I recently moved to New York City, and regularly take the subway to get around. I’ve since gotten more interested in various things about the subway, and have done a little bit of reading about it. Here are some articles I’ve read over the past few weeks that I found interesting:
- Subway system decline: This 2017 article from the Atlantic gives a good overview on the decline of the NYC subway. The subway has gotten better since then (thanks partially to ‘Train Daddy’ Andy Byford, who shows up in a different article), but many of the issues still stand. Briefly, the decline can be traced to the age of the system (it’s so old the MTA has to rebuild certain parts because they can’t be purchased), overcrowding (the subway now has nearly as many riders as its peak in 1946), lack of political will for preventative maintenance, and mismanagement of funds.
- Countdown clocks: I remember when I was growing up, some of the subway lines didn’t have countdown clocks (most do now). Part of the reason for that is the subways signalling system, which was built in the 1930s. Signal failures are the largest source of delays for the MTA, and signal upgrade projects should increase reliability. They even put out a video showing how old the signaling system is. Particularly interesting in that video is the comparison between fixed block signalling and CBTC (Communications based train control).
- Construction costs: The MTA has really high construction costs, even compared to the rest of the US, which has higher mass transit construction costs than Europe (despite higher labor rates in Europe). The Transit Costs Project is trying to understand where these high costs come from. One egregiously expensive example of subway construction is the Second Avenue Subway, which was the “most expensive mile of subway track on earth”. It was so bad that Congress wanted to find out why costs were so high. The Regional Plan Association also published a similar report.
- Lines with additional capacity: From Alon Levy, one of the researchers on the project, is also a blog post about which subway lines in New York City could accommodate additional density, and are ideal candidates for upzoning. There was a lot of debate over their methodology in the comments, so take this with a grain of salt.
- Byford and Cuomo: Part of the reason for the high costs is the MTA’s bureaucracy, which Andy Byford, former London Underground commissioner, tried fixing. Unfortunately, he ended up leaving due to a feud with then Governor Andrew Cuomo