Second Ave. Sagas

Map: FASTRACK hits the West Side

by Benjamin Kabak February 8, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on February 8, 2012

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the MTA’s Orwellianly-named FASTRACK program continues next week as stations and tracks along the West Side IRT will be without service for four nights. Starting on Monday, the MTA will be terminating all 3 service at 10 p.m. while the 1 and 2 will run only between their northern terminals and 34th St./Penn Station. West Side redundancies, however, will ease commuters’ angst.

To ready for this service change, the MTA has published a map showing connections and the outages. I’ve included the Manhattan portion above and the Brooklyn portion below. To see the entire thing as a PDF, click here. The authority has also summarized the changes.

From 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. and from Monday night through Friday morning of next week, the following route changes go into effect.

The 1 will run between 34 St-Penn Station and 242 St
The 2 will run between 34 St-Penn Station and E 180 St; Rerouted via between E 180 St and Dyre Av
Free shuttle buses run to/from 3 stations at 148 St, 145 St, and 135 St.
The 4 will be extended to New Lots Av early, trains run local in Brooklyn
The 5 will run its regular route between Flatbush Av and E 180 St; Rerouted via the 2 between E 180 St and 241 St.
42 Street Shuttle runs all night.

While those who rely on the East Side trains had fewer redundancies at least north of 14th Street, those who are traveling between Brooklyn and Manhattan on the 2 or 3 will be able to rely on the BMT and IND lines on the West Side or the 4 and 5 in Lower Manhattan. Straphangers who must transfer and wait for another train will find their commutes lengthened.

FASTRACK will continue along 6th Ave. at the end of the month and along 8th Ave. in mid-March. I have an inquiry in with the MTA as to why the Broadway line hasn’t been included in this program and will report back when I have an update.

February 8, 2012 16 comments

PANYNJ

Port Authority audit shines light on organizational flaws

by Benjamin Kabak February 7, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on February 7, 2012

When I started writing Second Ave. Sagas, Peter Kalikow was in charge of the MTA. Since then, I’ve seen Lee Sander and Dale Hemmerdinger take the reins; I’ve seen Helena Williams succeed them on an interim basis; I’ve seen Jay Walder come and go; and now Joe Lhota sits atop the agency. Depending upon how you wish to count, that’s six folks in charge over the span of five years and three months. With that kind of turnover, it’s amazing anything at the MTA gets accomplished at all.

The Port Authority has it worse. It must answer to two state governors and has a complex leadership structure that has seen seven executive directors since 2001 and frequent turnover in the chairmanship position as well. It was tasked with rebuilding the World Trade Center, and it recently enacted steep fare hikes and toll increases in order to fund an ambitious capital plan. It is a deeply dysfunctional and non-transparent bureaucracy that can’t even answer simple FOIA requests in less than four months.

Yesterday, Navigant Consulting released an independent audit of the organization, and its critique was a scathing one. Their preliminary review revealed ” a challenged and dysfunctional organization suffering from a lack of consistent leadership, a siloed underlying bureaucracy, poorly coordinated capital planning processes, insufficient cost controls, and a lack of transparent and effective oversight of the World Trade Center program that has obscured full awareness of billions of dollars in exposure to the Port Authority.”

The headlines today are all focusing on the World Trade Center. The Port Authority must contribute $7.7 billion — and perhaps a few hundred million more — to rebuild the felled towers, and no one can offer a regular accounting for the project. For those of us who have seen the costs of the Calatrava PATH terminal jump by a few billion dollars, this revelation can hardly be much of a surprise.

The more alarming lesson from the audit though concerns the Port Authority’s capital plan. As the PA is now, Navigant charges, a major real estate developer and holding company, it may not have the money or capacity to realize its ambitious capital plan. Navigant is urging further examination of the plan and process.

For now, though, what I read in the audit — available here as a PDF — reminds me, in part, of the MTA a whole bunch of years ago. The organization is overflowing with unnecessary and redundant positions while workers are making far too much money for their jobs, and no one really understands the organizational structure within the authority. Patrick Foye, a former MTA Board member, is now in charge, and he’ll have to do what Jay Walder spent a few years doing at the MTA. Cutting costs and reorganizing will become key buzz words.

