Home View from Underground From South Ferry, some thoughts on station aesthetics

From South Ferry, some thoughts on station aesthetics

by Benjamin Kabak

I had to run a few errands in Lower Manhattan yesterday and found myself with just enough time to kill to check out the South Ferry station. The new two-track terminal on the 1 train — lost to Sandy — are walled off to the world as some sort of recovery effort continues, but the old station and the loop are back. It’s the closet we can get in New York to taking a ride back in time.

Of course, it hardly seems like it was that long ago that we had to ride the South Ferry loop, and that’s because it wasn’t. The one-track loop with its old gap-extenders and in which only the first five cars of every train can fit was decommissioned in 2009 only to be recommissioned in 2013 when the $600 million station was lost in the flood. The old station survived relatively unscathed because it’s not as far underground as the new station and because much of the sensitive infrastructure had been removed.

As I walked the curve, I was struck by the station design. On the one hand, it’s not a particularly memorable station aesthetically. As it was out of service for four years and hastily returned to use, the platforms are looking a little shoddy, and the platform extender barriers have always had a makeshift quality about them. But look up and you’ll see mosaics — like the one atop this post — that may make you smile. The old South Ferry ships line the small, curved platform, and they add character.

Throughout the subway system, these mosaics pop up with some regularity. They were a hallmark of the early IRT stations and can still be seen at Chambers St. and Astor Place, among others. They’re far more intriguing than the IND’s station tiling scheme and put the newer stations to shame. In fact, I couldn’t help but compare the old South Ferry to the new.

When the South Ferry terminal opened and I had a chance to tour it, I was struck by how sterile it appeared. The walls were infinitely white with no unique signifiers, and while the station features some of my favorite Arts of Transit installations, those hardly redeem the platforms.

This design — white on white on white — will be the norm for the foreseeable future. When the 7 line extension opens in six or seven months, the station will look quite similar to the South Ferry stop, and renderings of the Second Ave. Subway show a similar design. Anything noteworthy or specific to that particular station won’t be a part of the design.

As much as I scoff at faux-nostalgia surrounding New York’s good old days, the early teams that built the IRT had a much more aesthetically pleasing environment for the subways than the one we enjoy today. They wanted to tie each subway stop into its community and not just present something monolithically dirty. Interestingly, though, the IRT came of age when construction costs weren’t astronomical and design could be entertained. Today, costs are so high to preclude creativity, and stations will all resemble one another. Where did we go wrong?

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33 comments

Stephen Smith November 22, 2013 - 12:32 am

I really don’t think the boring design has anything to do with construction costs. You could literally buy a Picasso for the middle of the platform and then a few dozen more by slightly less well known artists for the rest of the station and it’d be a rounding error compared to the nine-digit costs of the new underground caverns.

(Fun fact: the contingency at WTC PATH, $200 million, isn’t that much less than the most expensive painting in human history.)

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Brandon November 22, 2013 - 8:11 am

How is this different from the situation with Calatrava?

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Bolwerk November 22, 2013 - 11:39 am

Calatrava’s PATH is more than an order of magnitude more expensive than $200M.

And $200M may be overpriced for what was put there.

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Nathanael November 22, 2013 - 4:00 pm

Frankly, mosaics are a lot less expensive than you might think. And the tile cleans up just as easily as any other tile. (The terracotta in the oldest IRT stations is substantially harder to maintain.)

It might be a worthwhile policy to simply replace “Arts in Transit” with “Mosaics in Transit”, requiring all artworks to be in the form of wall mosaics made of tile. 🙂 Would probably improve things a lot.

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Christopher November 22, 2013 - 12:35 am

I know I’m just a minimalist at heart but all that brick-a-brac in the tile feels unclean to me. And I often wonder if the cost to keep it is worth it. And it doesn’t age well. In some ways the new stations, aren’t much better. All that white would be great if we cleaned our stations well. I’m partial to the 1940s-70s era of institutional design. It’s more durable while still being streamlined. I learned recently that the London subway map was a part of entire program for the Underground that signified a new era of customer focus — modern stations, a unified system, clear signage, better customer service. We’ve do these things piecemeal. The MTA needs that kind of program where station experience is understood as part of a focus on the customer, instilling confidence in the system, the leadership, and a sense that we are getting what we pay for.

