity, NJ Transit executive director Jim Weinstein said. “It’s one of the things people ask for most often,” he said. “We expect it to be very popular.”
To inform riders of the new quiet cars, NJ Transit conductors will be handing out business cards alerting them to the upcoming change. One regular rider predicted great popularity as commuters look for some serenity on their rides home. “I believe the quiet car idea is a great concept, as many regular commuters want to enjoy some quiet time in their morning trips and also when returning after a long day at work,” John W. Nabial said. “The only downside I predict is that seating on those cars will be in great demand. Perhaps, after the initial introduction, NJ Transit may need to expand the number of cars designated as quiet cars.”
People, you see, just want some quiet as they travel. No one wants to hear other people’s noises after a long day at work or school. While an impractical solution for New York City’s packed subway system, the quiet cars should make for a better ride through New Jersey.
Jul
16
Labor mediation through media wars
Posted by: | CommentsAs the MTA and TWU prepare to head to mediation over the authority’s proposed cost-savings measures, the two sides are already engaged in a tense battle of words. In one corner: The Daily News reports that the MTA’s top earners have yet to be axed while lower paid jobs in management are being eliminated. In the other corner: Transit workers can earn overtime while on vacation. “When you go on vacation, why should your money be reduced by 15 to 20 percent?” Jim Gannon, a TWU spokesman, said to amNew York.
As labor representatives slam the MTA for keeping its top-heavy management structure in tact, the authority says it will soon begin to purge those jobs through its pending consolidation plan. The MTA says it will target overtime abuse as well. “We are looking to control unnecessary overtime as part of overhauling how the MTA does business,” spokesman Kevin Ortiz said. In the world of payroll abuses, the riders will always lose.
Jul
16
A tale of two tunnel boring machines
Posted by: | CommentsActually, because the 7 line extension had the pleasure of two tunnel boring machines digging at once, this post should probably be called “A tale of three TBMs,” but the literary reference just isn’t the same. Anyway, I digress.
This evening, I found myself walking south from 46th St. on 10th Ave. heading to meet some friends in the West Village. As I walked past the 41st St. area, I did an informal survey of the area and counted at least five buildings either brand new or under construction as well as countless other developments that were just a handful of years old. These were the buildings housing the residents who would stand to benefit with a station at 10th Ave. and 41st St. Maybe REBNY can deliver for them after all.
Little did I know that, a few hours earlier, New York City officials had gathered underground near that very same spot to celebrate a milestone. The second of the two tunnel boring machines working its way from 11th Ave. and 34th St. to 41st St. west of 8th Ave. had broken through the tunnel wall. With the other TBM reaching its destination in mid-June, the boring for the 7 line extension is complete, and now the finishing work can begin.
Shortly after 4 p.m. this afternoon, the TBM reached its destination, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, MC-ing the ceremony because the city’s billions are funding the project, toasted the progress. “It will bring us one step closer to the moment about three years from now when the number 7 train will stop at Times Square and then continue on to the new 34th Street station on the Far West Side,” he said. “And that moment will be the culmination of all of our efforts to realize the full potential of the Far West Side and revitalize an area of the city with new business and new residents and parks and open spaces.” Despite these lofty goals, the second station for this $2.1 billion expansion remains in limbo.
For the MTA, yesterday’s ceremony marked the end of a 13-month period of digging, and the MTA is ahead of the schedule. The boring, which was supposed to last 2-3 years, took six months due to cooperation between the MTA and Port Authority. With only the stations to construct and the ventilation infrastructure to build, the MTA and City are racing the clock. Will the 7 extension be open before Mayor Bloomberg’s third term is up?
A shot of Second Ave. at 90th St. where a drill probe punctured the street. Photo courtesy of The Launch Box.
Meanwhile, across town, the boring underneath Second Avenue has faced its own set of challenges. Progress, as we know, has not be swift, and a little over a week ago, crews ran into a bump in the road with a drill probe popped through the streets of Second Ave. Ben Heckscher over at The Launch Box wrote an extensive post on the incident. Here’s his retelling of the vital bits:
A drill that was connected to the Second Avenue subway TBM went off course at about 3 a.m. [on July 8] and broke through the surface of 2nd Avenue at East 90th Street.
No injuries were reported and luckily the drill did not pierce the 30-inch gas main, the 36-inch water main or any of Con Edison’s cables below the surface of Second Avenue in this area. If the drill had pierced a gas main, the consequences clearly could have been tremendous.
