| I love public transportation. I think it's one of the best things you can do to encourage a coherent community. Public transportation helps connect a community, expand access, make cities more walkable, and encourages green transportation. New York City is wonderful when it comes to subway access. On no other American public transportation system can you pay a flat fee to go from any point A to any point B at any hour in the day. That's pretty wonderful.
The problem is that public transportation is not getting the proper funding needed to keep expanding. COngress recently passed a large earmark bill to expand Amtrack services, so there's clearly some sort of federal commitment to this cause. On a state level, however, we're not getting the funding we need for so many important project;
1) Second Avenue Subway - This project has sat around for decades, even though everyone agrees we need another east side subway line. The 4 and 5 are one the most congested lines, and the 4 was recently named the slowest by the NYT. Thankfully they've now started construction on the uptown section of the line that the Q will also run through, but it will be a decade before the "T" will be fully operational.
2) 7 Expansion - Some have talked about expanding the 7 past Times Square into the far West Side to connect the Javits Center and to give some subway access to the industrial West Side near Chelsea and the docks. The funding isn't there.
3) East Side Access - Talk about an important project. Direct connection between Grand Central and Penn Station is desperately needed, in order to alleviate cross town congestion and direct some traffic out of the horrid contemporary Penn Station. This project continues to stall with only some basic construction up and running.
4) Signaling and Timing - This may not be as big of a concern, but it would be great to get all of the lines to operate like the L or the DC Metro operates. Electronic signs with the approximate time of the next arriving train are great innovations. Most of the MTA's signaling is on such antiquated equipment that this sort of technological growth isn't possible. Supposedly the MTA will expand this service onto the 7 as well as the L (currently existing) but we can't expect it anywhere else.
These are only four small problems that come to mind about our public transportation, specifically our trains and subways. The fact is that investments in public infrastructure are one of the most logical ways to spend precious tax revenues. Public transportation is an egalitarian way to improve everyone's lives; it reduces congestion, improves community functionality, and provides affordable and efficient access to economic opportunities.
We need more spending on public transportation. |