For their parts, the men in charge seem to recognize this reality. “The consultant’s preliminary review underscores the need for the Port Authority to refocus,” Foye, the Executive Director, said. “A poorly coordinated capital planning process, insufficient cost controls and a lack of transparent and effective oversight of the World Trade Center program that has obscured full awareness of billions of dollars in exposure to the Port Authority all played a role in getting us to where we are today. Further, having the World Trade Center as the focal point of the agency’s work over the last decade has led to mission drift from our core role. We have much work to do to fulfill the agency’s mission as the provider of critical transportation infrastructure needs for the region and as an engine for economic growth and job creation. I am fully committed to working with the Governors and with Chairman Samson, Vice Chairman Rechler and the full Board to get this agency back on track.”

That’s a mouthful of buzzwords, but it has to become a reality. We’re too dependent upon Port Authority infrastructure for the agency to falter. It must move beyond the World Trade Center. It must address our 21st Century needs. It must find some stability at the top. As the MTA seeks stable funding sources, the Port Authority must become leaner. Not doing so puts our transportation infrastructure at a great risk indeed.

For a more skeptical take on the audit and the Port Authority’s work at the WTC site, check out this piece by Steve Cuozzo. Like I am, Cuozzo is highly skeptical of the billions spent on the PATH hub, few of which are going toward actual transportation capacity improvements.

February 7, 2012 17 comments

MTA Construction Second Avenue Subway

Link: Explaining the high costs of building new subways

by Benjamin Kabak February 7, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on February 7, 2012

Salon, on its Dream Cities blog, tackles a question near and dear to my heart: Why does it take so damn long to build a new subway system? As the MTA already has nearly 17 years worth of documents on its website for only the current attempt at a Second Ave. Subway, by the time construction on Phase 1 alone is wrapped, it will have been over 20 years from the release of the initial scoping document in 1995 to revenue service in 2016. At that rate, it’ll take 80 more years for the other parts of the subway extension to see the light of day.

So what, then, takes so long? According to Salon’s Will Doig, seven different elements, many of them interrelated, slow down transit expansion plans in the United States. Up front, he pinpoints the obvious. By combining funding from various sources — the feds, states, cities, the bureaucracy slow distribution of money, and oftentimes, there isn’t enough money guaranteed up front to see megaprojects through to completion. He also pays heed to the physical challenges of working around 100-year-old city infrastructure that was never properly mapped, and he fingers a societal addiction to cars that often serves to marginalize transit. He certainly isn’t wrong there.

In my opinion, though, his two key elements concern mismanagement and what he terms basic fairness. With a small group of companies qualified to build subways, mismanagement runs rampant. That is a problem that should be addressed if other SAS phases receive funding. The fairness element though is a tough one. He writes:

Good public transit is a cherished ideal of many progressives. Ironically, progressive values can end up making transit construction take longer. Part of the reason we don’t build as fast as China does is because we have workers’ unions, ADA compliance rules, and environmental concerns that require time-consuming impact studies. “If we didn’t have to put elevators everywhere and we imported non-union Mexican immigrants to do the work, you could build a lot more of everything,” says Duke, who hastens to add that he’s not in favor of that. Good, affordable transit is a human rights issue too, though, and in many ways the common link in our desire for healthier, less wasteful cities that serve everyone equally.

Many transit advocates may whisper that the fairness balance has tipped too far to the other side. The MTA issued its notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement for the Second Ave. Subway in March of 2001. The FEIS saw the light of day 38 months later in May of 2004, and the authority had to further revise its assessment in 2009 to find no material impact when it had to redesign station configurations at 72nd and 86th St. That is a time-consuming and costly process that should be streamlined as well.

Doig doesn’t dwell on another issue — NIMBYism — that can often stop subway expansion projects in their metaphoric tracks before they move much beyond an idea on paper. Lawsuits and community outrage can slow down worthwhile projects as well. Still, his list of seven can serve as a primer for readers of this site who want to know just why it’s taking so long for such a short subway extension underneath Second Ave. to become a reality.

