Schumer Wants LIRR Riders To Surf The Net

Senator Charles Schumer wants Long Island Rail Road commuters to be more productive—and slams the MTA for not providing wireless technology to allow commuters to get online. Schumer, at a press conference at the Ronkonkama LIRR station, pointed out that other mass transit systems, such as ones in Texas, California and Utah, have wireless technology, and said, "Unfortunately, the Long Island Rail Road has been slow to adapt. The technology is ready and waiting and would easily be up and running by the end of the year." The senior Senator added that it would cost $1,000 per train car and that the MTA could take advantage of federal stimulus money if it acted quickly (ha!). Well, it certainly would keep riders quiet...maybe. In other wireless-MTA news, plans to put cellphone technology in the NYC subway system are still languishing. Photo from when Schumer answered Talking Points Memo readers' questions

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By Jen Chung in News on June 15, 2009 3:12 PM

Comments [rss]

bluerain

meechybee,

Some of us don't have $50 a month.

I could manage the local advertising on the free internet available on the LIRR (from local vendors) and make a profit.

meechybee

For $50 a month, you can get a wireless internet card that is 10x faster than anything that would be available on a train. The cost of setting up and administering such a (useless) program would far outweigh the revenue.

Besides, in Texas and Utah, they NEED to entice people to take mass transit. In NYC, mass transit is a necessity, not a luxury.

Jan Dembowski

+1 from me (via an iPhone from a LIRR train on my way to Penn station).

aspiringrapper

Please keep the subways cell phone free. There are enough psychotics talking to themselves already. Why give them the ability to phone their crazy friends? People just want to come & go safely wherever it is they're going. That's all we ask.

Rocknrope

Yes, I need my fix of guesshermuff even on the train.

Bottomless Chips

How many workers collecting OT will it take to install some Interwebz?

al_fredo

How about Amtrak first?? Is it complete retarded that for 25 bucks or less, i can get on the Bolt bus to DC with power and internet...or spend 99 on Amtrak with no internet.

Bottomless Chips

And which one of those is subsidized by your federal tax dollars?

Steven

How about the MTA stop raising fares?

TrippinJoJo

why dont they just plug a fucking chip into our heads so we can be connected ALL THE FUCKING TIME>

jesus christ the obsession with the internet EVERYWHERE.

I DoNT want to pay $330 a month for my commute. FIX that first MTA u greedy motherfucking retards.

sorry...lack of sunshine.

abcohen

I think they need to worry about fares before internet.

longacre

Conceivably the wireless carriers would pay for it. The question is who is delaying this: the MTA or Verizon/AT&T/etc.?

Kojak

Agreed. Also who the fuck needs wireless on the train? That's what Blackberry's/Iphones with 3G are for.

Same goes for Spring/Verizon WebAccess Cards. This is not needed right now.

pete

Wifi on the LIRR train is nuts. The east river tunnels and penn station already have service everywhere. Atlantic branch doesn't. Who seriously uses wifi on the go? Starbucks and Mcdonalds and B&N are the only places that have it. Anyone who is serious about getting online, will use a cellphone/laptop card/something cellphone network. Just add cellphone network support to the tunnels, and thats it. Anyone who needs to go online on the train then can do so. 95% of the LIRR already has "internet" service through a cellphone.

This sounds like some pork project.

buttface

Could be bad for some people - bosses will expect their office drones to continue working during the commute home.

Imagine the fights over the one seat per car with a power outlet!

Global Wombat

What? At that point, it's the employee's obligation to tell their employer to fuck off.

nicemarmot

I was going to comment about people watching porn and jerking it if they got web access. Then I remembered I already saw a guy doing that on the F train a few weeks ago. Minus the live internet.

Plus, free wifi will allow people to angrily comment on why their train has been stuck in Babylon for two hours.