Subways are for sleeping: NYC Transit survival thread

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

strange hit job from the times / don't vote for weiner

I would never vote for SchumerMiniMe Weiner, and I really don't like pedestrian tourist plazas on Broadway

sent the transportation commissioner the following email:

Dear JSK -- This story in the Times is bullshit. Please carry on with your dictatorial yet awesome plans. And fuck Anthony Weiner.

apparently nyc.gov does not have profanity filters

tourism is pretty amazing tbh, people from around the world want to come to your city and throw their money at it. it creates lots of jobs that can't be outsourced. the downside is so small "lol...tourists are annoying! they don't even live here!"

morbs, you don't drive, you don't take taxis - how does shutting down broadway affect someone like you negatively beyond 'too many tourists'? I feel like you associate the tourism boom/urban improvements w/ gentrification and the unaffordable cost of living, and I mean there's a certain correlation in that there is strong demand for visiting/living in 'nice places' and making nyc a nicer place to live in will continue to increase that demand and the cost. that is not a good reason to want to make nyc a worse place to live in or return to grungy/dangerous nyc. the city getting safer and more walkable isn't a problem, the problem is that we're not expanding the city fast enough to meet the demand.

at the botttom of this there's the weirdo american conservativism that has a knee-jerk reaction to *any* change.

not too invested in it, i avoid midtown whenever i can, but when i have to it's HELL ON EARTH

look I don't spend my weekends hanging out in midtown either, but I still don't want to get hit by a taxi on my way to work.

anyway bloomy comes off v. differently here than in the article:

http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/03/04/bloomberg-on-his-transpo-commissioner-keep-coming-up-with-new-ideas/

what a shitty article

any article that uses the formulation "some say" should be banned from the new york times

i wonder who is trying to take her out?

well not to be all conspiracy-theorist but schumer recently came out against the PPW lanes almost definitely due to pressure from his wife (who used have JSK's job)

i dont think it makes you a conspiracy theorist to think that article is just weed-carrying for some faction of the political class

Schumer lives on PPW btw

he'd also towed a different line until recently:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sen-charles-e-schumer/exploring-new-york-by-bik_b_218468.html

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/we_janette_6ZhwHlxPxnIZzli8wjNrTM

ugh

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/03/22/2011-03-22_mta_board_members_chew_over_banning_food_and_drink_cite_track_fires_rats_garbage.html

eating on the subway c/d

it's one of those things that I do but also think should be made illegal

isnt it already illegal? i feel like i know people who have been ticketed for eating on the subway

no it's legal. in a lot of ways eating *on the train* causes less harm than eating in the station. easier to clean a car than to get your mcdonalds cup out of the subway tracks.

dc metro suckkkks but the one nice thing is no food wrappers or bottles rattling around.

the other day I saw some woman tuck her trash in the crack under the train as she was getting on. the trash cans were SO CLOSE to her, she just wanted to be an asshole.

if only ppl weren't such savages about it xp

http://culture.wnyc.org/blogs/gallerina/2011/mar/28/notes-from-underground/

the other day I saw some woman tuck her trash in the crack under the train as she was getting on. the trash cans were SO CLOSE to her, she just wanted to be an asshole.

Dear god, I saw a woman do exactly this last week. I hovered on the verge of saying something but she and her bf were both HUGE and v much telegraphing do-not-give-a-fuck-will-hurt-you.

same people get loud and bitchy when there are delays cause of shit like track fires

http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/markets/newsfeeditem.aspx?id=138501958189789

(locked wsj article)

Was on loooong Q train ride Sunday night with a drunk Russian motherfucker who kept harassing a girl sitting across from him. Why she let him get that bad or didn't just move, I don't know. He sang her songs and offered to pay her money to be his girlfriend all the way from 14th St to Midwood, telling her how sexy she was and how he was ready to get married. Really, really loudly. Then when she got off, he tried it on me for a second, and then switched to a woman next to him, who ALSO didn't get up or object, idgi.

Guy was like mid or late 40s and the girl he was hitting on was a tiny young thing. Gross.