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New York Has a Great Subway, If You’re Not in a Wheelchair

nytimes.com

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Re: New York Has a Great Subway, If You’re Not in a Wheelchair

#11

Post by baron816 »

covercash wrote: post #7
grardb wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a source for how often this happens? I can't find anything specifically about subway pushers in NYC. As far as I can tell, it's a very rare occurrence. That being said, I see fairly high numbers of deaths in general, mainly attributed to suicides and alcohol/drug use. How would this barrier work? Would it withdraw once the train pulled up or something?

Something like this maybe? http://philly.curbed.com/archives/2014/10/23/korean-company-...

I think it's crazy that the MTA hasn't already done this. Not only would it save a lot of lives, but it would also allow the platform to be climate controlled. You have no idea how many times I've sat there underground for 30+ minutes in sub-freezing or 100+ degree heat.

Re: New York Has a Great Subway, If You’re Not in a Wheelchair

#12

Post by covercash »

baron816 wrote: post #11
covercash wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something like this maybe? http://philly.curbed.com/archives/2014/10/23/korean-company-...

I think it's crazy that the MTA hasn't already done this. Not only would it save a lot of lives, but it would also allow the platform to be climate controlled. You have no idea how many times I've sat there underground for 30+ minutes in sub-freezing or 100+ degree heat.

And the advertising potential on BOTH sides of the wall!

Re: New York Has a Great Subway, If You’re Not in a Wheelchair

#13

Post by 23443463453 »

What is it that makes disabled people somehow more "more equal" than regular society? If you are in a wheelchair, don't use the subway. Tough luck, life's a bitch and shit's not fair. What, next we're going to make it illegal for shallow women to not date men that are shorter than them? Or demand that all cars be retrofitted for wheelchairs and any new cars be made with wheelchairs in mind?

So what do we do now? I guess we now shut down the system since it's "unfair" and our feelings are hurt and issue a $2 Billion bond and jack up taxes and prices to rebuild the whole system so that a couple dozen disabled people can get around ... sometimes?

The ADA is just about the biggest racket and shakedown of society one could ever imagine. There is a difference between accommodation when reasonable or even making different choices that don't incur additional costs, but making people and companies do things and take on costs to benefit a tiny little minority is outright oppression.

So when do we start lowering rents and prices because it's not accommodating of low income people in the city that also have a choice to simply leave the city. If you can't ride the subway, maybe don't ride the subway, or leave the city. The ADA is like a pernicious cancer that keeps eating away and shutting down society one tiny little bit at a time.

Re: New York Has a Great Subway, If You’re Not in a Wheelchair

#14

Post by georgefrick »

There have been other attempts to bring awareness to this problem. Here is a half funny, half sad version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhpUJRGrZgc&ab_channel=Cereb...

I like the approach of sharing some data / statistics; but it would be nice if we could combine the two. The saturated humor when combined with the real information might make more of an impact.

Re: New York Has a Great Subway, If You’re Not in a Wheelchair

#16

Post by houshuang »

Same in Paris, we just vacationed there for five days, with a two year old. Very difficult to navigate in a stroller (good proxy for a wheelchair - I can lift it down the stairs, but my wife cannot alone). However, there it's quite a difficult problem to solve (I recognize) because a lot of the transfers between different stations are a bunch of underground hallways with staircases in all directions, so it's not simply enough to add elevators from the stations to platform level.

Re: New York Has a Great Subway, If You’re Not in a Wheelchair

#17

Post by adregan »

grardb wrote: post #3
popopobobobo wrote: post #2

I think MTA should also consider putting a barrier on the edge of the platform. So that we won't get dozens of people being pushed off to the rails.

Do you have a source for how often this happens? I can't find anything specifically about subway pushers in NYC. As far as I can tell, it's a very rare occurrence. That being said, I see fairly high numbers of deaths in general, mainly attributed to suicides and alcohol/drug use. How would this barrier work? Would it withdraw once the train pulled up or something?

Anecdotally: last year I was riding in a train that hit someone who fell onto the tracks because the platform was so crowded. 30 minutes later, one station away, a woman lost both her legs when a train ran them over.

When I lived in Tokyo, they put platform guard walls in at many stations. They were about chest high and had sets of doors that would open before the train doors opened, and if we had them in NYC, both of those folks would have made it home without an incident.

Re: New York Has a Great Subway, If You’re Not in a Wheelchair

#18

Post by astrodust »

covercash wrote: post #7
grardb wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a source for how often this happens? I can't find anything specifically about subway pushers in NYC. As far as I can tell, it's a very rare occurrence. That being said, I see fairly high numbers of deaths in general, mainly attributed to suicides and alcohol/drug use. How would this barrier work? Would it withdraw once the train pulled up or something?

Something like this maybe? http://philly.curbed.com/archives/2014/10/23/korean-company-...

They investigated installing them here (Toronto) but the cost per station is pretty high, on the order of >$1M per platform. When you multiply that across a system as large as NYC that's easily half a billion dollars.

I'm not sure how many ads you have to sell to recoup the cost, but it's probably a lot.

Re: New York Has a Great Subway, If You’re Not in a Wheelchair

#19

Post by Grazester »

popopobobobo wrote: post #2

I think MTA should also consider putting a barrier on the edge of the platform. So that we won't get dozens of people being pushed off to the rails.

There aren't dozens of people being pushed on the rails. Maybe in a two decade span probably but those barriers will never happen in NYC.

Re: New York Has a Great Subway, If You’re Not in a Wheelchair

#20

Post by [deleted] »

grardb wrote: post #3
popopobobobo wrote: post #2

I think MTA should also consider putting a barrier on the edge of the platform. So that we won't get dozens of people being pushed off to the rails.

Do you have a source for how often this happens? I can't find anything specifically about subway pushers in NYC. As far as I can tell, it's a very rare occurrence. That being said, I see fairly high numbers of deaths in general, mainly attributed to suicides and alcohol/drug use. How would this barrier work? Would it withdraw once the train pulled up or something?

[deleted]
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