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John-2 November 22, 2013 - 12:51 am

The closest station new South Ferry reminded me of when it opened was 57th Street and Sixth Avenue on the F. That was probably the nicest of the Transit Authority’s “new look” stations, which began with Grant Avenue on the A and included the wholly inappropriate platform extensions on the IRT local stops north of Times Square and the IRT uptown local stops on the 6 between Brooklyn Bridge and 14th Street (and culminated in the early 1970s with the cinder-block tile remodeling work on the BMT’s Broadway-Fourth Ave. local stops).

New South Ferry didn’t jarringly clash with the original 1904 station designs as the IRT platform extensions did. But it was still such an odd choice to make, considering it was replacing a station from 1908 with relatively ornate station tablets and mosaics, and over the past 20 years the MTA has shown they can do a pretty good job recreating that look with their station restoration efforts. If anyplace should have been given a retro look at platform level to go along with the rest of the 1 train’s stops, it was that station.

With the effort they put into the platform tile restorations — plus the planned artwork they have for the fare control and mezzanines of the new SAS stations — you’d also think the MTA would decide to do something more than just plain vanilla at platform level with all the other new stations. Sixth and 57th has held up pretty well for a 45-year-old station, but visually it’s about as dull as you can get other than leaving flat, exposed concrete on the station walls and just sticking a Helvetica-font sign on it every 75 feet or so.

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Dan November 22, 2013 - 3:01 am

The construction costs shot into the sky because of unions, you can blame them for nearly halting progress in subway expansion in NYC. Instead of protecting their workers as was their original role, they’ve grown into these greedy parasites that really don’t benefit anybody but the executives running them.

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Jon November 22, 2013 - 10:48 am

What exactly can be blamed on the unions? What are the specific demands/changes that have caused construction costs to skyrocket?

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Dan November 23, 2013 - 2:56 am

A lot of otherwise shoddy workers keep their jobs and slack off on company time, which leads to project delays and budget overruns. There was a whole article not too long ago in the paper about how some Metro-North workers were abusing the clock system to get overtime for doing nothing.

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paulb November 22, 2013 - 7:33 am

Nice post.

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Brandon November 22, 2013 - 8:10 am

The old station survived relatively unscathed because it’s not as far underground as the new station”

Do we have the new station to thank for that? Or did the water that could have gone into the loop go to the Montague tube instead?

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Bgriff November 22, 2013 - 10:27 am

Without the new station having been built, I don’t believe there would have been any direct connection between the old station and the Montague tube, so while the Montague would have still been thoroughly flooded via Whitehall station, the old South Ferry loop also would have had a lot of water to cope with.

There is some question of how much the Lexington line would have flooded thanks to the connection with the South Ferry inner loop, but the NYT’s reporting on the flooding suggests that the working pumps on the Lex probably would have prevented that from getting too bad. Those pumps may also have benefited the South Ferry loop, indirectly, since old South Ferry is on a similar elevation to or even above the Lex, whereas much lower stations like Whitehall and new South Ferry wouldn’t have gotten any benefit from pumps situated at higher elevations.

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Michael Sherrell November 22, 2013 - 12:06 pm

Thanks, but I still do not know how it happened, but plenty of folk on the forums seem to have forgotten the flooded platforms at South Ferry, both the loop station, as well as the newer lower station. There were plenty of pictures of flooding at both of the those stations. They seem to have forgotten the flooding that occurred in the other subway tunnels, and how the TA used its limited number of pump trains to clear the subway tunnels of water. That the TA followed a plan that cleared the subway tunnels used by the most people first, leaving other tunnels to be cleared of water later. Something that was clearly discussed in the news media during the aftermath. There were also pictures of the flooding in those tunnels also. They seem to have forgotten the efforts that it took in the early days of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy to restore the subways, and that the subways did not somehow “magically” just start up service. Also somehow forgotten, was just how water works – seeks the lowest level and chooses its own path to that level. That just like a toilet, the water that filled the upper chamber at South Ferry would drain down to the lower chambers at South Ferry, that while such an action helped to keep some water from entering much of the connecting tunnels – that water also filled the lower South Ferry station by every means possible. That the knocking out of the East 14th Con Edison power plant which darkened almost all of Manhattan south of 39th Street had a major effect upon the pumps and systems that serviced those tunnels. That there are many buildings and places still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Sandy, and still much work to be done. I really do not know how most of the above was forgotten, it really has not been that long ago, just slightly over 1 year ago.

