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For a relatively low price, you can leverage the commuter rail systems to become a RER type of system which would essentially and literally be a second system.
Elevated train lines are dirty, noisy and depress property values and RE development. You only have to look at difference between UWS and much of Harlem where Broadway subway replaced elevated line, and 8th avenue was built from start totally underground, compared to UES east of Lexington avenue.
Plan was for both Third and Second avenue els to come down with SAS replacing. They tore down the elevated train lines, but for various reasons SAS never was completed and that was that; Yorkville/UES remained largely frozen in time. This in contrast to huge amount of development that has taken place since SAS opened, and more is still in pipeline.
Here are some pictures taken of UES/Yorkville in 1980's. You can see clearly not much really changed since before WWII or years immediately after. Part of that reason was lack of subway access. People just didn't want to trek from East End, York, First, and Second at least twice a day M-F over to Lexington for the IRT.
Other thing was that local Yorkville residents may have been happy for the Els to come down, but they didn't want SAS for various reasons. Most common given was they feared what ease of transit access would do to their area, and of course they were right.
Since SAS opened RE values from Third going east have skyrocketed. Yorkville late as 1990's and early 2000's was still considered one of the few remaining affordable areas in Manhattan below 125th street. This was evidenced by large numbers of working and middle class households, recent college grads/young people, single adults, etc... That has changed as rents are going up....
Also since SAS opened have seen more and more sketchy/suspect people roaming about, especially along Second, First and York. This comes as no surprise as "Q" train even before covid-19 had a good supply of homeless.
Thats funny because all the filth shown on the subway is usually underground stations. Elevated lines look easier to maintain.
The idea that NYC would never build a subway station again, as outlined by the article, is frankly stupid. The idea there is based on a continuation of the amount of funding available which is extremely low for a dense city in a developed country, a markup in costs which is extremely high for a city in a developed country, and prices for material and labor which are subject to wide changes both via legislative requirements and current material and process costs. None of these need to hold as is, and they certainly don’t need to hold in tandem. We have good evidence of this from subway expansions done in virtually every single other country in the world.
In the future, when that evil capitalism has been eradicated, DiBlasio will have the power to just order his subjects to get to work. Of course this will be for the collective good.
Thats funny because all the filth shown on the subway is usually underground stations. Elevated lines look easier to maintain.
Well, it depends on how they're built, of course. Elevated lines often get more exposure to the elements, though the risk of flooding isn't particularly great for NYC.
The other thing is that subways also often run faster than their elevated counterparts for various reasons.
In the future, when that evil capitalism has been eradicated, DiBlasio will have the power to just order his subjects to get to work. Of course this will be for the collective good.
Well, you have to admit, the former soviet union under Joseph Stalin built a world class subway system so it can be done with the right, or should I say left, leadership.
I also wanted to point out that NYC can make up for this by adding more Bus Rapid Transit and Bus Lanes all together. The Bus lanes make streets safer for pedestrians. Also in my opinion every single cross town street in Manhattan should be changed to some type of Trolly system that can get people acros from the Hudson to the East River.
I remember when I use to work in the Lower East Side back in 2008 when I was 17 and always use to walk to Avenue C faster than the M14 bus.
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