During the TBM mining operation, which is taking place about 60 feet below street level, the sandhogs perform a process known as “probing” using a rock drill to determine ground conditions and water inflows ahead of the TBM. Apparently one of the probes that they drilled went in an unintended direction and ended up bursting out into the open air at East 90th Street.
I spoke to Kevin Oritz at the MTA shortly after the incident, and Ortiz told me that the authority had asked the contractos to cease probe drilling while the authority investigates the accident. “We don’t anticipate this to have an impact on completing of the first run of the TBM before the end of the year,” he told me.
Still, there are real and legitimate concerns at play. South of the Launch Box and north of the 86th St. station, the MTA has not relocated utilities, and city records do not paint an accurate portrait of the goings-on underground. As Heckscher pointed out, had the drill probe ruptured the gas line, the subsequent explosion would have been catastrophic. The Upper East Side is lucky indeed that the probe drill missed these vital arteries.
And so slowly onward churn the TBMs underneath Second Ave. As the 7 line extension moves ahead on schedule, the SAS project lumbers forward with an unknown timeframe and drilling incidents that stymie progress.
Jul
15
The Rebel Alliance takes to the 6
Posted by: | CommentsImprov Everywhere, the comedy troupe known for their flash mob-like stunts, has taken to the subways numerous times. Their annual No Pants Subway Ride has become the pants-less event of the winter, and they’ve also hosted art gallery openings in a subway station and froze Grand Central.
Over the winter, they staged the first meeting between Princess Leia and Darth Vader on a 6 train. The video, released this week and embedded above, shows how straphangers reacted with glee to the prank, and those heading uptown snapped photos of the Dark Lord. The guy sitting next to Leia in the train car is clearly lovin’ it.
For some behind-the-scenes photos and an explanation of the mission, check out Improv Everywhere’s website.
Jul
15
Inside the subway station of the future
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As the MTA’s operations budget sloughs through one of its worst crisis of in New York history, the capital budget is, if not alive and well, still ticking. With a large federal contribution behind it, the Second Ave. Subway work is chugging along, and despite a drill mishap last week that I’ll cover later today, work will be completed by some time in the future.
Even if Phase 1 of the Second Ave. Subway isn’t ready for revenue service until 2018, as the Feds fear, it’s never too early to pimp the features that will be found on the new line’s three new stations. In a piece last week that got buried during the July 4th weekend, that’s exactly what the New York Post did. Reporter Joseph Goldstein spoke with the MTA about the myriad upgrades to the riding experience the Second Ave. Subway will provide, and it sounds as though the MTA is trying to show off what they could do to the city’s 106-year-old transit system with the right amount of money.
Some of the features discussed in the article have been a long time coming. For instance, the MTA unveiled plans to enclose the stations in plexiglass back in 2007. This innovation — found in modern systems and airport tram systems throughout the globe — allows for better temperature control of the stations, prevents people from falling into the tracks and ensures that track-fire-causing garbage stays out of where it isn’t supposed to be.
Some of the other innovations aren’t really innovations at all. Goldstein tells us that a sound engineering company is working to build a better public address system, and train arrival boards will be de rigueur at all of the new stations. It’s hard to get that excited about something New York should have had 15 years ago. The authority will also turn away from its sometimes drab tiling scheme to duplicate South Ferry’s bright whiteness. The walls, says The Post, will be “draped with large, white tiles that can be unhooked for cleaning and replacement.” The MTA will also be installing the wiring need for underground cell and Internet service.
The most interesting parts of Goldstein’s article concern the MTA’s sound efforts. In addition to the new PA system, “sound-absorbing fiberglass along the ceiling will reduce reverberations” while “rubber blocks wedged under train tracks will dampen the rumbling.” With the threat of music being piped in, commutes could become downright melodious.
Of course, the most cynical of New Yorkers will just imagine that these things will break and grow grimy. Plexiglass walls will be stained with fingerprints, soda, coffee and who knows what else before the first week of operations is up. The white tiling, while easy to clean, will turn grey with New York City dirt. The PA system will break just as those on the R160s have. Such are the way of things underground. We can’t expect the subway of tomorrow as we still wait for the subway of yesterday throughout the system.
Still, the MTA plows ahead. They haven’t yet, though, found a flooring that repels blacked gum, but that too might come at Second Ave. “We’re looking at surfaces that will be easier to clean the gum off of,” MTA Capital Construction head Michael Horodniceanu said. “They haven’t invented a surface yet that it won’t stick to.”
