For New Yorkers who rely on the 86th Street subway station on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the morning commute is a humbling experience. An endless stream of people funnel onto the platforms. Trains arrive with a wall of humanity already blocking the doorways.
As No. 6 trains pull into the upper level of the station, riders scan for an opening and, if they can, squeeze in for a suffocating ride downtown.
“You can wait four or five subways to get on, and you’re just smushed,” Cynthia Hallenbeck, the chief financial officer at a nonprofit, said before boarding a train on a recent morning.
The Lexington Avenue line is the most crowded in the system, but subway riders across New York City are finding themselves on platforms and trains that are beyond crowded. L train stations in Brooklyn are routinely overwhelmed. In Queens, No. 7 train riders regularly endure packed conditions.
Subway use, now at nearly 1.8 billion rides a year, has not been this high since 1948, when the fare was a nickel and the Dodgers were still almost a decade away from leaving Brooklyn. Today, train delays are rising, and even a hiccup like a sick passenger or a signal malfunction can inundate stations with passengers.
Delays caused by overcrowding have quadrupled since 2012 to more than 20,000 each month, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The crowded trains can make for tense commutes, contributing to an uptick in assaults among disgruntled passengers, the transit police say. With crowds lining the platform edge, some riders and train operators worry that someone could fall onto the tracks.
And with summer approaching, the imposed intimacy will soon be even less welcome, as platform temperatures climb into the 80s and 90s.
“In terms of physical discomfort and feeling that life stinks in the subway, this is the No. 1 culprit,” said Gene Russianoff, the longtime leader of the Straphangers Campaign, a rider advocacy group.
Subway ridership in New York is in the midst of a resurgence almost unimaginable in the 1970s and ’80s when the system was defined by graffiti and crime. Ridership has steadily risen to nearly six million daily riders today from about four million in the 1990s.
But the subway infrastructure has not kept pace, and that has left the system with a litany of needs, many of them essential to maintaining current service or accommodating the increased ridership. The authority’s board recently approved $14.2 billion for the subways as part of a $29.5 billion, five-year capital spending plan.
On the busiest lines, like the 7, L and Q, officials say the agency is already running as many trains as it can during the morning rush. Crowds are appearing on nights and weekends, too, and the authority is adding more trains at those times.
The long-awaited opening of the Second Avenue subway on the Upper East Side this year will ease congestion on the Lexington Avenue line. Installing a modern signal system, which would allow more trains to run, is many years away for most lines.
In the meantime, the agency is doing its best to keep trains moving on the century-old system. Workers known as platform controllers have been deployed at busy stations like 86th Street to direct crowds so that trains can depart more quickly.
Subway guards, the early-20th-century forerunner of today’s platform controllers, were posted at busy stations the last time the system had this many riders, during the Great Depression and World War II era. That role,The New York Times noted in 1930, required the skills of “a football player, a head usher, a stage director, pugilist, circus barker and a sardine packer.”
That year, the city’s health commissioner criticized the “indecency of present overcrowding” and warned of protecting riders from contagious diseases. A video from the New York Transit Museum’s archive shows subway riders scrambling onto crowded trains in the 1940s.
Another big city currently grappling with huge crowds is London, and there the Tube has taken drastic measures: Stations simply close when they get too crowded. The busy Oxford Circus station in that city’s West End was closed more than 100 times over the course of one year, officials said,leaving hordes of riders to mill about at street level.
It is difficult to imagine New Yorkers patiently waiting at roped-off subway entrances.
Kevin Ortiz, a spokesman for the authority, said such restrictions were not necessary in New York City — at least for now.
“At this point, we don’t feel there are any current safety issues associated with overcrowding, but it’s something we will continue to monitor as ridership grows,” Mr. Ortiz said.
The authority has weighed several proposals, including buying trains withopen pathways between cars that can carry more riders and installingplatform safety doors, like those on the AirTrain at Kennedy International Airport, to serve as a barrier to keep riders from falling onto the tracks.
Brussard Alston, a train operator for nearly two decades who has worked on the C line, said operators were instructed to approach crowded stations slowly, at about 10 miles per hour.
“When you’re bringing the train into the station and you see the station is packed, you always have that on your mind — the possibility that somebody could be pushed or someone could fall or trip or faint,” Mr. Alston said.
At the 86th Street station, riders stood away from the platform edge because of such concerns. Parents with young children held on extra tight.
“I worry about that all the time,” Wendy Baez, an officer manager at a law firm, said. “That’s why I always stay in the back.”
“People are trying to walk back because they don’t want to get too close to the edge, and they’re pushing you forward,” Ms. Salvemini, who works in the entertainment industry, said. “People can be very aggressive.”
Nearby, a platform controller gave stern directives over a microphone: “Do not block the doors!” “Step all the way in!”
From The New York Times
In my opinion I feel like the people that put the ropes in the train station so that the people can get on the train safe,That is a good thing because in my experience of going on the train when the board walk is crowded was crazy people were pushing and if someone rush someone else to get on the train that person cen get his or her foot stuck in the whole that is cloe to the board walk.I also agree that putting the rope so people can board the train safer without having any harm is good because then they can be happy that they can get on the train safe without getting angry at pushing people.
