Jun 26, 2007 6:00 pm US/Eastern
Will Congestion Plan Make Packed Subways Worse?
NYC Transit: Subways Already Packed To Capacity
by Tamsen Fadal
NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ―
Some of the city's busiest subway lines are at capacity, with no more room on the tracks to add trains to alleviate swelling crowds of straphangers, officials said.
That bleak assessment was made Monday by New York City Transit, which presented an analysis of data that shows how often trains run late, how crowded they are and whether more trains could be added to ease the problems.
Howard H. Roberts Jr., the president of New York City Transit, told members of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's board that the assessment's findings are "scary."
"This is scary in the sense that right now, on a lot of these lines, we're several years and a big capital construction project away from being able to provide what I would consider adequate service," Roberts said. "We're constrained."
The heavily traversed numbered lines -- the 1,2,3,4,5 and 6 -- have little or no room to accommodate more riders, Roberts said. Additional trains cannot be added to the tracks during rush hours -- and subway cars are often overcrowded during those times, he said.
Those lines cannot accommodate any more riders.
"It's bad news," Roberts said. "There's no room at the inn."
The results could have implications for congestion pricing, which would charge people to drive into Manhattan to encourage them to use mass transit.
"We have to think about the timing [of the congestion pricing plan] and even whether to go ahead with it in the intermediate term until there is capacity in mass transit to absorb it," said New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine.
Roberts told the board that congestion pricing might mean that the MTA has to rely on more buses. "If all those cars don't come in, there will be more room for the buses," he said.
City officials met with federal transportation officials on Monday about getting nearly $540 million in federal funds for congestion pricing and mass transit upgrades in Manhattan.
The problem of overcrowding on trains could be alleviated by the new Second Avenue subway and expansion of computerized signal systems, or even the extension of platforms at some stations to accommodate longer trains.
Mayor Bloomberg's people said some of the additional subway passengers due to congestion pricing will be absorbed by the 367 addition buses they plan to add.
There will also be rapid transit buses that will go faster because they will have "smart" technology to turn red lights green.
But many of those solutions are years away from completion.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
