Every few months, when the MTA institutes seemingly endless weekend service changes that rob some neighborhoods of their train service, local news outlets feature stories on the economic impact of the subway service reductions. Every few months, I’m reminded of how New Yorkers take the subway system for granted and how truly important it is for the city’s economy.

This month, we have two stories from two different neighborhoods. DNA Info highlights how the L train service changes impact Brooklyn businesses. Foot traffic is always done when the L train doesn’t run, and even though merchants know the service cuts are for technological upgrades, it doesn’t help ease the pain.

Daniel Squadron, the State Senator who represents the area, has asked the MTA to make sure the diversions are only when necessary. “Good coordination, communication and planning can help make the effects less damaging for businesses and communities,” he said to DNA Info. “This is the first step, organizing businesses together to identify solutions for mitigating the effects.”

Meanwhile, business owners in Long Island City are living through a lengthy 7 line outage, and they’re suffering as well. Right now, we’re amidst a stretch without the 7 serving the area until April, and Transit says it will happen again for six weekends after baseball season ends. “It happens every year,” one restaurant manager said. “So we’ve been dealing with it for the last nine years.”

New businesses too are noticing the impact. A new comedy club in Long Island City says that advanced sales are down when the subway is out. People who would otherwise make the trip from Manhattan do not care to add a longer walk or a shuttle bus ride to their journey. His compromise is to refund those who do come $2.25, the price of their ride. “If the MTA is going to give us a middle finger, we might as well fight back with ours,” Steve Hofstetter, the club owner, said.

Now, none of this should come as a surprise. After all, a city of 8 million with its central business district an island wouldn’t be able to function without the subway system. The city wouldn’t be as vast and as powerful if millions didn’t have relatively quick and efficient ways to get around. The subway is the lifeblood of the city’s economy.

Yet, oftentimes, complaints and not appreciation are the norm. We want better service, cleaner stations, fewer problems. We want cheaper fares and faster construction. We want the system to be better so we don’t have to worry as much about our travel options. None of these desires are wrong, and if anything, they show how New Yorkers want more out of their transit system. More though requires political and economic support. Without a voice fighting for the subways and without the proper mix of subsidies that spur on growth, we’re left with a system that will sag under its age.

Whether New Yorkers care to recognize it or not, the city is what it is because of the subways. Perhaps it was dumb luck that got us here, and we’ve sort of stalled as the subway system hasn’t expanded in decades. But we need look no further than businesses that suffer when the subway isn’t running to appreciate the impact public transit has on our city. It may not always be pretty, but we’d be lost without it.

Straphangers awaiting a downtown train at West 4th Street make good use of the station's wooden benches. (Photo by flickr user Grim Santo)

The wooden benches that fill our subway system offer something of a respite for weary travelers. Wood because the material has been cheap and is fairly resilient to everything people throw at it, the benches are designed with low, thick arm rests to discourage permanent residents, but they seem to attract everything from blackened gum to spilled beverages and any unidentifiable liquid in between. They’re also on the way out.

For years, we’ve been hearing about Transit’s plans to replace the wooden benches. In late 2010, the MTA first started debating potential replacements. Some folks, in the wake of reports of bed bugs in mid-2008, called the wood unhygienic while others thought that stainless steel, a potential replacement, was too cold, both literally and figuratively, for the subway system. Yet, stainless steel doesn’t rot or attract bugs, and it seems to have won the day.

As Pete Donohue reports in today’s Daily News, Transit will begin to phase out wooden benches in exchange for the stainless steel variety. Sneak a peek at the planned replacements right here. Donohue has more:

The MTA has chosen a sleek, modern style to be installed in stations when they come up for major overhauls or more modest face-lifts, the MTA said. One of the new subway seats is already in place at the R station at Whitehall St., at the southern tip of Manhattan where straphangers gave mixed reviews.

“It’s better,” Luis Pares, 46, a concierge from New Jersey, said of the metal three-seat bench. “It’s more comfortable. It’s the best thing they’ve invented.”

But Carol Godfrey, 52, a subway conductor who plopped down on it while waiting for a train home called it “horrible…It’s cold,” she said. “There’s nothing like the old wooden ones. They’re sturdier. Put back the old wooden benches. No, put back new wooden benches.”

That, folks, is a perfect example of a he said/she said story. One person likes the subway benches; the other does not. Such are the way of things underground.

If we go slightly beneath the surface, it’s easy to discern the decision-making process here. First, stainless steel benches will last longer than wood. Instead of absorbing anything that lands on them, the benches will deflect instead. Second, as Godfrey noted, by being literally colder than wood, the benches could discourage long-term inhabitants from moving in. They too have arm rests to discourage horizontal sleeping. Ultimately, says the MTA, stainless steel is “easier and less costly to maintain” although the authority didn’t release cost figures for the new benches.

Despite this new approach though, don’t expect to see the new benches spring up too frequently. The cash-starved authority says it can replace wooden benches only when the stations they’re in are up for full renovations. It will be a gradual phase-in as the new and old co-mingle throughout the system. Meanwhile, I wonder what will happen to Tom Otterness’ little fellows at 14th St. who make a better use of those wooden benches than anyone else around.