ReplyDeleteTo me the 6 an 7 are the overcrowding ones because there is no seat. The other city that have horrible overcrowding is London and they use a rope. I think there is a better way check the Hong Kong subways. I think the city should be like Hong Kong because the subways are awesome and 50% better than the MTA subways. They got a door only when the train comes so people won't die or get hurt. Also in Hong Kong there subways are connected together. I love the Hong Kong subway better than the MTA subway.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the article the subway lines that are the worst in terms of overcrowded are the 6, 7, L, and Q train. Other city was the same problems as New York is London. The way they handle the overcrowded train is that they close everything. A thing that city should do is to add the glass doors to protect people from falling in to the tracks and to stop track fires from starting and delaying the trains.
ReplyDeleteI think that the New York city should change the way they do things with the train station by first really managing the population of the city and probably design the train to at least be much bigger just like what they did with the m15 bus or any express train. Maybe that how it should be for the train that they know that people use the most. Its just a lot of things they could do like maybe with people jobs they should start a certifying time like my school.
ReplyDeleteI think that the 6,7,L trains have a lot of troubles with people getting on the trains. I think the New York should change that before doing anything else Because if that many people going to be in a train station waiting for the train you never know someone might fall in the tracks. That well sometimes start to make train to skip stops and go on delay.
ReplyDeleteIn this situation i feel like they should redisgn tran carts to be more bigger than usual or make trans much more longer. I mean it wouldn't really change much but it would create way more space then there is now. Also it is hard for some people who are on these crowded trains because problems do occur while being on these trains like fight, being held hostile and etc. It't something a person who is minding their business wouldn't want be at, but they have no choice if they want to meet their destinations.
ReplyDeleteI think that people who work on the train should put a line so that people can get in safely and that is a good thing because when I usually go to the train is always crowded and theres barely any seats available to sit on. Without the line it will be very chaotic, there will be alot of pushing and shoving.
ReplyDeleteAccording to this article the train the are most crowed are the 6,7,L and Q train. I feel like to make things not crowded they should make the trains more larger. When I say make them more larger I am talking about the inside it should more spacey. The train carts are very small and there are a lot of people who take the train that is why it is very crowded. This article mentioned to put more subway trains out on the tracks , I feel like that is going to cause more traffic with the trains. There solution I feel is just to build new train and design them to be much larger in the inside. They can also make a section of seats just for disability people such as people that can't stand or has problems wit there health. I feel like everybody does not have to sit down except children people with disabilities and the elderly.
ReplyDeleteThe train that have the most delay are the 6, 7, l, and q. The other that have the same problem is London. They had to make passenger wait outside the train station for other train to come. The solution to this problem is for everyone to more out of New York.
ReplyDeleteThe train that have the most delay are the 6, 7, l, and q. The other that have the same problem is London. They had to make passenger wait outside the train station for other train to come. The solution to this problem is for everyone to more out of New York.
ReplyDeleteaccording to the passage the most crowded stop would be lexington ave but the most bussiest trains being use and being over wellem are the 7,L and Q train,these trains are being use the most day and night with that being said authority added extrs trains to run these 3 subway lines.,new york was not the only city seeing major crowds in their subway system,London also had a problem with overcrowding train.their solution was buying trains with open pathways between cars that carry more passengers and installing platform safety doors.I mean i really don't know much the city could do other then build more train stops and more trains.
ReplyDeleteoverwhelmed*
Deleteaccording to the passage the most crowded stop would be lexington ave but the most bussiest trains being use and being over wellem are the 7,L and Q train,these trains are being use the most day and night with that being said authority added extrs trains to run these 3 subway lines.,new york was not the only city seeing major crowds in their subway system,London also had a problem with overcrowding train.their solution was buying trains with open pathways between cars that carry more passengers and installing platform safety doors.I mean i really don't know much the city could do other then build more train stops and more trains.
ReplyDeleteAccording to article the overcrowded trains are 6, L and 7 because those trains goes to the busiest parts of Manhattan and in other countries like France and London; people have to wait on line for the other train to come, but here people will fight to have that spot in the train.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete86 street subway station on the upper East Side of Manhattan platforms being crowded with people blocking the door ways and the trains being delayed because of overcrowding. Also installing signal systems. Crowded trains causing tensions between the passengers. Also trying to get a ride on the train between stations.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the article, the most overcrowded trains are the 6,7,L, and Q trains. The are the overcrowded trains because theose trains are express and those trains goes to the busiest city which is Manhattan. Rush hours also relates to overcrowded for people to go to work or leaving from work to go home. Another city that also have this kind of problem is London. How they handled it was that they closed down stations when it gets too crowded. What I think we should do in this city is to make more trains so it don't have to be crowded and have no problems.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the article, the most overcrowded trains are the 6,7,L, and Q trains. The are the overcrowded trains because theose trains are express and those trains goes to the busiest city which is Manhattan. Rush hours also relates to overcrowded for people to go to work or leaving from work to go home. Another city that also have this kind of problem is London. How they handled it was that they closed down stations when it gets too crowded. What I think we should do in this city is to make more trains so it don't have to be crowded and have no problems.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! According to the article..
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