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How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in NYC?

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Re: How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in NYC?

#141

Post by acomjean »

jpalawaga wrote: post #46

Something here is not quite right. For example, if you look at the 7th ave line (red line/1,2,3) 18th street and 14th street have similar radii. But anyone knows that 14th street is much more convenient because it's triply serviced by the 1,2,3 with 2,3 being express trains. 18th street is serviced by one train the runs locally. This ignores that you could easily switch to the L, A/C/E, F/M with a short walk. Still,…

Does it include the express trains? (those trains that skip a bunch of stops on certain lines, so they can go faster like the 2)

I couldn't figure that out. I remember when I was in NY those trains really moved.

https://mta.info/map/5346

Re: How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in NYC?

#142

Post by SllX »

keiferski wrote: post #88
Tade0 wrote: post #11

I'm of the opinion that every 500k+ city should have a subway line. I grew up in a city with one (just one for the majority of my 20 years there) and if there's one thing I miss from that place it's the ability to move at an average speed of 35km/h at any time the trains were operating, especially at 2am on a Friday night after a couple of beers with the guys. The other thing I noticed when I was visiting my family t…

Having lived in / visited a few dozen cities in Europe, I actually think trams are generally preferable to subways. In places with both, I tend to use the trams almost exclusively. A hop on, hop off tram system is much quicker and efficient than going into a subway station, then back up, etc. At least if you aren’t going entirely across town.

If I’m going one, maybe two stops, a tram can be optimal if it’s already in front of me[1]. Otherwise the subway tends to win the curb to curb speed contest for me. It’s a little more traversing through the subway’s infrastructure and getting to the right platform and the right part of the platform, but I’ll get to my destination in less time and it’s not even close.

[1] Otherwise I have to check the Transit app on my phone and do some math factoring in the wait time and the time it takes me to get to the platform. The subway usually wins this contest too.

Re: How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in NYC?

#143

Post by def_true_false »

Tade0 wrote: post #129
keiferski wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having lived in / visited a few dozen cities in Europe, I actually think trams are generally preferable to subways. In places with both, I tend to use the trams almost exclusively. A hop on, hop off tram system is much quicker and efficient than going into a subway station, then back up, etc. At least if you aren’t going entirely across town.

What makes for a more pleasant experience is not necessarily the optimal choice for commuters as subway wins over trams by close to an order of magnitude in terms of throughput. In the city I grew up in during rush hour subway trains leave less than every two and a half minutes and pack well over a thousand commuters each. That is an impossible feat for even the best tram system, as they're limited both in vehicle an…

Why can't you have trams travelling at 80km/h? That's around the max speed of some of the trams used in Europe.

Re: How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in NYC?

#144

Post by vanilla_nut »

This is absolutely wonderful. As a former resident of Astoria and soon-to-be Brooklyn resident, I noticed something that becomes pretty obvious quickly to NYC residents: literally all of Queens (except perhaps LIC) is over 40 minutes from the vast majority of Brooklyn by subway. When I lived in Astoria, it was literally faster to _walk_ than to try to take the subway (with weekend delays and redirections and schedules) to most of Brooklyn.

We really need the Interborough Express (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interborough_Express) 50 years ago.

Re: How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in NYC?

#145

Post by macNchz »

ghaff wrote: post #137
macNchz wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine that at least one factor there is that building up is prohibited by zoning—a super brief glance at Concord's zoning map & code it looks like the only kind of residential buildings you can build anywhere without special permission are single-family. Now there are surely people living there who would argue that this zoning has protected the shape and nature of the town they that they prefer, but the flip side…

There's probably some truth in that. On the other hand, Concord is a pretty far-flung suburb; you're probably over 30 minutes to get to Cambridge without heavy traffic. I believe the prison out there is closed now but don't know what the plans are for the land.

Sure, I wouldn't imagine it'd turn into a cluster of skyscrapers if the restrictions were not there, but I would imagine there might be some small apartment buildings near the train station. New Jersey has had some impressive housing changes happen by opening areas near transit to development in not-dissimilar environments.

Re: How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in NYC?

#146

Post by bombcar »

def_true_false wrote: post #143
Tade0 wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes for a more pleasant experience is not necessarily the optimal choice for commuters as subway wins over trams by close to an order of magnitude in terms of throughput. In the city I grew up in during rush hour subway trains leave less than every two and a half minutes and pack well over a thousand commuters each. That is an impossible feat for even the best tram system, as they're limited both in vehicle an…

Why can't you have trams travelling at 80km/h? That's around the max speed of some of the trams used in Europe.

Because pedestrians and drivers are idiots (or if you want to be nice, have lapses in judgement).

Whereas it is possible to have a subway where it’s completely impossible to get on the tracks without heavy equipment or the right keys.

Re: How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in NYC?

#147

Post by bombcar »

oblio wrote: post #139
telesilla wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If not a subway at least some form of transport that won't get stuck in gridlock. Three examples I can think of are the Wuppertal suspension railway, Las Vegas monorail (though more of a tourist pull than for the locals) and the dedicated Metrobus lanes in Mexico City. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuppertal_Schwebebahn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Vegas_Monorail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_City_Metrob%…

They don't need silly suspension railways in most places. A tram line fits perfectly in 1 lane, so that would make it 2 lanes for both ways. US lanes are so wide that it's likely 2 tram rails fit in 1.5 road lanes, with a bit of extra room for wider sidewalks (sorely needed in most of the US), bike lanes (also sorely needed in most of the US) or just general greenery (hedges would do wonders for US urban landscapes..…

Well-done BRTs are probably the best thing you can get for cost/benefit. And you can subway them at points if you want, and if they get super popular you can put them on rails.

Re: How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in NYC?

#148

Post by bombcar »

Tade0 wrote: post #138
School-Cotton wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm no city planner, but I would definitely connect the Amrtak station with the University of Arizona and on the other end make it reach the edge of downtown. I went to U. of A. and have absolutely never even heard of any student ever needing to go to the Amtrak station, for any reason. Not trying to be rude, but that smells like unthinkingly-applied urbanist ideology — thinking “trains are cool” and working backwa…

I get where you're coming from as I have a lot of words to say to those urbanist ideologues and none of them are pleasant. Main reason why I think subway is superior to anything, including trains riding on the surface, is that it doesn't get in the way of anything. My current city is subject to a double whammy of a train and river system. The result is of course gridlock, as bridges have limited capacity and not all…

America never had city walls, so the density pressure provided by them is only found where natural rivers and other boundaries occur.

Subways are so expensive that we don’t see existing rail/tram lines being buried to reclaim land in some of the most valuable cities in the world.

Re: How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in NYC?

#150

Post by wonder_er »

Tade0 wrote: post #11

I'm of the opinion that every 500k+ city should have a subway line. I grew up in a city with one (just one for the majority of my 20 years there) and if there's one thing I miss from that place it's the ability to move at an average speed of 35km/h at any time the trains were operating, especially at 2am on a Friday night after a couple of beers with the guys. The other thing I noticed when I was visiting my family t…

most us cities did have subways (or streetcars), then GM bought 'em all and shut them down. [0]

[0] Taken for a Ride - The U.S. History of the Assault on Public Transport in the Last Century: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-I8GDklsN4&t=1590s

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