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.