My fridge, complete with a T train, in all of its glory.
It will be a long, long time before the robin’s egg blue T train makes it way down Second Ave. In fact, the T isn’t set to begin service until Phase 3 extends the subway route to Houston St., and the Q will run north of 57th St. when Phase 1 is completed. That’s not, however, stopping the MTA from cashing in.
Last August, I wrote about the T train-themed merchandise for sale at the Transit Museum gift shop, and this week, Christine Haughney reports that the Second Ave. Subway stuff is selling like hot cakes.
According to the Transit Museum, out of 23 subway lines, the T is the 10th best seller. Of course, the famous A train, immortalized by Billy Strayhorn, is the top seller, but T teddy bears, mouse pads and t-shirts beat out such popular routes as the 2, B and D trains. Some designers, though, as Haughney reports, aren’t impressed:
the authority has alienated some designers more comfortable decorating the beige and taupe living rooms of the Upper East Side. Ms. Hilton said that she rarely had clients request blue or teal. One client, a 10-year-old girl, has asked that her bedroom be decorated in baby blue and her bathroom in turquoise. “In my world, it’s not a popular color,” she said. “But kids are asking for these colors.”
It happens that teal has been identified by the fashion world as color of the year. “It has a very upscale connotation,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, which surveys fashion designers each year and determines the latest color. “People with more discriminating tastes tend to choose that as a favorite color.”
John Barman, a prominent designer on the Upper East Side, echoed Ms. Hilton’s concerns about having a turquoise train line in beige territory. He hopes the city never pairs the turquoise T line with its orange lines, because that would produce a garish Howard Johnson effect. “It’s more of a Florida color,” he said delicately.
Amusingly — or sadly — enough, the MTA is cashing in on the T train when there’s no guarantee we’ll even see the T train. Optimistically, Phase 3 of the Second Ave. Subway won’t be around until at least 2030, and right now, the dollars for more than just Phase 1 aren’t there. But get your T train shirts while you still can. It might just be a collector’s item.
While the MTA is realizing dollars from a dream, others are making real money carting out Second Ave. dirt and debris. WNYC’s Ilya Maritz followed the rubble from underneath Second Ave. to various locations around the city. Some of the rock has gone to St. Peter’s College which is using it to build a dorm while much of is going toward creating the Ferry Point Golf Course in the Bronx as well. Ultimately, SAS construction has produced around 5000 tons of debris per day, but contracts have sold only around 1000-2000 tons daily for approximately $11 per ton. All in all, it’s not a bad day’s work.
26 comments
I would be thrilled if we actually got Phase II, so that the connection with stations at 125th Street would provide an emergency and GO alternative to the Lex and a way for MetroNorth riders to use transit to get to the institutional complex on the far East Side.
This whole piece to 125th Street would probably be open if Sheldon Silver didn’t stop the MTA from building it, demanding that consulting fees be spent on the the entire line (including the part serving his district) before any of it was allowed to go forward (although East Side Access was allowed to proceed). Hey Sheldon, I’ll never let that be forgotten!
Let stop calling it the Second Avenue Subway and start calling it the Broadway Line extension.
That 125 cup handle is such a thoroughly rotten idea. The SAS should go straight up into the Bronx. Once it goes under the Harlem River it can go right under 3rd Ave, with a transfer at 138/3 to the #6 and with a transfer at 149/3 to the #2/#5, where passengers could be siphoned of the Lex services before they reach 125. As to Metro North: reopen Mott Haven station (138/GC) and let MNR passengers change for the Lex there as an alternative.
As with the 63 St lIne, the SAS is being designed by idiots.
On the bright side, they don’t seem to be hindering the potential for a future Bronx-bound service continuing under the Harlem River.
SAS Phase 2 curves west under 125th, making a westbound extension easier than a northbound one – to say nothing of the fact that 125th crosstown adds transit coverage, whereas 3rd Avenue duplicates Metro-North and subway lines that don’t have capacity problems in the Bronx.
SAS Phase 2 also includes a northward-pointing bellmouth at the curve, to allow for future expansion to the Bronx.
That said, I agree that a westward extension would probably be more useful.
