Why hasn't NYC SUBWAY SYSTEM ever had service betw. BRONX & QUEENS and then betw. STATEN ISLAND & MANHATTAN or BROOKLYN? (New York: apartments, transfer)
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Why hasn't the NEW YORK CITY SUBWAY SYSTEM, since its start in the 1890s or early 1900s, ever built & instituted subway service between the BRONX & QUEENS?
I remember the Hell Gate Bridge. I used to pass by it whenever going over the Triborough Bridge from Queens to Brooklyn or Manhattan. Ah, the memories! It is on the other side of the Triborough Bridge from Randall's Island.
I once tried to get from Greenpoint or something or other in Brooklyn, to upper west manhattan- on a sat. night (round 11ish) and it took like 1 hour and 40 minutes.
As the crow flies it would have been maybe 2-3 miles.
but the cost of taxi over the Triborough bridge would have been almost 15-20 dollars.
There's no ambition for progress when the MTA needs to extort people on the bridges.
The Subway, as it was first conceived a hundred years ago, was commercial venture to get upper-middle class bankers and lawyers to Wall Street. Period. That's why there are so many lines and stations in the Financial District. The Subway was expensive and not used by the working-class, at least not on a daily basis.
The function changed somewhat when the city took over the competing train systems, but it continued to be about getting people into Manhattan, which, in those days, still had a lot of working-class jobs. The docks were still functional and garment district still produced garments.
Heavy, underground rail is very costly to build and there isn't a critical mass of riders wanting to go from Brooklyn to the Bronx to justify the expense, as evinced by the cutback on the G Train.
Another thing to think about: Think about how much time and money was spent to build 8 miles of track for the JFK AirTrain.
In NYC there are numerous above ground train tracks to nowhere as well as there are numerous tunnels that have not seen a train in decades and some not at all.
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....And then what about not having yet instituted subway service between STATEN ISLAND & either MANHATTAN or BROOKLYN......
And another link for your quest:
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The Verrazano Rail Tunnel would have connected Brooklyn's rail and subway system with Staten Island.....
Yes it would be NICE to connect every house with every other house in NYC via subway, but it will not happen anytime soon. Consider that it is taking a LIFETIME, no exaggeration, to finish PART of a subway line down Second Avenue that was begun in 1929 and has not carried a single passenger yet.
And THATS why there's no direct train link between Riverdale and Astoria or between Staten Island and Co-Op City or between the Empire State Building and Morristown, NJ.
Besides, the country has to allocate all resources to things that are important, like endless expansionist WARS.
I remember the Hell Gate Bridge. I used to pass by it whenever going over the Triborough Bridge from Queens to Brooklyn or Manhattan. Ah, the memories! It is on the other side of the Triborough Bridge from Randall's Island.
CORRECTION: In my own quote above, where it says "Brooklyn", it should say BRONX instead.
Why hasn't the NEW YORK CITY SUBWAY SYSTEM, since its start in the 1890s or early 1900s, ever built & instituted subway service between the BRONX & QUEENS? ... between STATEN ISLAND & either MANHATTAN or BROOKLYN ...?
The subway systems were built to remove mass transit from street level. Whether "sub-way" or elevated, they were an improvement over rail & trolley lines on clogged city streets. They were built by private companies, backed by NYC bonds, who competed with each other, and sought to make money, not necessarily provide a public service to neighborhoods that were not even built yet. The money was made by getting people to and from downtown.
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Originally Posted by latikeriii
NIMBYS didn't want to bring in "undesirable people" to their areas therefore shot down many proposals.
Any actual proof of this?
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Originally Posted by latikeriii
freeways, cars, and suburbia were rapidly expanding; money went to freeways.
Same as everywhere else in the country, and what people actually wanted.
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Originally Posted by tpk-nyc
The Subway, as it was first conceived a hundred years ago, was commercial venture to get upper-middle class bankers and lawyers to Wall Street. Period. That's why there are so many lines and stations in the Financial District. The Subway was expensive and not used by the working-class, at least not on a daily basis.
What? The fare was 5 cents! How many rich bankers & lawyers, do you think there were, in the financial districts? The systems were built to get huge numbers of workers downtown, not a few bosses! http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._Ridership.pdf
In 1901, there were 253 million fares. That's almost 5 million fares per week, 2.5 million round trips. NYC's population was 3.4 million.
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Originally Posted by OleSchoolFool
NYC subway is not that convenient comparing to other places, and it's slow too
I have not found this to be the case. Considering that it's one of the oldest systems, it's relatively convenient for NYC. Also, there are express trains, something amazing lacking in many other systems!
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Originally Posted by availableusername
Where have you ridden around the world that you can give us your perspective on?
Last edited by bigjake54; 05-30-2012 at 01:27 PM..
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