Tomorrow morning, at long last, commuters will be able to transfer between the Broadway-Lafayette station and the uptown 6 train platform without dragging their weary carcasses up to street level and then paying to go back down again. With anticipation at a fever pitch, we went underground today to talk to commuters about the Most Important Subway Transfer Of Our Time. Here's what they had to say:
Lisa Q (Justin Rivera / Gothamist)
Lisa Q, a lighting designer who lives in the Financial District, is excited about the transfer, but isn't impressed with the multicolored honeycomb lights in the station. "I don't like the lights here," she tells us. "They should work with the arrival of trains maybe. Right now it's all too distracting, especially with all the doors, gates, ads and people walking through. There's just too much energy! The colors should match! It shouldn't be random! I mean, it's LED with a set RGB scheme; it should be easy to set up a neat, tranquil pattern, just like the W hotel downtown."
An MTA worker who's been working with the transit authority for the past 25 years tells us, "This project has been going on for over 8 years. It cost A LOT of money. All the beams under these lights are new and holding up the street above, and the building. It only took so long due to the BDFM line under the new transfer point. We're above the tracks, as you can see, and it would've been done quicker if they had the opportunity to shut down the trains for a while."
Another MTA worker tells us, "You have no idea how many people get lost. I see some exit out one end, just to end up on the same side, on the same platform because they crossed the wrong street. When I'm bored i go inside the station and look for the worried lost looks on people's faces and help out." And Rich, a Lower East Side resident, says, "I think it should've been done a long time ago. Now people just get off those trains and then get out of the station, come around to this point (up town 6 platform) then to just pay again. It's stupid."
