7 ms·

MTA runs 24 hours. Lots of people take it at night. I do all the time. Shutting it down at night would be an incredible inconvenience.

• Retric 8y ago
  You can avoid traffic at night so driving / busses are more viable replacements. 24/7 operation means higher costs and more random failures.
  • CydeWeys 8y ago
    Driving is not a viable replacement in NYC. You would need a car. Most people don't have 'em, and even though traffic might be light there's still nowhere to park 'em.
    • Retric 8y ago
      I was more thinking Taxi / Lyft than just a personal car. That covers occasionally being out late, working the night shift means you can take the subway one way and just take a bus back.
      • CydeWeys 8y ago
        Taxi/Lyft are waaay more expensive than the subway. Unlimited subway/bus is $116.50 per month. Taxi/Lyft could easily be $50/day or more depending on how far out you live. This is not a viable alternative for most people.
        • Retric 8y ago
          Sure, if your doing this daily the bus is a much better option. Without a running subway you would expect relatively increased bus service. But, for the occasional trip the cost benifit tradeoff of the city saving vast mounts of money and reduced delays is worth a few people being inconvenienced.
          • CydeWeys 8y ago
            The point is that this is a daily commute for many people, not just the occasional trip. NYC is a 24/7 city and there are substantial night shifts at all sorts of different businesses, very few of which are making enough money to swing a daily hired car.
            • Retric 8y ago
              At which point a bus is a 100% viable option.
              • CydeWeys 8y ago
                Too bad they can't cross water on their own (you know, Manhattan being an island and all that).
                • Retric 8y ago
                  > can’t cross water on their own, Ahh, did not realize you where trolling about a world without bridges. I mean wtf dude, the inefficiency from running a 24/7 subway reduces the city's ability to afford more bridges.
                  • CydeWeys 8y ago
                    Manhattan has plenty of train tunnel river crossings with no nearby automobile crossing. Go look at a map.
                    • Retric 8y ago
                      "reduces the city's ability to afford more bridges" Further, Manhattan is just not that big. Nowhere is very far from anywhere else when you step aside from the horrid congestion.
              • et2o 8y ago
                Have you ever lived in NYC? This is just plainly wrong.
        • jamestanderson 8y ago
          Where can I get that rate? My 30-day pass is $121.
          • itschekkers 8y ago
            i think its because they are correcting for the commuter tax deduction. ask your HR folks about https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dca/about/commuter-benefits-law.page https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dca/about/commuter-benefits-law.pa...
            • CydeWeys 8y ago
              Nope, just out of date. $116.50 was the price prior to the increase to $121. The commuter tax deduction lets you buy the cards with pre-tax money deducted from your paycheck, which is a substantial reduction up to 45% or so depending on your marginal tax rate. Of course, because it's using pre-tax money, it's giving a bigger discount to higher earners, which makes it the opposite of progressive, which seems opposite of what's intended. Separately, seniors/disabled people pay half fare: http://web.mta.info/nyct/fare/rfindex.htm http://web.mta.info/nyct/fare/rfindex.htm
          • CydeWeys 8y ago
            Turns out the monthly price was raised from $116.50 to $121 in 2017, so I'm guessing you moved here since then. I'll confess that I don't buy the monthly passes because I bike to work every day, and thus don't take subway nearly often enough to recoup the monthly costs.
  • wan23 8y ago
    There is a surprising amount of street traffic at night in much of the city.
  • et2o 8y ago
    Driving and busses are absolutely not a viable replacement for the subway in NYC, at anytime of day.
• bluGill 8y ago
  It shouldn't be a big deal to bring in a few buses to run those routes at night. Just shut down one line at a time - or whatever you want to work on. Ideally you time the traffic lights so those buses always have green and so the times are not slower.