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I'm 35 never owned a car and have taken the subway everyday since I was 15, and yes I think it's fine. Sure there have been delays and issues but overall I've found the service very good and I have few complaints. I do live in downtown brooklyn now (the train Mecca), but I grew up on east New York and lived in other places far from the train.
I don't believe your faking how you feel about the system, everyone is intitled to their opinion. I'm just glad I don't feel that way. I truely appreciate the Mta and think they do a great job with the millions of people they have to deal with on a daily basis.
I've also lived here pretty much all my life and have been riding these trains since I was in junior high. The worst delays are not an everyday occurrence yet, but they are getting more and more frequent. Those two articles referred to incidents that occurred within the span of a week. And going back months now, the trains have been horrible. It's gotten so bad that the MTA has actually promised to give riders "late to work" notices. (New York's MTA says it will write 'late-to-work' notes for commuters as subway delays surge) The same article says that subway delays have more than doubled in the last 5 years. That's the real problem. It's getting worse, not better. So, even though people walking through tunnels is not a daily occurrence yet, you can surely expect it to continue and increase if the MTA doesn't do something drastic. The old infrastructure isn't going to get any better with time.
And no, they're not doing a great job. A great job would be actually maintaining the system so that it doesn't get to the point it's at now.
I've also lived here pretty much all my life and have been riding these trains since I was in junior high. The worst delays are not an everyday occurrence yet, but they are getting more and more frequent. Those two articles referred to incidents that occurred within the span of a week. And going back months now, the trains have been horrible. It's gotten so bad that the MTA has actually promised to give riders "late to work" notices. (New York's MTA says it will write 'late-to-work' notes for commuters as subway delays surge) The same article says that subway delays have more than doubled in the last 5 years. That's the real problem. It's getting worse, not better. So, even though people walking through tunnels is not a daily occurrence yet, you can surely expect it to continue and increase if the MTA doesn't do something drastic. The old infrastructure isn't going to get any better with time.
And no, they're not doing a great job. A great job would be actually maintaining the system so that it doesn't get to the point it's at now.
I agree more needs to be done for maintenance but it was much much worse in the 70's and 80's.
Definitely would not trade away 24/7 service. I need the early morning service to get to work, so i need trains to be running by 4am. Its so convenient not to need a car and pay for parking garages in the city.
I agree for a 4 hour subway shutdown on certain days that allows cleaning. Cleaning from 2-6 am at least.
6am is way too late. Trains are already too crowded at that time. If they only close certain lines when they know for sure they will be cleaning, then I'm all for it. Isn't that the FASTRACK program?
In the very near future, something similar to DC Metro's "Safe Track" program where whole lines are shut down for 1-2 weeks at a time will become the norm. There's so many express tracks, alternative switching, bus bridges, etc going on at night that shutting it down isn't going to make a difference. When you get down to brass tacks, the cost structure and corruption of the MTA is what will be it's ultimate undoing. From the bloated management to the insatiable labor unions coupled with utter waste there's nothing that will get fixed until it becomes an existential crisis. Unless the business moguls/movers and shakers personally tell Cuomo "Fix this or we bail for NJ" nothing will get done.
In the very near future, something similar to DC Metro's "Safe Track" program where whole lines are shut down for 1-2 weeks at a time will become the norm. There's so many express tracks, alternative switching, bus bridges, etc going on at night that shutting it down isn't going to make a difference. When you get down to brass tacks, the cost structure and corruption of the MTA is what will be it's ultimate undoing. From the bloated management to the insatiable labor unions coupled with utter waste there's nothing that will get fixed until it becomes an existential crisis. Unless the business moguls/movers and shakers personally tell Cuomo "Fix this or we bail for NJ" nothing will get done.
They gave him an ultimatum of some sort, or else he would not have declared the MTA in disaster and hired back Lhota. He wants to run for President, but the MTA has gotten so bad it could sink he reelection for Governor and already Republicans plan on making his poor track record with the MTA a campaign issue. Democratic challengers in the primary will likely do the same.
I notice they quickly have countdown clocks spreading throughout the BMT and the IND, and they are putting new signals all along the Queens Blvd line. It's just they need to get to work on putting new signals in on all the lines, not just a line here and there. L train got signal upgrades in the early 2000s, IRT got signal upgrades after then except for the 7 train. Now they've been upgrading the 7 to CBTC and they are starting with the Queens BLVD line and 8th Avenue lines There's no excuse for not working to upgrade all remaining lines at the same time.
And phases 2-4 of the Second Avenue Subway need to be build and the MTA needs to get it's costs down. Other new lines need to be built.
They gave him an ultimatum of some sort, or else he would not have declared the MTA in disaster and hired back Lhota. He wants to run for President, but the MTA has gotten so bad it could sink he reelection for Governor and already Republicans plan on making his poor track record with the MTA a campaign issue. Democratic challengers in the primary will likely do the same.
I notice they quickly have countdown clocks spreading throughout the BMT and the IND, and they are putting new signals all along the Queens Blvd line. It's just they need to get to work on putting new signals in on all the lines, not just a line here and there. L train got signal upgrades in the early 2000s, IRT got signal upgrades after then except for the 7 train. Now they've been upgrading the 7 to CBTC and they are starting with the Queens BLVD line and 8th Avenue lines There's no excuse for not working to upgrade all remaining lines at the same time.
And phases 2-4 of the Second Avenue Subway need to be build and the MTA needs to get it's costs down. Other new lines need to be built.
The heat is being turned up but I doubt there's visible flames yet on a political level. Cuomo seems savvy enough to be willing to get ahead of this before the PR damage gets any worse. I unfortunately fear he'll do "just enough" to keep the wheels on the bus but not make any structural changes that'll upset any interest groups (and public workers are a big one) and that's that.
The heat is being turned up but I doubt there's visible flames yet on a political level. Cuomo seems savvy enough to be willing to get ahead of this before the PR damage gets any worse. I unfortunately fear he'll do "just enough" to keep the wheels on the bus but not make any structural changes that'll upset any interest groups (and public workers are a big one) and that's that.
The thing is there's no way some cool press releases can stop more breakdowns and power outages. The heat is going to become a forest fire that burns Cuomo's career. If he delivered billions more to the MTA today they could not fix everything by the time it's time for him to run next year.
The REAL question is would you pay an extra dollar for a cleaner more reliable subway system.
I bet if it came down to paying more than the low $2.75 people would back off real quick.
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