For 112 years, the New York City subway system had changed with the times but now it’s about to take a giant forward leap.
The subway cars of the future have been unveiled complete with WiFi and charging ports for your energy hungry devices along with new station design elements.
1,025 new subway cars are coming and of those, 750 are expected to be open ended—from front to back it will be just one long open train.
Doors will also be wider to increase the flow of passengers on and off much faster (in theory, in practice we won’t hold out breath).
Besides WiFi and charging ports, security cameras (smile!) and digital ad displays are also coming (can you imagine Dr Zizmor ads if he were still in business?)
But that’s not all. For decades, subway entrances have fairly been unscathed by progress’s touch but even that will get a major face-lift along with virtually every inch of the 31 stations slated to close for these upgrades and renovations (7 are in The Bronx so get ready).
The MTA has a timeline of having these upgrades completed by 2020 (again, we’re not going to hold our breath) and gone will be the green and red globes we’ve come to know for most of not all of our lifetimes.
The entrances will be sleek with canopies and provide real-time updates on service so you don’t have to go all the way down (or up) only to find out that yet again, trains are not running due to some excuse like say, rain.
Lighting elements will be upgrades to provide for safer and brighter stations and two things I’m happy about is that artwork will be a component of these renovations and even more importantly, the architectural legacy of stations will be considered and sensitivity to historical elements will guide the renovations of stations.
Oh, did we mention that Metrocards will also be phased out? At least the subway token lasted for 50 years before being discontinued.
So what do you think about these planned upgrades? Let us know!
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