2nd Ave Subway

[John W Gintell]

History was made yesterday with the opening of a piece of this line. Anyone ride it?

I believe it was in 1919 that plans for this line were first announced. In 1944,
Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia announced that work on the Second Avenue subway
line was progressing.

[Peter Schleifer]

Post by John W Gintell
History was made yesterday with the opening of a piece of this line. Anyone ride it?

There were lots of people. I rode the first northbound Q from 57th/7th
(a few minutes after noon on Sunday). Unlike the first run in the
other direction, the train was not decorated and there were no
dignitaries on board or any ceremony associated with it, but the
conductor was obviously pleased with her assignment and there was a
round of applause at each stop. This was the more natural direction to
take for my first ride.

Post by John W Gintell
I believe it was in 1919 that plans for this line were first announced. In 1944,
Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia announced that work on the Second Avenue subway
line was progressing.

Ground was broken around 1972. There were other things going on in
1944.
--
Peter Schleifer
"Ignorance is easy and you get it for free"

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by John W Gintell
History was made yesterday with the opening of a piece of this line. Anyone ride it?
I believe it was in 1919 that plans for this line were first announced. In 1944,
Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia announced that work on the Second Avenue subway
line was progressing.

History was made? I don't agree. This kind of crap will keep happening
time and again. It's one thing to announce a plan for the subway in 1919,
but it's quite another thing to demolish the Third Avenue El in the 1950s
(and the remaining Bronx portion in the 1970s), then build a tiny bit of
its replacement six decades later. The Lex has been horrifically overcrowded
this whole time.

No, let's make history by building effective infrastructure on a timely
basis at a reasonable cost, not demolishing then replacing far too late.

Here in Chicago, we got back a small bit of the bus terminal at Union
Station... 47 years after the old one was removed with the demolition
of the concourse building.

[John W Gintell]

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by John W Gintell
History was made yesterday with the opening of a piece of this line. Anyone ride it?
I believe it was in 1919 that plans for this line were first announced. In 1944,
Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia announced that work on the Second Avenue subway
line was progressing.

History was made? I don't agree. This kind of crap will keep happening
time and again. It's one thing to announce a plan for the subway in 1919,
but it's quite another thing to demolish the Third Avenue El in the 1950s
(and the remaining Bronx portion in the 1970s), then build a tiny bit of
its replacement six decades later. The Lex has been horrifically overcrowded
this whole time.
No, let's make history by building effective infrastructure on a timely
basis at a reasonable cost, not demolishing then replacing far too late.
Here in Chicago, we got back a small bit of the bus terminal at Union
Station... 47 years after the old one was removed with the demolition
of the concourse building.

I meant to put History in quotes.

One of the very depressing things about US public transportation is that each
agency's equipment procurement seems to be a custom purchase - with design,
testing, etc. Each agency gets custom buses, subway cars (perhaps more necessary
because of existing station constraints), rail cars, etc. The MBTA (metro
Boston) is in the process of getting a new fare-collection system to replace the
mish-mosh of cards, paper-tickets, cash, and credit cards they currently use. It
is a 3 year process from official start (and I'm sure they have been talking
about it for quite a while). I'd think there are some pretty good systems
already in place.