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NYC is proud of its 24/7 subway service. Tell a NYer another city’s subways are better because of XYZ and they’ll shake their fist and say “but we have 24/7 ser
by decafninja 4y ago
NYC is proud of its 24/7 subway service. Tell a NYer another city’s subways are better because of XYZ and they’ll shake their fist and say “but we have 24/7 service and they don’t!”
But I can’t feel part of the reason for the NYC subways many woes is because of the 24/7 service and the lack of maintenance and cleanup.
- beckler 4y agoI love taking the subways in NYC. They have such a rich history and it’s so easy and affordable, but yeah… it’s also incredibly filthy.
- pclmulqdq 4y agoI, too, love riding in an antique tin can (likely 50+ years old) driven by a maniac and infested with rats the size of dogs. It is still the best way to get around Manhattan...
- decafninja 4y agoI’m no bike zealot like some here, but I make it a point to avoid the subways as much as I can in favor of biking around Manhattan. The only time I venture underground is when it’s pouring rain. Even dodging cars, I find it a much less stressful experience than the subways. I fully understand this isn’t for everyone though. And not just because of cars.
- Tade0 4y agoI grep up in a city where the last train would start its route at 0:15, or 3:00 on Friday nights. The first would be at six or so. No problems with maintenance and cleaning whatsoever. Then again no homeless either, considering it's closed for a few hours of the day.
- deebosong 4y agoI gotta agree with this. If I'm waiting at 2am for a subway in NYC for 1 hr, versus waiting 6 hours for the first subway to kick back in if it's say, 12:01am in Japan or South Korea? Then IMHO it's better to just eat the cost, take a taxi, feel the burn of $100 to get home vs. say $2-4 for a 3am subway ride, and give the NYC MTA subway system time to work on repairs, renovations, additions, etc. 24 hour subway leaves no time at all to do any maintenance. I really, really, really really really wish that NYC would just straight up plagiarize Japan or South Korea for their metro systems. Even their "next stop" displays are far superior than what NYC currently has. One can dream...
- decafninja 4y agoNYC recently replaced some of their subway cars with brand new ones. I’m in Seoul right now as I type this. Was in Taipei a few days ago too. The brand new NYC subway cars are already filthier than the older Seoul and Taipei ones.
- eric-hu 4y agoI lived in Taipei for about 3 years. Technically it's against the rules in both the NYC metro and Taipei metro to eat on the train. Technically it's a weakly enforced rule in both places. A lot more people eat on the train in NYC than Taipei.
- decafninja 4y agoI would also say the behavior extends to more than just eating.
- asdff 4y agoI don't know why they don't at least put a trash can on the train. If people are going to litter anyhow why not at least provide the off chance that hey they might toss their leftover food into the bin, instead of letting it roll all over the train for the next 16 hours. It's like the great ashtray removal in the last few decades. People aren't going to quit smoking because you took away the ashtrays, they will just toss their cigarettes on the ground where there used to be an ashtray.
- jacquesm 4y agoFire risk. Someone will toss a cigarette but in there and the next thing you know the train is on fire.
- decafninja 4y agoAnd this being NYC, you know it’s bound to happen sooner or later.
- solarkraft 4y agoI can live with a few hours for maintenance here and there, but I generally wish my city's tram service was more continuous. I don't think they do maintenance every night and it feels like defeat to have to take a taxi just to get home after midnight.
- Atsuii 4y agoAs someone who lives in a city where we have both a train network that doesn't run 24/7 but also seems to have crippling malfunction once every 2 weeks that causes delays of hours across the whole network; the number of hours that transport is shut for per day are not reflective of how many hours there are for maintenance.
- eric-hu 4y agoWhich city is this?
- hugh-avherald 4y agoProbably Sydney. (Not a bad train system, but definitely in a bit of a local minimum at the moment)
- MivLives 4y agoSure sounds like Boston.