Since then, there has been the myth that somehow the South Ferry loop station was somehow “better” than the newer station. As if that station did not fill up with water, or suffer problems. Forgotten was the several weeks/months where even the loop station was closed, and had to be repaired. It is really interesting how forgetting works.

The old the South Ferry loop tracks and station are ABOVE the Joralemon Tunnel that carries the #4 and #5 trains to/from Brooklyn, in fact that tunnel passes through the center of the loop tracks.

Mike

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John-2 November 22, 2013 - 3:06 pm

The other thing is that ‘downhill’ out of the upper South Ferry station is the uptown 1 train’s track between SF and Rector, because that tunnel has to duck under the inner loop’s track headed back to Bowling Green. So any water in the upper station on the outer or the inner loop was going to literally gravitate towards the uptown track, and eventually to the diversion point south of Rector to the lower South Ferry station.

The problem with lower SF is that in that area it is the low point — it’s below both the Joralemon Tunnel and the Montague Tunnel. Unless the MTA had put in some sort of emergency drainage pump system similar to what was on the Lex, there was nowhere else lower for the floodwaters to go and no way to get it out of the station, as was the case with Whitehall, where the Montague Tunnel served as the drain hole.

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BoerumHillScott November 22, 2013 - 8:11 am

Across the system, it seems like the focus on artistic flourishes has moved from the platforms to the mezzanine and passageways.

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Michael Sherrell November 22, 2013 - 4:50 pm

Three points:

1) At some stations there are some really playful items. For example the whole series of little bronze statues at the Eighth Avenue and 14th Street station. My kids loved that station, looking for the statues and the little scenes. A wonderful effort.

2) Not to long ago, there was an effort by the MTA to remove much of the advertising and movie panels that existed in the subways, and at the elevated train stations. Basically leaving just bare walls of tile, or in the case of elevated stations – sheet metal. Along with this practice as a change in the advertisements permitted on the trains and buses – long panels instead of multiple shorter placards. Then the advertisements were interesting to read, because there were so many different ones that one could read, while standing in one spot.

3) The old 49th Street station on the current R, and now N trains (before the orange tile renovation) used to be a simple BMT-style tile arrangement. Of course this was when the EE and RR trains served the station, and exploring the subways was a just good hobby. (LOL)

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Eric November 24, 2013 - 10:14 am

MTA should allow advertising for free on condition that the advertiser clean/maintain the wall behind the ad.

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Kid Twist November 22, 2013 - 8:41 am

Interestingly, the architects of the original subway lamented the fact that they were basically just decorators. With few exceptions, the engineers who designed the subway put little thought into designing stations as public spaces; at stations they just made the tunnels wide enough to contain some platforms, asked the architects to put up some tiles and called it a day.

As for new South Ferry (and the Javits Center station, too), wall decor at the platform level would kind of be wasted. It’s a terminal and most of the time, both tracks were occupied by trains waiting to return uptown. Whenever I used that station, I hardly ever saw the walls.

It will be a different matter on the Second Avenue spur at 72nd and 86th streets. I hope they at least use some color or vary the materials. Reflective white tile everywhere might have made sense when stations were lit by 40-watt bulbs. We can make it more interesting now.

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AlexB November 22, 2013 - 9:27 am

I like the new station aesthetic – clean, functional, simple, it’s just what a subway is supposed to be like. The old IRT stations are old, gross and cramped. Some of the terra cotta stuff is nice but the mosaics just look like very run of the mill crap on every old building in this city. No clue why everyone loves them so much.

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Bgriff November 22, 2013 - 10:32 am

The key to the New York aesthetic is mixing the old and new: if NY were all old Woolworth-style buildings it would look outdated, but if it were all new glass towers it would be boring and tacky (look at Dubai), and if it were all mid-century simple brutalist architecture, it would be even worse (look at Boston). Modern glass towers look best when they are mixed in with some older, more elaborate architecture.

The best examples of this mixing are in subway stations like Columbus Circle and the local stations on the BMT Broadway line, where the MTA has done a pretty good job of adding more modern touches while keeping and restoring the original mosaics. Unfortunately keeping the mosaics looking good over time is a challenge the MTA hasn’t yet solved.