February 7, 2012 10 comments

Asides MTA Economics

An early Apple bump for GCT businesses?

by Benjamin Kabak February 7, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on February 7, 2012

When the Apple Store opened in Grand Central Terminal, the lease deal between the MTA and Apple came under fire for being of the sweetheart variety. Even though the MTA had managed to significantly boost its revenue stream from the space, the per-square-foot price was still markedly lower than what Apple had paid at other locations throughout the city. Still, the MTA noted that if Apple delivered the traffic gains as predicted, other businesses in the terminal would see a rise in sales, and for every percentage increase in sales through Grand Central, the MTA would enjoy $500,000 more in revenue.

Today, we get the early word that the Michael Jordan Steakhouse enjoyed a seven percent boost in business since the Apple Store opened. Its owners say the bump happened not when Metrazur closed but when the Apple Store finally opened its doors. “We know their customers are coming here,” Matthew Glazier, the owner’s son, said to Crain’s New York. “I’m always looking for the little white bags.”

Of course, Apple’s GCT opening coincided with the busy holiday season, and it remains to be seen if other businesses enjoyed a similar bump in foot traffic and purchases. From my experience, the Apple Store has been perennially crowded, and other businesses appear to be enjoying the success as well. It will be a few months before we know the extent of the economic boost Apple will lend to the Grand Central shopping mecca, but this supposed sweetheart deal may just end up as a good one for the MTA yet.

February 7, 2012 13 comments

MTA Politics

Proposing a suburban tit-for-tat with the payroll tax

by Benjamin Kabak February 6, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on February 6, 2012

When state Republicans won a partial repeal of the MTA-supporting payroll mobility tax in December based on some vague promise to “replace” the lost $320 million that should go to the authority’s coffers, I warned of the dangers of budging. By relenting even a little without identifying another source of dedicated funding, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his allies in Albany signalled a willingness to give, and opponents of the tax were likely to demand an even greater repeal. Now, that prediction is becoming a reality.

In Brookhaven, New York, yesterday, noted payroll tax opposition leaders Senator Lee Zeldin and Assemblyman Dean Murray called upon the state to fully repeal the payroll tax for “all counties, towns and villages outside of New York City.” The new measure — essentially similar to an effort last year that did not survive Sheldon Silver’s assembly — would eliminate the tax as it is levied on municipalities with large payrolls and libraries around the area. In essence, state representatives want the state to stop levying taxes on its own governmental subdivisions.

Using the same tiresome and ill-informed rhetoric that led this coalition to proclaim victory in December for what should be viewed as a defeat, the politicians spoke at length about the need to save our small municipalities for the taxation evil that is the PMT. we are taking the next step with the Martins-Zeldin bills to exempt all municipalities outside New York City, as well as all libraries throughout the MTA region. Assemblyman Murray and I are working hard with our Senate and Assembly colleagues to even further eliminate this ill-conceived tax on jobs,” Senator Lee Zeldin said.

Martin, the Assembly sponsor, spoke to similar talking points. “Last year, we were able to repeal the MTA payroll tax for roughly 80 percent of businesses. Unfortunately, this hidden tax still hurts far too many organizations, including libraries, local governments and municipalities. It’s a job killer and the legislation Senator Martins, Senator Zeldin and I are proposing will finally rid our job creators and communities of this onerous tax,” he said.

Meanwhile, local officials too decried the bill. “The repeal of the MTA Payroll Tax for counties, other municipalities and medium to large size businesses will serve as an economic boost for the Suffolk County economy and our region,” Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said. Somehow, some way, the leader of Suffolk County believes that defunded transit — the thing that makes his area economically viable with New York City so nearby — will help boost his county’s economy. It defies reason.

So I have a proposal for Lee Zeldin, Dean Murray, Steve Bellone and the others who stand behind them: For every dollar they earn back by repealing the Payroll Mobility Tax, the MTA shall cut Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road service by an equal amount. If they want New York City to bear the funding burden for suburban rail — as it already does to a far greater extent than they believe — then let’s cut their service.