- lmm 4y agoThe lack of maintenance is an issue, but it's got very little to do with the 24/7 service - it's set up so they shut down half of each line overnight and do maintenance on alternate pairs of tracks, which should be a fine way of working (and is the same way that e.g. European night trains work - they'll keep one line open overnight for night trains while they work on the other). It's just decades of not doing it, not having enough funding, and more generally a total breakdown in state capacity to do anything.
- throwaway290 4y agoTaipei's subway system is explicit and clear that the nightly downtime cannot be reduced for maintenance purposes: https://english.metro.taipei/News_Content.aspx?n=034BD8E0AB821D47&sms=5B794C46F3CDE718&s=A3E779360436C045 https://english.metro.taipei/News_Content.aspx?n=034BD8E0AB8... It's magical when you can rely on public transport in a city to work during declared hours... You move without having to think about it, like fish in water. Any unplanned downtime always throws a wrench in the plan, if they are frequent then people will prefer private transport and clog the roads.
- lmm 4y agoTaipei say they need 3:30/night for maintenance i.e. 24.5 hours/week. That lines up pretty closely with London's 5:00/night 5 nights/week, i.e. 25 hours/week. So I could believe that NY needs to shut each track pair for 25 hours/week to do adequate maintenance. But they can achieve that just as well by shutting one track pair for 7:00 each night rather than both track pairs for 3:30 (indeed you can probably get more done in one 7:00 block than two 3:30 blocks).
- throwaway290 4y agoTrue, but that is assuming Taipei doesn't have extra tracks factored in... I suppose there are other reasons for redundant tracks (a train malfunctions and needs to stop somewhere while the next comes to serve?) and during the times they are in maintenance there is no slack.
- elif 4y agoThe maintenance cycle is also amazing for nightlife. In Tokyo the majority of late night establishments are open until 5am when the trains start back up.
- JCharante 4y agoNot really. Plenty of times people would be willing to stay out until 1 or 2 am but they go home at 11pm because they don’t want to wait until 5-6 am.
- throwaway2037 4y agoAgree. This is classic fantasy thinking about Japan life. The "all night out" thing is something that most Japanese people only do a few times in their life, with many regrets (horrible hang over, etc.).
- guardiangod 4y agoI live in NYC and am well aware of the so-called 24/7 service. The fact is that it's 24/7 only in midtown Manhattan. If you are on the 1/2/3 or ACE or 4/5/6 lines it's likely you'd get 'For the next 3 weekends services from some outer borough station to 178th street will be suspended from 10PM to 8 AM. Please use the connection bus from blah to blah." Even the Q line, that is less than 10 years old, went though the same hassle in Feb, and that's squarely in midtown. The 24/7 claim is exaggerated. Just ask the 7 line folks at the Hudson Yard's end what they think of the claim. Also, during the weekend I find taking the bus to usually be faster than taking the subway. Literally buses creeping across New York is faster trains.
- Animats 4y agoThat has a lot to do with which parts of the system are 4-track.
- guardiangod 4y agoAs a user I don't care if a line is 2 track, 3 tracks, or quad tracks. What I care is reliability and convinence (and price too but my company is paying for it so blah). If you live in the Bronx, there's a good chance you won't be going home at 1AM by trains, even if the crazies don't get to you first.
- Animats 4y agoThe point is that if you have a four-track system, you can shut down two tracks for maintenance and still maintain service.
- throw7 4y agoAgreed. I'm sure Byford knew intimately all about it. In the end, NYC's problems didn't get solved because of Cuomo.
- 7952 4y agoI assume that underground lines need more maintenance than overground. Does anyone know why this is?
- fatnoah 4y ago> But I can’t feel part of the reason for the NYC subways many woes is because of the 24/7 service and the lack of maintenance and cleanup Come to Boston. We don't have 24/7 service and still close lines for entire days, weeks, or months to do maintenance.
- comte7092 4y agoThat’s a spare ratio/labor problem not a 24/7 service problem.