Gov. Andrew Cuomo detailed the improvements Friday, saying the five-year, $29 billion plan will restore New York’s legacy of building big for future generations.
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The plan includes subway countdown clocks, replacement subway cars and mobile charging stations on subway cars.
The MTA is speeding up its timeline for modernizing trains, buses and many of its stations – including Wi-Fi service in all 277 underground stops by the end of this year. The original Metropolitan Transit Authority plan to redo 20 of the city’s 469 metro stations by 2020 has also been upped to 30 – most should be done by 2018.
“These are vital investments to modernize subways and buses and make the daily commute less terrible”, said John Raskin, executive director of the Riders Alliance, an organization that advocates on behalf of transit users.
“No cell service, no Wi-Fi service – that has to change”, Cuomo said.
The announcement came as Cuomo continues to unveil his priorities for 2016 ahead of his state-of-the-state address on Wednesday in Albany.
At the New York Transit Museum, Cuomo acknowledged he was subverting expectations for how the MTA was supposed to look. In short, NYC’s mass transit system will soon revolve around mobile. The answer is not more people getting in cars and getting on the road and driving…The traffic is bad.
“The MTA is committed to meeting Governor Cuomo’s challenge head-on, eliminating every possible inefficiency to deliver these improvements faster, better and at a lower cost”, Prendergast said.
Example of smartphone payments for MTA subway access.
Better lighting, better signage and clocks showing arrival times on the MTA’s “letter lines” are all part of the plan, the officials said.
Charging ports will be installed on 200 subway cars this year and 400 next year. By 2018, some 1,500 buses will have Wi-Fi hotspots and USB charging ports, bringing a new level of connectivity and convenience to customers.
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New York’s subway system has lagged behind others.