In a way, this is a self-defeating proposal. Cutting LIRR and Metro-North service will serve only to weaken, and not strengthen, the New York economy. That, however, is a point lost to these gentlemen, ostensibly elected to serve their constituent’s interests. As with national plans to defund transit investment, this move reeks of political folly, and only when it is too late — when the MTA must slash service and spike fares beyond an acceptable level — will voters realize that these politicians are doing them no favors.

It may cost taxpayer money to subsidize transit, but suburban counties will not be desirable destinations without its train access to the heart of the region’s job centers. Defunding that service, repealing a key source of revenue without finding a steady replacement, harms everyone, more so than the payroll tax ever will.

February 6, 2012 25 comments

Manhattan MTA Construction

Bleecker St. rehab now set for June completion date

by Benjamin Kabak February 6, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on February 6, 2012

A cross-section of the new connection between Bleecker Street and Broadway-Lafayette.

Once upon a time back in 2005, the MTA announced an unfunded plan to move the uptown 6 platform at Bleecker Street south a few hundred feet, connect it to the IND station at Broadway-Lafayette and make the entire station ADA-accessible all for the cost of a cool $50 million. By the time money materialized for the project in 2007, costs had reached $60 million, and and in 2009, the MTA said the $94 million station rehab would wrap in November of 2011. November has come and gone with many signs of construction but none of the new transfer in place, and many straphangers have been wondering what exactly is happening there.

We now have an update and a revised overall price tag. According to MTA documents from the last board meeting, work is set to wrap at Bleecker St./Broadway-Lafayette by the end of this June, and the combined price tag for the entire project is now over $109 million. The price estimates come from the MTA’s capital dashboard (1 and 2). The increase — from $50 million in 2005 to $109 million in 2012 — isn’t as bad as it seems as the earlier figures were rough estimates based on conditions before any design or engineering work has begun. Still, this project is massively over budge and will be seven or eight months late.

The current delay is only three months. At some point within the last two years, the MTA had pushed back the expected completion date to March 2012. Now we’ll wait until June because the MTA has found that contingencies related to ADA accessibility have been expended. The work to relocate tunnel lighting equipment necessary for placement of the elevator has been slower and more expensive than anticipated. Furthermore, contractors ran into problems relocating a water main at Houston St. as well.

And so we wait. We’ve waited decades for this transfer to become a reality. Now we’ll wait some more. What’s three more months among friends anyway? After all, where would be if it didn’t take nearly as long to rehab one of the original IRT stations as it took to build an entire subway line from City Hall to 145th Street?

February 6, 2012 32 comments

Asides Queens

Forest Hills – 71st Ave. stop set for ADA accessibility upgrades

by Benjamin Kabak February 6, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on February 6, 2012

For disabled subway riders who must head into Queens, 14 of the borough’s 81 subway stations are currently on the list of accessibile stations, but the borough’s fifth most popular stop in Forest Hills isn’t. Riders looking for an elevator must get off in either Jackson Heights or Kew Gardens. As the Queens Chronicle reported recently, though, by the end of 2013, if all goes according to schedule, Forest Hills – 71st Ave. will join that list.

Transit officials announced the start of a $24.7 million project that will see the installation of elevators from street level at Continental Ave. to the station platforms along the IND Queens Boulevard line in Forest Hills. The project is due to wrap up by October of 2013, and renovations to this dilapidated but popular station will also include staircase work, signage upgrades, tactile warning strips along the platform edge and some communications and signal upgrades.

Politicians praised the work. “The renovation will greatly increase train accessibility for residents of our community, while also providing more neighboring residents access to the shops in Forest Hills,” Forest Hills’ Assembly rep Andrew Hevesi said. With the MTA on track to make 100 of its 468 stations accessible by 2020, the authority will have technically fulfilled its mandate under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The agency deserves its accolades, but the system remains frustratingly inaccessible for thousands of disabled riders who must cater their routes to this list of stations.

