Subways are for sleeping: NYC Transit survival thread

you picked a good time.

Damn you, Tracer Hand!

I know this subway thread but I just had mad beef with njtransit conductor. So heated right now! This fool trying to tell me he won't honor a buss pass when there is a goddamn cross transit ticketing in effect today. I was asking for only one extra stop btw

I took his number down and got on the phone with c/s and he got shook

tell him you'll get chris christie to chew him out on youtube

Um how do you argue that?

I wonder if it was te asshole w the gross mullet that always used to yell at me for bringing my bike on the train

Bikes on the subway make me see red. (I also believe they're banned during rush hour)

not technically banned during rush hour, but I think most people realize the futility

xp well yes, but I mean off-peak NJ Transit is not the same thing as subway

yeah, i remember, vaguely

snow day, of course. wonder if i can get to Film Forum on the F.

i have successfully ridden the F

good riddence!

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/01/31/2011-01-31_cuomo_may_cut_funding_to_transit_system_without_raising_fares_new_route_for_mta.html

this guy's gonna be great!

relevant to thread title:

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/02/01/2011-02-01_mta_eyes_sliding_doors_as_subway_platform_lifesaver.html

always wondered how much this would cost

A lot

Can't think of anywhere in the world where platform edge doors have been retrofitted. In london they exist only on the section of jubilee line built in the last decade. So I think the answer is: Ruinously expensive.

xpost

right, and nyc has more area to cover...imagine it would be even worse w/ elevated stations that don't even have a ceiling to work with. and american transit can't even do basic things on a budget. but at the end of the day we're just talking about doors! admittedly a shitton of doors, but cmon, it's 2011.

cheaper to let ppl die imo

mebbe let private companies fund a lot of the project and put up whatever the fuck ads they want on the walls. pretty sure they could come up with a way to put up some DOORS for less than a billion dollars.

fwiw it is cheaper to let people die but this would presumably increase ridership a tad and be an investment that pays off in the long-long term

# of people who die is statistically insignificant = absolutely no incentive to do anything except possibly as a PR maneuver. Ridership already a captive audience, how would this substantially increase anything?

Laurel otm

My two favorite words.

Current subway commuters might be captive but there is still a decent percentage of the city that could commute by train and does not. Making the experience more pleasant might draw a small percentage tho obviously it's not as important a variable as the cost of driving. Still, a small percentage adds up when you look at it from a 50 year perspective. The new countdown clocks would also be a stupid investment if we look at this assuming a captive audience.

I mean what do we really want the system to look like in 2061? Unlike constructing new lines this seems like an infrastructure improvement that could work well as a public-private partnership.

Those barriers aren't gonna make anything more pleasant, they'll just be a reason for people to shove each other right up against them instead of leaving some room by the edge.

And per this thread, they'd have to be covered in advertising to have any financial hope, so throw that garishness in, and figure the ads/whatever is on the walls is going to block out the view across the tracks of any tilework, or other platforms, so it makes your platform that much more enclosed/claustrophobic.

These things are seriously expensive. It's not just a matter of installing doors but the signaling systems that go with them:

trains need to stop at the exact same point every time
there needs to be a way for the train driver/guard to safely operate the doors which requires new infrastructure for the train to talk with the station
you need new safety systems to stop trains if the doors are forced open

All of these things can only really be achieved during a major signaling upgrade or new construction.

Signaling upgrade is gonna be inevitable in coming decades regardless. But the lines that be automated in the future would be the obv place to start. In 2061 hopefully that would be the entire system.

"That will be"

Undoubtedly, but the idea that this could be a quick, cheap, ad funded project is ridiculous.

I never said quick or cheap! Just that it could be more feasible if the mta could split the bill. And that the underlying technology does exist.

But yes I do realize that its more complicated than just throwing up some plexiglass especially when you're starting with early 20th century infrastructure. But bringing the system into the 21st century is a process that's gonna have to happen one day regardless. I dont think this would have particularly high upkeep costs once a system was in place.

Sorry typing this shit on an iPhone I change my mind I actually hate 21st century tech

fwiw it is cheaper to let people die but this would presumably increase ridership a tad and be an investment that pays off in the long-long term

― iatee, Tuesday, February 1, 2011 12:20 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^ explain increased ridership logic.

A cleaner, safer trainride is inherently appealing! Rider death in the news once a week might only matter for Pr reasons but Pr matters!

I can't remember the last time I heard about a rider death. It seems to me that as a general rule most this kind of information is not really important to most NYers.

iirc Paris is doing this with its linge 1 while converting it to automatic. Yea it's a simpler system and below ground and they have tue know-how with linge 14 but is it possible? Totally.

Which is to say, I'd be surprised if it's really a part of the reason that more people don't use the subways. First of all, I think a lot of people use the subways. And the ones that don't probably don't for other reasons (particularly status signaling reasons, like they'd rather drive in the smelly disgusting taxi cabs than the smelly disgusting subway).

Okay I read a lot of transit stuff so I prob do overestimate how often people hear

is there really one subway related death a week? that is much higher than i would've guessed

No idea how much Paris is spending and can't look it up on this stupid phone but I will later

90 were hit by trains in 2009 and 40 deaths so nearly

Can't find a number but the RATP/Transillien capital budgets would make a new yorker weep.

okay found it for the 13

33,3 millions euros for 12 stations

http://www.leparisien.fr/yvelines-78/des-portes-anti-suicide-installees-sur-la-ligne-13-05-01-2010-765524.php

if we could do it anywhere near that price range I don't think it would be crazy to hope for doors for the 7 and the L within 15 years...but again I have no idea how elevated stations would affect the cost. admittedly this is not a subject I know a ton about.

but then stuff like this happens

http://secondavenuesagas.com/2011/02/01/cuomo-removes-100m-in-dedicated-transit-dollars/

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/nyregion/03bus.html?_r=2

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/nyregion/06sadik-khan.html?_r=1&hp