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Many readers have quoted the superiority (rightfully so), of Moscow and Tokyo subway systems. Both these systems operate from around 5am till midnight (approx)

Many readers have quoted the superiority (rightfully so), of Moscow and Tokyo subway systems. Both these systems operate from around 5am till midnight (approx). NYC Subway operates 24 hours. These few hours downtime, make a huge difference with respect to maintainability and upkeep. These 4 hours each day adds up to ~60 full days of maintenance window. Maybe NYC can stop the late-night services for a year or so and I am sure better brains than mine have considered this. On a separate note, it might help to note that usage of NYC Subway has increased by 80% over the last ~20 years (1). It will be interesting to see the same trend for Moscow and Tokyo subways. NewYorker here and Subway rider here. (1)https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/28/nyregion/subway-delays-overcrowding.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/28/nyregion/subw...

randall 9y ago
Late night tho... that 2am subway home is a lifeline for a lot of folks. I remember getting home at like 4am once thanks to the subway. I could probably live without it, but it wouldn't be as nice.
- ajdlinux 9y ago
  You need to boost other public transport services to provide at least some level of late night service. In Sydney, they run substitute buses between many railway stations from 0000-0430 - it's not great, but it's possible to use buses to provide a minimum level of service coverage when the railways are shut down.
- claudius 9y ago
  Wouldn’t it be possible to have nightline buses operating the same routes as the subway during that window? It works well e.g. in Berlin and Munich and only takes minimally longer than the train (since the roads are not congested at night and the bus can hence go much faster). At least it should be possible for a temporary maintenance window?
piva00 9y ago
What stops NYC to do what any other city in the world does and just run a replacement bus line for the lines under maintenance? Even more if it's during the night, run a replacement bus close to the same stops as the stations and shut down the line. Or isn't NYC Metro card integrated between different modes of transportation?

randall 9y ago

Late night tho... that 2am subway home is a lifeline for a lot of folks. I remember getting home at like 4am once thanks to the subway. I could probably live without it, but it wouldn't be as nice.

ajdlinux 9y ago
You need to boost other public transport services to provide at least some level of late night service. In Sydney, they run substitute buses between many railway stations from 0000-0430 - it's not great, but it's possible to use buses to provide a minimum level of service coverage when the railways are shut down.
claudius 9y ago
Wouldn’t it be possible to have nightline buses operating the same routes as the subway during that window? It works well e.g. in Berlin and Munich and only takes minimally longer than the train (since the roads are not congested at night and the bus can hence go much faster). At least it should be possible for a temporary maintenance window?

piva00 9y ago

What stops NYC to do what any other city in the world does and just run a replacement bus line for the lines under maintenance? Even more if it's during the night, run a replacement bus close to the same stops as the stations and shut down the line. Or isn't NYC Metro card integrated between different modes of transportation?