Somehow, this is so cool. (Getty)
You thought the four subway platforms with cell phone service were bad? Within the year, the entire Upper West Side and most of Midtown will be wired for service, too. Grab those earplugs!
(First off, is this really as annoying everyone is making it out to be? Why is it we will all blithely use the service when it suits us, but furrow our brows and shake our fists at the guy next to us doing so? Ah, New York.)
The M.T.A. and its partners at Transit Wireless have selected 31 platforms in 26 stations stretching from 96th Street to 18th Street, almost entirely on the West Side. Each of the N, Q, R, 1, 2, 3, and B, D, F, M station within this area will have service, as well as overlap with the appropriate A, C, E, 7 and shuttle train platforms, such as the A, B, C, D along Central Park West or the convergence of lines at Times Square. (Yes, Times Square station will be that much more obnoxious. One misery hole that will be spared? Penn Station) The full list:
5 Av (N)(Q)(R) 59 St-Columbus Circle (A)(C)(B)(D)
7 Av (B)(D)(E) 66 St (1)
18 St (1) 72 St (1)(2)(3)
23 St (1) 72 St (B)(C)
23 St (N)(R) 79 St (1)
28 St (1) 81 St (B)(C)
28 St (N)(R) 86 St (1)
34 St-Herald Sq (B)(D)(F)(M) 86 St (B)(C)
34 St-Herald Sq (N)(Q)(R) 96 St (1)(2)(3)
47-50 Sts (B)(D)(F)(M) 96 St (B)(C)
49 St (N)(Q)(R) Times Sq-42 St (1)(2)(3)
50 St (1) Times Sq-42 St (7)
50 St (C)(E) Times Sq-42 St (A)(C)(E)
57 St (N)(Q)(R) Times Sq-42 St (N)(Q)(R)
57 St (F) Times Sq-42 St (S)
59 St-Columbus Circle (1)
Now call us conspiratorial, but The Observer could not help but notice that the Lex has been saved from the cellphone scourge. Being the busiest subway line in the city, it would seem there would be good reason to be wired. Then again, those stations are already so crowded, it would make them only more aggravating, right?
But what if there is an ulterior motive going on here? After all, the Lexington Avenue line has gotten preferential treatment in the past, with generally more reliable service, as well as those nifty countdown clocks. It is also the subway line Mayor Bloomberg very conspicuously takes (except when he doesn’t), as well, it should be noted, as the M.T.A. brass, holed up as they are on Madison Avenue. Perhaps they do not want to be privy to the personal lives of a million or so New Yorkers.
There is actually a far simpler explanation: it has to do with fiber optic cables. Each platform is served by seven to nine “wireless hotels,” which are connected to the cell network above ground. It is easier to string this network together than to build it piece by piece, and thus cellphone service will snake out from its current locations on along 14th Street and at 23rd Street and 8th Avenue. Why this cuts out Penn Station was not immediately clear, but the service will roll out with the wires from here over the next 12 months.
“In essence, there has to be some geographic proximity,” M.T.A. spokesman Kevin Ortiz said.
As for the outerboroughs, service will get there someday, but there is less demand, as well as plenty of elevated stations—another annoyance!that have had service as long as there have been cellphones.
mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC
Matt is The Observer's real estate editor. Follow Matt on Twitter or via RSS. mchaban@observer.com
Amazing that the MTA doesn’t have enough money to provide booth clerks at 79th and 86th Street uptown #1 stations, but it will provide cell phone service. I guess that’s so you can call for help if you’re mugged or having a heart attack.
Joy!!! Now we can’t even escape from the rude and obnoxious amongst us by disappearing underground. Unbelievable.
How LONG are you UNDERGROUND? That’s really what matters. If it’s 12 min on a L train or 20 minutes, you don’t NEED IT for that SHORT a time. Just shut the fck up!!! thanks you! ksnf;djf;qked
UST don’t use it for 10 minutes unless it requires action in that case texts are fine.
First of all, its kind of a safety issue, ever try to use a pay phone in this town? (yuck)
I dont see what the big deal is. In these days of nearly everyone obliviously texting away as they walk down the street, whats the problem with texting or talkiing while on the subway platform?
Welcome to the electronic age…
As a kid growing up “BC” (before cellphones) there were 5 of us in my family, useing one phone line, it worked for nearly 100 years, i dont see why this should be a big deal.
get over it.
Just a NYC girl.
The problem is that most people who talk over their cellphone, are RUDE and NOISY
I can see it now! Those nerds, dumbfuc*&s texting near the tracks with their thumbs all over the damn phone and their minds in their as**ss
oh great!! that’s a brilliant idea!
Did these guys ever think that anyone can now detonate a dirty bomb in the subway by having cell service? I just don’t get it!
Aren’t the train speed and noise enough for our ears? And now we got to listen other people’s b.s.
Earplugs prices are going to skyrocket….
It would be a good idea only if you could connect to 911 for emergencies, but nothing else.
Hello. Can you hear now? Of course I can hear you, I’m standing right next to you.
People would never be annoying talking on their phones loudly. Oh wait, I hear music blasting from people phones or they are playing video games incredibly so loudly I can hear it on the other side of the car. In fact, people listen to music so loudly on their i-pods even when they have ear buds, I can hear it 10 feet away. I can’t wait to hear loud obnoxious people on their cellphones below ground…
Dear MTA: Instead of these frou-frou services, perhaps you can finish your projects (cough cough 2nd ave subway), cut fares and perhaps get cleaner trains that run on time? I do NOT want to have to listen to people flapping their mandibles on my commute home – that’s why I take the train and not the bus. Grr.
Sincerely,
Annoyed NYC resident
I think this is good news, especially if you have to use your phone due to important reasons while you’re traveling.
A great idea indeed, may for sure will avail of the idea of having mobile connection on subways…