Subways are for sleeping: NYC Transit survival thread

MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast took to the podium Friday as well, promising to "re-invision" 30 subway stations by 2020. The MTA plans to make these stations "cleaner, brighter... easier to navigate, with better and more intuitive wayfinding, as well as a modernized look and feel." This means more On The Go touch screens, new signage, new lighting.

Rather than close these stations on nights and weekends to accomplish this "renewal"—the Governor described the current approach as "piecemeal"—the MTA will shut down entire stations for an average six to twelve-months per station to expedite renovations. Will your neighborhood's subway station be one of them?

http://gothamist.com/2016/01/08/subway_facelift_shutdown.php

https://www.governor.ny.gov/sites/governor.ny.gov/files/atoms/files/MTAStations.pdf

https://twitter.com/samfbiddle/status/685587011261087745

My local stop is on there and I see zero reason to renovate it. So many better things the MTA could do with the money.

kabak's take: http://secondavenuesagas.com/2016/01/09/cuomo-pushes-mta-technology-projects-but-future-system-expansion-remains-out-of-sight/

riders waiting for their trains will be able to takes calls and connect to the Internet at every underground station.

It's going to suck but I am excited for you all to experience post war infrastructure

L Train Service Between Brooklyn & Manhattan May Be Shut Down For Years

rip

yipes, that's scary.
on the plus side, two extra cars for the G means that i will not have to haul ass as it comes into the station to meet it halfway down the platform

i've come to hate the G. To go one stop on the weekends, two, three Gs arrive at Church between Fs.

Cuomo sounded like a fucking crazy man last week, or a rich dad pretending to understand his kids' whims. "I want to listen to music, make a phone call... I've come to expect that."

would bet money the "shut down for years" option is in some internal study only to provide a "porridge is too cold" benchmark of how long it would take if they did that, versus the more realistic options that would actually be pursued. but yeah cuomo's shit re: transit is forehead-slappingly annoying as always. at least he didn't propose anything as outright stupid and destructive as last year's LGA airtrain scheme, but the idea that his little cosmetic lifestyle adjustments corresponded to a Moses-like shaping of infrastructure and use for riders was laughable.

yesterday morning my stop on the F/G was more crowded than i'd ever seen it . . . then two packed F trains went by without stopping

at least when all the stations have cell and wifi i can text my boss to tell him i'll be half an hour late

my overlords are getting rid of 'my' yearslong permatemp, so i'll either be gone in a year or here permanently under the Don't Fire the Potentially Litigious Patient clause.

i actively do not want wireless signal in more stations

train has left the station

living in astoria, i have real affection for the g. when it's running well, it cuts traveling to brooklyn by 20 minutes

yeah, it's more useful to me if i move to Queens in June (and for Mets and MOMI)

G is so much better than it used to be srsly

I'm giving up and buying a scooter, I can't handle this shit anymore. And I'm not even upset about the N line, my station will still be fine! It's just a ridiculous commute.

ok, just don't get killed!

My commute is a dream these days. Two stops on the b after the morning rush hour. Several plan bs if the b is screwed up but it's been solid since I started this commute 4 months ago.

Atlantic Ave hub signal problem makes me 50 mins late today, but hey at least

WIFI IS COMING, RIGHT?

http://www.mta.info/status/subway/NQR/24214603

here we go.
http://abc7ny.com/traffic/14-month-shutdown-of-some-n-train-platforms-in-brooklyn-begins-monday/1160567/

and the other shoe falls in my nabe

Beginning 12:01 AM Monday, Jan 25

The Coney Island-bound F platform at Ditmas Av will close for renovation until Spring 2016.