Is that bellmouth going to have a flying junction or is it at grade?
The reality of MNRR right now is it prices out people in The Bronx. Looking at a Google transit map of The Bronx, I don’t especially see the duplication – at least not until you pass 165th Street or so, and there’s no reason not to go in another direction before that neighborhood.
I think I would favor a crosstown service myself, but in The Bronx, approximately paralleling the Cross-Bronx somehow, as that provides more potential mobility. 125th could be well-served by buses, and I’m usually the last to say that.
They should just go with the T name when it opens, just to give people the sense that it is a “whole new line”
Loving the fridge magnets. I sport a T train t-shirt myself but I guess I shouldn’t be wearing it much if it turns out to be a collector’s item.
Makes for a good conversation piece. I’ve even had baffled tourists gawk at me.
Ben, bet if you asked nicely enough, the NTA would get you a (K) train magnet to complete your name!
Any subways affected by that quake?
Have gotten no reports yet of any earthquake-related delays or problems.
I am in Northern Virginia visiting family right now. Sirens started up everywhere shortly after the quake, but I don’t know if that’s related. This house held up okay, and it 150-year-old farmhouse. Here is the USGS info. Going by my FB feed, it was felt as far away as Quebec.
I heard parts of Manhattan are being evacuated and JFK was shut down. True?
USA Today timeline says Fox News reported JFK shutdown.
JFK was indeed shut down, and planes were made to stop over at middle-of-nowhere airports like Hartford.
The Transit Museum’s sales ultimately go towards the Transit Museum, which is under the MTA umbrella but for the most part self-funded. “The MTA is cashing in” is a bit misleading…
With the “Q” now going to Astoria, we may see the “T” sooner than you think. I doubt anyone has come up with a formal plan of where the designations will be once Phase 1 opens up, but part of me thinks we’re more likely to see a “T” than a reincarnation of the “W”.
Since people will presumably be used to the Q extension by then, I would think the most logical course of action would be to extend a new W up Second Ave.
But I don’t care what they call it. I just want them to build the damn thing!
The W train only went to Whitehall Street, and it didn’t offer 24 hour service. Whatever Broadway line train that goes up Second Avenue will need to do so 24 hours a day, and will need to go to Brooklyn. So that will be the Q train.
Some other train can supplement the N to a Astoria, or they can just put extra runs on the N, particularly from Whitehall Street to Astoria (defacto recreating the W)
Not to say I have a problem with doing it that way, but by the time a new service is instituted, the W will be fairly ancient history. If Q service patterns continue that long, IMHO it may make more sense to keep the Q as it is to avoid confusion.
Look at a track map. The inner tracks at 57th St. – which are fed from the Manhattan Bridge – continue across 63rd. The outer tracks – which are fed from Whitehall St. – only run to 60th. If the Q were to continue to run to Astoria with the W running up 2nd, the two would have to cross paths.
The extra Whitehall service will run to Astoria, whether it’s called the W or something else. One of the bridge trains, either the Q or the N, will run to 2nd. Count on it.
I guess, but I didn’t take a switch to be out of the question before 57th Street. (Link to the map.)
Theoretically, if crowding on the Second Avenue Line is going to be pretty bad, they could send the (N) and (Q) up Second Avenue, and reincarnate the (W) to serve Astoria.
This would provide frequent service down Second Avenue, and would solve the issue of the (N) and (Q) having to switch multiple times and block each other (the southbound (N) and (Q) meet south of Prince Street, and the northbound (N) and (Q) meet north of Herald Square. Now, they just make the merge to get onto the Manhattan Bridge and they’re all set)
The issue of course is that Whitehall Street can’t handle a whole bunch of (W) trains terminating there, so some would have to be sent into Brooklyn.
I’m hoping they bring back the K and W trains so I can spell out my name in magnets, too.
What a cruel joke. None of us will live long enough to ever ride a “T” train. Of course I did frequently ride the original “T”, the Bway-West End Express via Bridge (Stillwell to Astoria) back in pre Christie St days. Shows you how old I am.
The fact that they couldn’t get it to 125 St. as part of Phase 1 is pathetic. And yeah, I thought about getting a T-shirt. *snare drum*