January 12, 2006
Can You Hear Me Now as the Train Passes By?
It looks like cell providers are going the "one for all, all for one" approach with the MTA's request for proposals for cellphone service in 277 subway stations: The Daily News reports that a consortium of cellphone service providers, in cluding Verizon and Cingular, will bid on the MTA's ambitious project. After announcing they wanted bids in August of last year, MTA's initial deadline was in the fall/early winter but they had to push it back because it so complicated. In fact, the MTA's engineers had to "clarify what the agency envisioned and how it could be accomplished." Hmm, given Gothamist's experience, we imagine MTA engineers are expecting the project to come in with a lot of overtime (the Times Square station renovated passage between the N/Q/R/W and 1/2/3 trains took about 50% longer than it should have...18+ months AT LEAST). Verizon said that wiring the DC Metro (a much smaller system) in the 1990s cost $18 million, so we'll guess the NYC plan for 277 of 468 stations (maybe the outdoor, elevated stops aren't counted?) will cost over $100 million. And for now, the plan is just for stations, not the actual cars, though the Daily News article seemed to imply that train service might be available between stations. All the more reason to plug into an iPod (except for the fear of it getting snatched thing)!
The MTA's site about "doing business with the MTA" is a hoot.
Photograph of man scrolling through his cellphone's menus from VincenzoF on Flickr; thankfully the plan will not include service on train cars...yet
|
Please, God, let this be one (more) project the MTA doesn't follow through on. Anyone who has ridden a subway above ground or taken the Staten Island Ferry knows it is a special sort of hell being trapped with a load of idiots on their cell phones and especially one of those stupid Nextel phones. We all get that you are cool enough to own a cell phone. It's bad enough listening to you, and it is worse listening to you and the person you are talking with.
Man, I'm glad you guys noticed that the Times Square project is taking so long. Every time I walk past that 1/2/3 to N/R/Q/W connector, the completion date is later and later. Once upon a time, they were going to have it done by July of 2005.
Do people really need to talk on the phone all the time? Can you not wait that 30 minutes until you're back above ground? Except for during emergencies... this just seems absurd. On commuter rails they have had to have 'no cell phone cars' because most people still have no cell phone courtesy and seem to need to chat with the person they are about to meet up with.
(Anyone who has ridden a subway above ground or taken the Staten Island Ferry knows it is a special sort of hell being trapped with a load of idiots on their cell phones and especially one of those stupid Nextel phones.)
That's why the MTA wants to limit cellphone reception to the platforms. The cellphone companies, trying to get more money, are demanding reception in the tunnels between stations as well, increasing both the hell and (exponentially) the train re-routes required for installation and maintenance.
I'll bet those companies are approaching our state pols at fundraisers with money in envelopes right now and asking Pataki, Bruno and Silver to set that lousy MTA management straight. Just be glad you aren't in Larry Reuter's shoes.
I'm with you, MT. MAN, those Nextels irritate the hell out of me. Now I get to pay 2 bucks to be a captive audience for a whole train of yammering yahoos. I have GOT to start riding the bike.
Also, and this is just a layman's perspective, but isn't this the kind of thing that could enable terrorists to, oh, I don't know, trigger explosives remotely with their cell phones?
I used to hate cellphone talkers too but I hate anyone who interrupts my morning peace and that's almost everybody. You hear noise and din from the train all the time and from people who have live conversations on the train. What's the difference if two schoolgirls are talking loud on a train next to you or if one is talking to the other on the phone? And the cellphones let me ignore the bums who fucking say "I'm sorry if I'm interrupting you but could you please spare me some money?" and they always come one after another in succession. Cellphones are the future.
Why doesn't the MTA concentrate on upgrading the following:
* 100 year old electronic switches;
* Cleaner & quieter stations;
* Air conditioned stations;
* Escalators in stations;
* Sell advertising space as a means of augment revenues;
* Refurbish stations with retail space, again as a means of augmenting revenues; and last but not least,
* Take the subway out of the politicians hands and privatize the damn thing !
* Escalators in stations;
Bad idea. Ask anyone in DC. Escalators are a HUGE pain in the ass. Staircases never breakdown. Escalators that would witness such high volume as in the NYC subway would.
* Sell advertising space as a means of augment revenues;
What do you think they sell ad space for now? Decoration?
* Take the subway out of the politicians hands and privatize the damn thing !
Since that's worked so well in other places....
The MTA is hardly as inept as you make it out to be.
Fuck You dude. I fucking hate homeless people with a passion. Maybe you feel good about yourself when you give em a measly dollar so they can buy booze and shit but not me. I hope you feel the same way when they mug and rape your mother late at night. In fact, I sometimes go up to homeless people late at night and stab them in the stomach and spit in their faces in the back alleys then I sell their internal organs on the black market. hahhaah.
"We all get that you are cool enough to own a cell phone."
Is it really that "cool" to own a cell phone? - I think even some of the homeless have them.
While I dont want to hear 400 cell conversations on my commute either - I welcome Internet Service as well as the future ability to watch TV, Listen to Radio and all the other ip related services that the cell carriers are adding. Besides a HUGE % of the subway already has cell service - its above ground.
Besides a HUGE % of the subway already has cell service - its above ground.
Yeah but what would people in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx need to use their cell phones for? We all know the world revolves around Manhattan. (Insert sarcasm here.)
Escalators are a HUGE pain in the ass. Staircases never breakdown...
Of course there should always be stairs available but there are plenty of stations that could have an escalator available for with difficulty walking. The elevated stations should definitely have escalators and elevators.
What do you think they sell ad space for now? Decoration?
What GEM means is that there should be more. There's so much ad space left unused in the stations and cars. Why not ads on the outside of cars like buses and taxis. And why do the IND stations have mezzanines the size of aircraft carrier decks but hardly any retail space in those huge underground concourses.
Since that's worked so well in other places....
The city and state should at least study the idea of privatization.
The MTA is hardly as inept as you make it out to be.
Two years to replace an escalator at Court Street, selling the Hudson Yards air-rights for less then market value, the mysterious surplus, quote "C train service could be suspended for as up to five years" unquote, et cetera, et cetera. IMO they are that inept.