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Nathanael November 22, 2013 - 4:04 pm

For some reason the MTA seems to be very bad at preventing water damage on its walls. This harms pretty much every wall treatment, mosaic or not.

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Matthias November 22, 2013 - 5:02 pm

If NY were all old Woolworth-style buildings it would look AMAZING!

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Nathanael November 22, 2013 - 4:02 pm

You should consider yourself lucky — move to a city which doesn’t have mosaics on every old building and you’ll start wishing you had ’em.

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Larry Littlefield November 22, 2013 - 9:36 am

Remember the road not taken. See those gap fillers? It was to get rid of them that MTA did not consider simply extending the platform you see to the north.

Instead the alternative considered was moving the whole platform back before the curve. And the massive expensive mistake the MTA is determined to repeat.

Keep the gap fillers, replace a few trees, fix up the station, add ADA, and you could have a perfectly nice station with no escalators and full platforms. And any aesthetics you like.

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Nathanael November 22, 2013 - 4:02 pm

It’s *very* hard to make ADA compliant gap-fillers.

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Phantom November 22, 2013 - 9:41 am

No one is praising the ultra-cramped IRT platforms. Or the skinny IRT trains.

But I so love the small, simple, elegant mosaics / tilework etc also, as they were built in the IRT sometimes in the BMT stations. They’re little treasures, little bits of beauty and humanity and art in the busy iron world of the subway.

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tacony November 22, 2013 - 9:53 am

This design — white on white on white — will be the norm for the foreseeable future.

But “white on white on white” is dramatic, especially at the ribbon-cutting. It looks terrible over time because the MTA refuses to keep it clean and water eventually intrudes, but with these massive public works projects we’re all about day 1. Regular cleaning and preventative maintenance are an afterthought.

We’re also very reactionary in these kinds of things. The old stations are kitschy so of course the new generation of stations must be sterile. Compare it to public housing. New York is basically the only place where we haven’t replaced the project towers-in-the-park with HOPE VI faux-suburban vinyl-sided cookie cutter houses with little patches of individual lawns. We always go from one extreme to the other.

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John-2 November 22, 2013 - 11:08 am

I think rather than a reaction to the original 1904-40 station designs of the IRT, BMT and IND, the current bland stations are a return to the TA’s late 1960s ethos from the more garish look of the orange-tile 1970s and 80s (I like the slightly more muted color tone of 49th Street on the N/Q/R and have no problem with the MTA keeping it as it is. But I’m not fond of Bowling Green’s modernization or the 63rd Street line’s stops, let alone the Archer Avenue extension stations — the latest wall deigns may be bland in the manner of 57th-6th, but they’re still a step up from Parsons, Sutphin and Jamaica-Van Wyck).

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Nathanael November 22, 2013 - 4:03 pm

I think the orange-tile look has something to be said for it, actually. I wouldn’t want it everywhere, but it feels like someone cared.

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Michael Sherrell November 22, 2013 - 4:31 pm

I actually kind of like the Bowling Green station, considering what the station used to look like before its re-construction in the 1970’s: 1 single main platform for both downtown and uptown trains, and a very short South Ferry shuttle platform with a small underpass between the platforms. The head-house near Battery Park, next to the old Customs House – currently the American Indian Museum – was the only entrance and exit, with a small booth for tokens.

The brand new uptown platform, the additional entrances, escalators, stairways, exits and added much later the elevators to the platforms — made a small cramped station much better. The much bigger and iconic entrance actually at Bowling Green Park. The orange tile was something that was VERY DIFFERENT to the usual IRT type of station design. Now some things did not wear well over time. The futuristic seating or the lighted ceiling panels. All in all, a major improvement over what used to be there. Bowling Green, like the old #7-train pathway between Sixth Avenue and Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, had a series of beige and brown artistic panels that had scenes of old New York and the street above, in this on the uptown platform -which were a very nice touch.

Whether one was traveling from the Bronx, or from Brooklyn – you KNEW that you were at Bowling Green. In giving directions, all one had to say was “get off at the orange station”.

Mike

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Rob November 22, 2013 - 2:42 pm

Is the new station $600 million worth better than the old? [even aside from its flood susceptibility]

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Nets Cowbell Guy November 22, 2013 - 3:43 pm

Any update when SF Terminal will reopen?