You can't make this stuff up. Just today, service alerts have included (BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO):

Delays in Bk-bound 3, 4, 5, due to a broken rail at Utica
M and R disrupted in Queens due to FDNY action at 71st St
N, R, Q trains suspended, then delayed, due to FDNY at Prince St
2 and 5 suspended, then delayed, due to signal problems at Nereid Ave
2 service suspended between Franklin and Flatbush due to unauthorized person on tracks at Winthrop St

IN ONE MORNING.

finally read this; the stuff about interlockings is p. cool

Why New York Subway Lines Are Missing Countdown Clocks

Often, a can or a piece of aluminum foil is enough to fool a track circuit. “Something as simple as that can create a Conga line of trains,” Habersham says.

This is adorable. Or would be if it weren't infuriating.

don't worry, the Cuomo Plan will save the day in 2116.

https://i.imgur.com/A4XrCiS.jpg

oh god help us

you know i love you, mook, but as on ILB yer allowed to link to the story

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Streetcar-System-Brooklyn-Queens-Proposal-Mayor-de-Blasio-367602431.html

http://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/02/04/nyregion/04STREETCAR-3/04STREETCAR-3-superJumbo.jpg

many of those areas are indeed poorly served by the subway, but i'm not too sure that connecting them to each other is worth $2b

and ugh, stop with the ferries

granted that i get most of my information/opinions from Second Avenue Sagas but my take-away is that de Blasio, like Cuomo basically, wants achievable, sexy-sounding projects that can be launched while he's still around to be associated with them, and that this is more important than the efficacy or cost-benefit of those projects. ferries are the ultimate scam in this sense but this doesn't seem far off from that.

it's not a crazy route for some kind of transit system - although it is striking how much of it duplicates the G for no good reason, and how much of it isn't THAT far off of the N/R- but just as when it was a glimmer in the eye of the NYT's architecture "critic," a streetcar that is not separated from traffic will not solve any transportation problems along that route. and for $2 billion you could get Triboro RX and probably throw in the lost 10th avenue 7 station as a bonus. or do at least the next phase and probably the next two phases of the second avenue subway.

also striking how that very map shows how many other areas desperately lack transit. really the entire only stretches of this that are really necessary in terms of serving large populations that have no access save buses are the red hook to navy yard part, and maybe from navy yard to the williamsburg bridge. the north williamsburg stretch is a big prize goodie for ultra-gentrifying real estate developers but not needed given the closeness of the G, L, and J/M. mark my words, if this gets built, the stuff north of there will be first to go if there is any sanity in the world. but meanwhile, you gotta think, why not crosstown lines in manhattan (again not shared with traffic). why not the utica avenue line? why not anything but this?

iirc there might be some legal issues w/ triboro rx, though it would be sweet

I would probably take this stupid streetcar but it is still stupid

i'd walk a little more for AFFORDABLE HOUSING

walk 2 queens

a street car doesn't require approval from Cuomo which is probably the biggest factor in DeBlasio pushing for this.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/04/nyregion/mayor-de-blasio-to-propose-streetcar-line-linking-brooklyn-and-queens.html?_r=0

"Subways are not for sleeping."

http://gothamist.com/2016/02/04/subway_sleep_nypd_policy.php

many of those areas are indeed poorly served by the subway, but i'm not too sure that connecting them to each other is worth $2b

aw yeah finally a line that connects all the high rises

moneyed wheels get the grease

delays on all outdoor lines

kill everyone

gutsy move by andrew c. not to close the subway

no notable delays on the Q/R... MTA is now issuing delay warnings just as a corporate condom most likely.

crane down affecting the 123?

a street car doesn't require approval from Cuomo which is probably the biggest factor in DeBlasio pushing for this.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/04/nyregion/mayor-de-blasio-to-propose-streetcar-line-linking-brooklyn-and-queens.html?_r=0

― jbn, Thursday, 4 February 2016 12:55 (Yesterday) Permalink

OTM. Subway system so much needs a divorce from the MTA, but I can't imagine how that would realistically happen.

http://www.streetsblog.org/2016/02/04/4-reasons-a-2-5-billion-brooklyn-queens-streetcar-doesnt-add-up/

stalled train + signal problems on the Manhattan Bridge clusterfuck

a sick passenger short of the trifecta

my trains go nowhere near the manhattan bridge, and yet . . .