By Damian Pena
Ever since they’ve opened, New York City subways have operated twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred and sixty-five days a year. It’s something that many love about this city: a reliable means of transportation, no matter the time of day. However, there is still lots wrong with the MTA. Trains tip off the tracks; they stall in tunnels, leaving riders trapped for hours on end; track fires are all too common. NYC subways are in terrible condition.
Recently, a report analyzing the future of the city depicts a New York without its dependable twenty-four/seven transit service. Published by the Regional Planning Association, the report exposes the problems with the subway system, and addresses them by arguing for and outlining a plan for the MTA, in which the subway is shut down during the overnight so as to make more convenient room for repairs and upgrades to the transit service. The plan outlined by the RPA is an exceptional solution to the problem that is the MTA’s outdated subway.
However, not everybody is on board with this new proposal. The publication of the report, particularly the section regarding the subway service, sparked widespread controversy and debate. Many New Yorkers, it seems, want to keep their subway just the way it is.
Those opposed to the RPA’s plan for the city primarily argue that shutting down the subways during the overnight is unfair to the people who rely on them during that time. The opposition believes subways should not exclude people, that they should be inclusive of every New Yorker.
Furthermore, those opposed to the proposal strongly believe because New York is the city that never sleeps, neither should its subway. They insist that having a twenty-four/seven subway service is a New York City tradition, one that should be upheld and not voided. Subway historian Andrew Sparberg said in an interview with the New York Times, “There has never been a systemwide, overnight shutdown,” saying that subways have always been operational from the very beginning.
While these may all seem like legitimate flaws, the RPA’s plan for the city accounts for these problems and successfully creates solutions to combat them. To account for the 1.5% of New Yorkers who ride the subway in between the hours of 12:30am and 5am, the RPA suggests establishing overnight buses that run the same routes as the train lines. This is a well founded and reasonable alternative, especially when one takes into account the fact that there is significantly less vehicle traffic late at night.
Furthermore, while tradition is something that is usually considered precious and valuable, the subways are in a condition too terrible to overlook. Weekend construction is not fast enough to keep up with the demands of a failing and outdated subway system, and on top of that it inconveniences many New Yorkers.
With a system as obsolete and antiquated NYC’s, it’s no wonder that so many riders have such subpar experiences as often as they do; only 65% of all weekday trains arrive on time. When you account for that fact that they operate using wires and a service system nearly one hundred years old, as well as the fact that the majority of upgrades and repairs are only done on weekends, then it is no wonder that the subways are in such a dreadful state. Because it creates more convenient time for construction while simultaneously addressing all of the flaws brought up by the opposition, the MTA should embrace the RPA’s plan to repair and restore the NYC subways.
Picture: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/mta-slow-repairing-obsolete-signals-delays-article-1.3245465