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Michael November 23, 2013 - 8:49 pm

There were two very destructive events that brought about the new Whitehall Ferry Terminal, and the new South Ferry train station. Any discussion about the improvements that those two facilities brought about has to take into account the reasons why there were improvements and construction in the first place. A September 1991 fire at the Whitehall Ferry Terminal which gutted the building – lead to ideas about the construction of a new terminal, reconfiguring the nearby streets, creating a useable plaza and to ideas about building a new subway station for the #1 train. While the destruction of the ferry terminal building did not directly affect the subway station below, the destruction of the World Trade Center did. The effort to rebuilding lower Manhattan after the towers fell provided the funding to build the new South Ferry station. Here was the very rare chance to build from the ground up – a whole transportation facility that not only handled ferries, buses, subwy trains, bikes, pedestrians, build new parkland and a street plaza.

While some folks want to only stress the South Ferry subway station itself, the total package also has to be looked at. Having used the old loop South Ferry station regularly since 1990, and now using it again, here are some of the positive differences with the new South Ferry station:

a) the ability to handle two full-length trains at one time – this provides a great deal of flexibility for the MTA in the scheduling and handling of trains. The previous loop station was a “what comes in – is what goes out” kind of arrangement. This required trains to wait at Chambers Street for their “scheduled leaving time”, as well as trains to wait at Rector Street for riders to walk along the platforms to reach the correct cars. The loop station, the platform extenders and the wait time at Chambers Street all have an effect on the “through-put” of the whole #1 line. In addition the slow speeds needed to engage the platform extenders, and the slow speed needed to retract those platform extenders.

While in theory a loop station should have a maximum “through put” in practice this limited the #1 to about 17 trains per hour, when most terminals on the subways are rated at 30 trains per hour at their maximum given the signal system. This is not to say that most of the subway terminals (except 179th Street in Queens) actually handle 30 trains per hour, or that such an amount is actually scheduled, or needed.

The loop station also had no crew facilities within easy reach of the station or trains – meaning that crews often had to wait until the train reached an uptown terminal before a relief break could be used. Crews had to remain with the train for both the trip downtown or for return trips uptown. Unlike other terminals where the crew can leave the train for relief, at South Ferry this was not the case. I am simply stating that the loop station placed limits upon the flexibility and usefulness of the terminal as a terminal.

b) Full length platforms – no more ever having to be inside the first five cars of the #1 train, or watching people going silly about such an event. It was/is really tiresome and annoying each day seeing mass rushes of people galloping toward the first car thinking that they’d not be able to get off. Some folks were very frantic about being at the “right place”. Most normal riders do not have to worry about such stuff. Most regular ferry riders who rode the #1 trains knew that the real secret was to be in the THIRD car from the front, because that was nearest to the single stairway exits.

No more just catching the #1 train at a station uptown, then having to wonder just what car you’re in, and having to walk along the platforms at either Chambers Street or Rector Street to get to right car. Or getting left by the conductor as they closed the doors while you’re walking down the platform, hoping to get on the train. Or having to walk along any platform just to be at the front section of the train – ALL of the time. Most regular riders do not have to concern themselves with that hassle. While 145th Street station on the #3 is also a similarly short station, the 148th Street is nearby. Being in the wrong car on the #1 can mean missing the boat by crucial minutes, meaning a 30 or 60 minute wait for the next ferry.

Most transit fan folks really do not consider that often the very front and back-most ends of many subway stations are really not the most pleasant places to be. Think about the southern section of the #1, #2 or #3 Chambers Street station – utter unpleasantness once past the on-platform station office. There are other stations where the whole front section (depending upon the direction of the train) are very much unpleasant. Being able to stand ANYWHERE you want along the platform, means that one does not HAVE to THINK about one’s position while traveling. The users of the South Ferry loop station always had to THINK about their position on the train – EVERY DAY – EVERY TIME. Making a mistake would mean traveling around the loop back to Rector Street, and then a good walk to the ferry, and definitely missing that boat.

c) multiple stairways, escalators, entrances and exits. To forever be freed from the mad crazy crowds and rushes of people all using the same single stairway for both getting into and out of the station. The crushes of people using the single entrance/exit made the small loop station dangerous. The mad rush of people using the station after a boat has docked, or when mad rushes of people are trying to get to the boat just before it leaves. At times it was like the “Clash of the Titans” when a boat let out and a train let out at the same time – as folks both tried to enter and leave the station through the single entrance and exit stairway.

