Security breach! Everyone panic! That, at least, is the word coming out of the Second Ave. Subway this morning, but should it be? The story, as reported sensationally by The Post, goes as follows: Four twenty-somethings who label themselves urban adventurers were arrested and charged with criminal trespass early Sunday morning when they were spotted entering the Second Ave. Subway tunnel at 112th St. The Post, trying to equate this development with a PATH tunnel breach as well, claims these incidents are indicative of a lack of security surrounding the city’s rail infrastructure. I’m not so sure the two are analogous.
What happened underneath Second Ave. is, whether we admit it or not, a common happenstance. A savvy, if unsubtle, group of explorers who know about the preexisting parts of the Second Ave. Subway well north of and disconnected from the current launch box at 96th St. hopped into the abandoned tunnel to take photos. Despite The Post’s reporting, these trespassers were not able to gain access to any areas of the Second Ave. Subway under construction. This happens at abandoned stations and shuttered areas of the subway system all the time. It’s happened at South 4th Street with the Underbelly Project; it’s happened at City Hall in that abandoned station. It simply shows that off-limits areas of the system are not immune from penetration.
The bigger question concerns our personal safety. Should we be worried about the porous nature of the subway system? I’ve written in the past about how vulnerable our subway system is, and in the post-Bin Laden era, that still holds true. It’s nearly impossible to protect and guard over 700 miles of track and open-ended tunnels. I doubt terrorists are going to target an abandoned half mile of subway along 112th St. and Second Ave, but access is easy enough for those willing to try.
While the demise of the MetroCard is still a few years away, the MTA already knows what its next-generation fare payment technology will resemble. In fact, the authority has produced a 140-page “Concept of Operations” that includes, according to the authority, “a detailed definition of what the MTA wants the system to do.” It does not, however, offer a technical solution for the system, and to that end, the authority will present its new fare payment system to an extensive group of industry experts this week. 
One of the major themes that’s developed on Second Ave. Sagas over the past four and a half years has concerned Albany. Our elected representatives who oversee the MTA and the downstate transit funding apparatus are not very good at their jobs. The MTA was born out of the need to isolate fare decisions from the demands of politics, and politicians have turned that structure around to use the MTA as a favorite whipping boy and political goat. 
The subways are getting dirtier, the Straphangers Campaign said today in its annual Shmutz Survey, and the R train is the worst of all.