February 6, 2012 13 comments

Public Transit Policy

A federal attack on transit dollars draws NYC’s ire

by Benjamin Kabak February 6, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on February 6, 2012

As more New York State Republican representatives try to whittle down the MTA-supporting payroll tax, their colleagues in Washington are trying to do the same with federal funds dedicated toward transit. Last week, the House Ways and Means Committee voted to send a markup of the transportation bill to the floor, and if passed by the House and Senate and approved the president — a tall order indeed — the bill could rob New York City of billions of dollars of transit funds.

For extensive coverage of the bill, check out articles from Reuters and The L.A. Times. Streetsblog D.C. offered a short summary of the mark-up’s impact. Essentially, the Ways and Means Committee is hoping to bar gas tax revenue from funding transit. Today, those taxes are essential part of federal transit grants. Ben Goldman writes:

The Ways & Means bill [PDF] would funnel all gas tax revenue toward road programs, redirecting billions of dollars per year away from transit, which for decades has received about 20 percent of fuel tax receipts. Instead, the House GOP wants transit funding to come entirely from the general fund, pitting transit against all other government spending. To offset that spending, $40 billion would have to be cut from the rest of the federal budget.

Essentially, the House GOP is holding transit hostage to achieve budget cuts elsewhere — and they don’t seem to care if the hostage dies. They will also be tossing aside a precedent set during the Reagan administration, one that has enjoyed bipartisan support through several transportation bills, including the 2005 law, known as SAFETEA-LU, which was passed by a Republican president and Republican Congress.

The announcement of the mark-up, which you can read here, came just one day before the committee voted to send the bill to the House floor, and a broad coalition of union officials, politicians, contractors and transit agency heads have voiced their opposition. Later today, in fact, MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota will join with TWU President John Samuelsen, NYC DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and four New York House representatives to speak out against the bill.

In the meantime, Lhota, a one-time Giuliani deputy, has penned a letter to David Camp, the chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee. “The 2.86 cents of the motor fuels tax currently dedicated for public transportation provides a stable fund source that the MTA relies on to fund its capital investments. It is critical,” he wrote, “that these funds continue to be dedicated for public transportation purposes.”

He later warned of the consequences of federal divestment. “Consistent, on-going investment by the federal government is critical to ensure that the MTA continues to be a safe and reliable system for the long term,” he said. “A less predictable funding stream for public transportation will not only result in degraded service, but will also have a ripple effect on manufacturers and suppliers that serve the transit industry.”

This is an issue that extends far beyond the borders of New York. It would cost hundreds of thousands of jobs throughout the nation in various domestic industry. Within the city, it would likely impact any future work on the Second Ave. Subway or other system expansion plans. It is yet another attack on transit dollars from those who underestimate the importance of public transit to the nation’s economy. It is a measure that likely won’t survive the Senate or the President’s veto power, but the House GOP is serious about gutting the funding mechanism for capital plans for transit agencies through the nation. That is a scary future to ponder indeed.

February 6, 2012 25 comments

Service Advisories

Weekend work impacting 12 subway lines

by Benjamin Kabak February 3, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on February 3, 2012

An end-of-week announcement for Monday before jumping into the service advisories: Jarret Walker, the voice behind Human Transit, will be in town on Monday to give a talk related to his new book. He’ll be speaking at the CUNY Graduate Center from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., and his talk is entitled “Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives.” For more info and to RSVP, check out this page.

On that note, it’s Friday, and thus, service advisory time. Subway Weekender has the map.

From 4 a.m. Saturday, February 4 to 10 p.m. Sunday, February 5, downtown 2 trains operate express from East 180th Street to 3rd Avenue-149th Street due to track panel installation at East 180th Street.

From 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday, February 4 and from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday, February 5, downtown 5 trains run express from East 180th Street to 3rd Avenue-149th Street due to track panel installation at East 180th Street. Note: Trains run every 20 minutes during this time.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, February 4 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 6, there are no 7 trains between Times Square-42nd Street and Queensboro Plaza due to track panel installation and CBTC work south of Queensboro Plaza, ADA work at Court Square and station renewal at Hunters Point Avenue. (Repeats next eight weekends through March 31-Apr 2.)