The rush of the crowds actually performed a kind of “group think”. When the crowds slowed down when it was near “ferry time” – those at the back end of the crowd queued for the single stairway knew, without it being said that the ferry was gone. There was no need what so ever to rush upstairs anymore. Everybody on the line was in for a 30 or 60 minute wait for the boat. There was nothing more that needed to be said.

d) multiple stairways, escalators, entrances and exits. While most folks connect the South Ferry station to the Ferry Terminal building, there are plenty of folk in the nearby office buildings who USE the station, but not the ferries. Meaning that the single entrance/exit inside and right near the ferry terminal building was not serving their needs. The lack of escalators or elevators for handicapped persons, or for those that might need assistance getting to and from the platforms or through the cramped entrance and exit were not served well. The loop station requires the ability to handle stairs, and for those who have difficulty the loop station can be a problem. When my nieces and nephews were smaller in strollers that station was definitely not a fun place. The platform extenders can be dangerous for little children.

e) electronic signage, multiple turnstyles – it very helpful really knowing when the next train will arrive or depart. At least a bit of the nerve jarring calculations about catching or missing the next ferry can be reduced. The loop station had very few seats or benches something that one noticed when having to wait a long time for a train.

The squeals of both the #1 train, and the #5 trains as they traveled into and out of the South Ferry loop stations was complete and utter noise pollution! The sound is truly deafening, and there is no way to sugar-coat it, or make it pleasant. The equipment that sprayed the rails to quiet the squealing sound only could do so much, one still had to cover their ears. The newer station was QUIET! One really did not “mind” waiting on the platform or in a train waiting to leave. On this score alone, there is a clear difference between the loop station, and the newer station.

f) MetroCard Vending Machines – Inside the ferry terminal building, near what is now Nathan’s, there used to be three MetroCard vending machines. These machines were very useful for adding money to your MetroCard. They also meant that one did not have to actually “enter the subway” to add money to the MetroCard, something very helpful when one is not actually “using the subway”, but using the bus.

There are very few places on Staten Island that have MetroCard vending machines, (St. George, recently Tompkinsville, the middle-of-the-island transit center, that’s it) something that is especially useful when placing money on your card. The multiple entrances at South Ferry also meant MORE MetroCard vending machines! While it meant that a trip to Manhattan was needed, more machines is MORE MACHINES. However, this now means one has to “go down into the subway” in order to add money to your MetroCard, even if you’re not actually using the subway. For those using the bus, this means a kind of “run around trip” at the terminal and plaza.

g) a free connection to the R-train at Whitehall Street – at times rather helpful. The connection to the R-train adds flexibility to one’s travel plans. Plus this station and the R-train connection helped to make some of the G.O.’s that involved the #2, and #3 trains getting to/from Brooklyn when the usual tunnels were closed much simpler. Having the northern entrance of the new station line up with the Brooklyn-bound entrance of the #4 and #5 trains at Bowling Green, the original head house – completely simplified G.O. caused transfers between those lines. The riders simply had to walk a straight line from one entrance to the next to reach Brooklyn, from northern #1 exit for the southern Brooklyn-bound #4 entrance – simplicity at its best.

g) Both the new and the old station at the old Whitehall Ferry Terminal requires one to to walk outside in all kinds of weather to reach any of the subways. Since the 1960’s the previous entrance to the South Ferry loop station was under a curving ramp from the ferry terminal. This entrance/exit served as both the #1 and old South Ferry shuttle platforms through separate turnstyles. Neither station ever had mezzanines or on-platform “fare control areas” except for this small cramped entrance. (The South Ferry shuttle, I’m told might have had another entrance that was closed to the public on the side by Battery Park when the shuttle stopped service.)

In any case, ferry riders leaving the terminal – in all kinds of weather – had to make a hasty retreat between the subway entrances/exits and the ferry building. This practice continues today, even though the ferry terminal designers tried to make some kind of circular canopy walkway between the entrances. The circular canopy simply does not work, being ever so slightly better than nothing.

