Subway Station Painting Plan Like Watching Paint Dry

Sure, there are many subway stations with chipped and peeling paint. And the MTA even has the money to start repainting them. But the MTA can't figure out a plan to get started!

The Daily News reported that the NYC Transit's plan to paint stations is in limbo; NYCT told them, "It will go forward, but I don't know when or what the plan is." Then the News told MTA non-voting board member Andrew Albert how there is no plan, to which Albert said, "They haven't started? It shouldn't take a year to decide what stations to do. There's little doubt you can find 35 stations a year that badly need a paint job." And a rider said about the decrepit state of the Court Street R station, "It looks like an abandoned Dracula castle."

Last November, the MTA revealed that, thanks to a windfall from the sale of Stuyvesant Town (the MTA gets a cut of all mortgages), it would be able to paint many of its 468 stations. What station would you nominate to be painted first?

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on July 5, 2007 1:08 PM

Comments [rss]

guest

citi station 205? not a bad idea... will they also supply armed security?

guest

They need to give the subway stations away as free art space and the rest will take care of itself...

schmod

Better than idea #1: Allow advertisers to "take over" a station for 4-6 months.

Once their time is up, they have to foot the bill for cleaning the place up.

If the stations were maintained better to begin with, we really wouldn't have this problem. As long as stuff gets painted often enough to prevent rust, you don't have to deal with the huge cost of scraping all the rust off once you finally do decide to paint.

That said, how much could paint possibly cost for an organization as big as the MTA. This should be small peanuts for them.

bradedward

IDEA 1:

Why not just sell the advertising rights to each station to a company like Pepsi or Paramount Pictures and let them go hog wild. They can paint or post whatever the crap they want on the walls. They won't let the stations deteriorate like they do now

Plus, the MTA could make some serious money.

I can see it now.....a train station that looks like the one in Harry Potter to promote the new movie or a station.

IDEA 2:

Or....let a select group of street artists do the work for you. Turn the subways into art galleries!

ed_Extinct

You can paint rust any color you want, it's still rust.

banjoandro

PAINTING the subway stations???? How about removing all the trash and feces from the stations first???

Or installing a fing electronic sign that says when the next train is arriving????

JMH

A plan? They need a PLAN? Here's a plan. Put all the stations into a hat, pick one out at random, buy paint and paintbrushes, start painting. There, I just saved the MTA thousands of dollars that it would've cost them to pay people to come up with a plan.

Outter Burrougher

hmm, then why does my subway station seem to get part of it painted something like once a month (30th Ave on the N/W in Queens)? It certainly doesn't need it nearly as much as a lot of other stations.

guest

For the MTA to pretend that they are strapped for funds and doing the best they can to address the complex list of MTA issues is just a load of crap. There is plenty of revenue and government support. They are just plain incompetent, or the money is going up someone's ass instead. Nothing will change until there are politicians brave enough to take them on. The subway system is a disgrace and the riders (who are largely the working people of NYC) deserve better. Plus you are not allowed to critisize one issue or another without being labeled either ungrateful or un-informed. Bullshit. Somebody needs to shake out that old crony passe system and get something going with the MTA that is transparent and responsible.

Toby von Meistersinger

Well I have been seeing lots of Wet Paint signs around the system of late, so there is some painting going on.

Blairy Blair

I nominate a station in a very, very rich area. Rich people hate scuffed and chipped paint, or rather they hate the thought of their maids and nannies seeing it.

Elderta

The godawful blue paint at the 138th and 3rd Avenue stop in the Bronx is ugly as sin and dirtier. The mosaic that says "3rd" along the walls could use a darn good power hosing, too. It's a beautiful silver but just looks like crap.