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, February 4 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 6, uptown A trains run via the F line from Jay Street-MetroTech to West 4th Street, then local to 59th Street and from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday, February 4 and Sunday, February 5, uptown C trains run via the F line from Jay Street-MetroTech to West 4th Street due to electrical and substation work at Jay Street-MetroTech.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, February 4 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 6, A trains run local in both directions between 145th Street and 168th Street and from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday, February 4 and Sunday, February 5, there is no C train service between 145th Street and 168th Street due to track maintenance. Customers should take the A instead.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, February 4 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 6, there is no D train service between Pacific Street and 34th Street-Herald Square due to work on the Broadway/Lafayette-to-Bleecker Street transfer connection. F, N and Q trains and free shuttle buses provide alternate service. D trains operate in two sections:

Between 205th Street and 34th Street-Herald Square
Between Pacific Street and Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue

Free shuttle buses operate between Grand Street and West 4th Street, stopping at Broadway-Lafayette Street.

From 11 p.m. Friday, February 3 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 6, Brooklyn-bound F trains run via the M line after 36th Street in Queens to 47th-50th Sts in Manhattan due to station work at Lexington Avenue-63rd Street for the Second Avenue Subway Project.

From 4 a.m. Saturday, February 4 to 10 p.m. Sunday, February 5, Queens-bound J trains skip Kosciuszko Street, Gates Avenue, Halsey Street and Chauncey Street due to track panel installation at Halsey Street and Gates Avenue.

From 6:30 a.m. to 12 midnight, Saturday, February 4 and Sunday, February, 5, N trains run local in both directions between DeKalb Avenue and 59th Street in Brooklyn due to work on the Broadway/Lafayette-to-Bleecker Street transfer connection.

From 12:01 a.m. to 6:30 a.m., Saturday, February 4 and Sunday, February 5, and from 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. Monday, February 6, Brooklyn-bound N trains run via the Manhattan Bridge from Canal Street to DeKalb Avenue due to station painting at City Hall. (Note: N trains stop at DeKalb Avenue in both directions all weekend.)

From 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday, February 4 and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, February 5, Q service is extended to Ditmars Blvd. due to the 7 line suspension.

From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, February 4 and Sunday, February 5, Brooklyn-bound R trains run via the Manhattan Bridge from Canal Street to DeKalb Avenue due to station painting at City Hall. Customers should use nearby 4 stations instead.

From 12:01 a.m. to 6:30 a.m., Saturday, February 4 and Sunday, February 5 and from 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. Monday, February 6, there are no R trains between 59th Street and 36th Street in Brooklyn due to work on the Broadway/Lafayette-to-Bleecker Street transfer connection. Customers should take the N instead.

(42nd Street Shuttle)
From 12:01 a.m. to 6 a.m. Saturday, February 4, Sunday, February 5 and Monday, February 6, the 42nd Street shuttle operates overnight due to the 7 line suspension.

February 3, 2012 4 comments

Subway Cell Service

Summer date eyed for expanded underground cell service

by Benjamin Kabak February 3, 2012

written by Benjamin Kabak on February 3, 2012

In late September, we had the opportunity to sneak a peek at the partial list of underground stations that will be receiving cell service in 2012. At the time, Transit Wireless vowed to have this group of stations within the next 12 months, but the finer details remained obscured.

Now, we learn a bit more, courtesy of Ted Mann and The Wall Street Journal. According to Transit Wireless, the firm will wire 30 more stations this year, most in Midtown Manhattan, and the first will come online in late July or early August. The company expects to activate the service in five or six stations at a time.

“Bringing wireless service into our underground subway system reinforces the MTA’s effort to use technology to improve customer convenience that allows them to stay in touch with friends, relatives and business contacts,” MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz, said to Journal. “And by having access to real-time service status updates while underground, riders can better navigate the system.”

With a series of stations in Chelsea currently enjoying service from AT&T and T-Mobile, Transit Wireless is working to sign up Verizon and Sprint as well. So far, fears of the demise of civility underground that preceded the launch of the cell service pilot have been unfounded. As the service expands throughout Manhattan, though, usage will likely grow and grow and grow.

After the jump, the full list of stations set to enjoy cell service before 2012 ends.

February 3, 2012 5 comments

Load More Posts