As construction of the new terminal building progressed an exterior metal shed type building served as the entrance and exit to the loop South Ferry station. This temporary metal shed building had its single platform stairway basically at the point where the new opening entrance to the loop platform exists today within the joined station.

From about 2005 to 2009, that was the only time in my memory that one did not have to walk inside in all kinds of weather to get or from the #1 trains then to or from the ferries upstairs. The single “inside slightly less cramped” entrance/exit that was placed inside the ferry terminal building was a much needed improvement.

Unfortunately the building of the new station – which actually connected to one of the original pedestrian pathways of the R-train Whitehall Street station – while coming physically close to the ferry terminal building still means a trek outside in the elements to get to and from the subways all of the time.

f) The new bus ramps and park plaza are pleasant additions for what used to be a very sterile place. The new bike pathway around the whole plaza complex serves to extend the bike path around Lower Manhattan. The new nearby Citi-Bike racks also extend this method of getting around. The bus ramp that serves what is now the SBS M-15 shows what can be done, when given the change to re-imagine a public space. The old collection of small streets and triangles that fronted the old terminal has been re-shaped into a beautiful useful plaza.

g) I really like the new Whitehall Ferry Terminal, it is several dozen orders of magnitude so much better than the one that burnt down, or the very cramped “not so temporary” temporary terminal that replaced it. In the design phase of the terminal there were arguments about its features, whether cars could or would be carried on the boats, provisions for various features, etc. There were also clashes about the design of the building, including much talk about a supposed clock or working digital signage on the water front face of the building. There were also much talk about the new boats being designed, capacities, features, etc. The construction of the new terminal also had to take place while some vestige of still operating ferry terminal remained. The construction of the new terminal, and its plaza also had to consider the building of a new subway station underground in front of the terminal building.

While the Whitehall Ferry Terminal building officially opened in 2005, much of it was open in 2004. Since then at least several shops inside the ferry terminal have opened – though several spaces remain to be rented and all of them have tourist prices. The recent addition of wi-fi service in terminal is a very nice touch. I love the air-conditioning, however waiting an hour for the boats on the weekends still truly sucks. The bathrooms need to be completely renovated, with the late-night small bathrooms being just this side of hell. I still say that there should be more seating available – having people sitting on the floor while waiting for the hourly boats is like a scene from Calcutta. I am serious it is disgraceful. The brightly lit building is however welcoming as one of the few destinations downtown since the WTC towers fell, besides Battery Park City at night.

h) Along with the Ferry Terminal improvements on the Staten Island side, the newer Molinari ferry boats – all in all the “ferry travel environment” is so much better than it used to be. While there are some things that remain to be done – it is not often that one gets to re-envision and rebuild multiple use transit facilities. Yes, it took two very terrible destructive actions, and a very long time to rebuild from those events, but overall the whole effect was worth it.

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The folks who keep saying that the old loop South Ferry station is in all ways “better” than the newer stub-end station, simply did not have to use the old loop station, day-in, day-out, at all times of day and at night, in all kinds of weather, year after year, with the ear-percing squealing #1 and #5 trains into and out of the station, the crowds into and out of the station with a single entrance and exit stairway, the rushing for the boat or else a long waits for the next boat, the continual almost never ending series of G.O.’s and bus substitutions that have affected the #1, and the other hassles of having to take the ferry all of the time. Adding in the fire that destroyed the old Ferry terminal, its decade long set of not so “temporary terminals”, and all of the almost never-ending construction work both at the site, and at the WTC site that affects the #1. It was never just about the trains.

There are some who want to go back to only having and using the short old loop station, not wanting to repair the damaged newer station. I flat out dis-agree with that sentiment. I am a transit fan, and I am an urban planner, and I live on Staten Island – and have used the old loop station for years. Was spending the money to build a new terminal a useful endeavor – In My Opinion – YES! I say that without any qualifiers or second thoughts. Am I upset that the newer station was heavily damaged by Hurricane Sandy – and needs much repair work – Yes! I also know that many people in the region lost their homes and businesses, that many people suffered in the storm and during the aftermath. And many still suffer. The repairs and construction work will take time. Like the other two destructive actions that brought about these changes, maybe the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy offers the opportunity to do some things different and better than before.

Mike

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