Sep 20, 2007 6:09 am US/Eastern
Cell Phone Service Planned For Subway Platforms
NEW YORK (AP) ―
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Straphangers will soon be able to use cell phones and wireless internet devices in underground subway stations. (File)
Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
Add another sound to the symphony of screeches, clatter and sometime music of New York City's subway system: cell phone chatter.
All 277 underground subway stations—but not the tunnels—would be wired for cell phones and wireless Internet service in the next six years under a plan the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced Wednesday. It still needs approval from the agency's board, but Chairman Peter Kalikow said he supported it and expected other members would join him.
A company called Transit Wireless would pay the $150 million to $200 million cost of wiring the stations, plus about $46 million in fees over 10 years to New York City Transit, a unit of the MTA. Straphangers would be able to use their cell phones only if their carriers signed up for service on the underground network, which Transit Wireless partner Gary Simpson predicted they would.
"There's a need and a demand by riders and customers to use their cell phones down in the stations," Simpson said.
That demand was highlighted when a rainstorm last month caused a subway system meltdown. Some passengers found themselves unable either to get information on the problem or to phone their co-workers and families to explain their whereabouts.
Still, riders are divided on whether cell phone service would be a plus in the underground.
Some, like Marlene Rice, say the prospect of being able to call for help gives them peace of mind.
"Crazy stuff happens on New York City subways," said Rice, 32, a volunteer at a Brooklyn hospital.
But others say they'd prefer the peace—and relative quiet—of a place without trilling ring tones and quotidian cell phone talk.
"I don't want to hear everybody's conversation," said Micah Pastore, 31, a production assistant who lives in Brooklyn.
Almost 5 million passengers ride the subways on an average day. The 660-mile system includes 468 stations under and above city streets.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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