How Did New York's Trains Get so Bad? | NYT

New York City subways have the worst on-time performance of any major rapid transit system in the world. This is the story of how the city ended up in a state of emergency.

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[alliancer]

“We never really know where the train is” 😯

[savolrat]

from a european perspective, when I visit the states, I always feel like its time capsual from the past, like literally nothing has been invested in upgrading the outdated buildings and infrastructure.

[thebasketballhistorian]

TOKYO: Trains are rarely late. The government apologizes if there is even a 2-minute delay.

NYC: We never really know where the train is.

[ohellothere]

Use this like button as a 'the editor deserves a raise' button.

[jillianelise]

It's inexcusable. NYC is the most popular city in the US and has old, run down trains.

[lindafukuyu]

I think those politicians need to go to Japan, Singapore, China, South Korea, HK, Canada, Germany, etc to see how the train and high speed train work.

[knguyennguyen]

Try Asian subways (Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, Taipei, etc), all very new, also there’s a automatic glass door between the station and the train to stop trash and ppl from falling over

[shinkizawa]

They should never cut budgets on public transit

[LetsGoGetThem]

They used to be worse. Anyone seen footage or even lived during the 70s of them back then. Hoo boy.

[RanFire]

The London Underground is older than New York's Subway and is a great example of a system that has been invested in.

[Jaxymann]

I’ve ridden the subway systems of London, Paris, Seoul, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taipei and Berlin. All of them are clean, efficient, punctual and affordable modes of transport. But New York? It’s meant to be a global city, but the Subway is an absolute JOKE. They need to SERIOUSLY get it together.

[RodrigoVazquez]

The video editing, the motion art, the voice over, the interviews, the sound design and mixing, this is an amazing work.

[xBris]

So the answer is corrupt politicians? Huh, who would have thought ;)

[owenconway]

Every time I see a video like this I’m like “ I should be a politician, if these idiots can get elected why not me “

[artcurious]

It is an absolute disgrace for any American city to have subpar subways. Travel anywhere in Europe or Asia and the subway systems are probably cleaner, efficient, and 25 - 30 years more advanced. China is building brand new subway lines every year practically. And Japan has one of the most efficient system in the world with even more users.

It’s time to invest in infrastructure and vote out of office any politician caught misspending MTA funds.

[robertnussberger]

My dad used to tell me when he was 12 years old, the city had a very hard time paying for the public transportation; bus, subway, taxi~
Soo in the late 70's, they were all runned down to the ground, used up, and abused, especially the subway cars, as not a lot of money went into maintaining the buses and the trains. The result of that, well... I read some history of the transportation and a brief of my dad's childhood history, and the subway trains and the buses are said to be nothing more than beaten old crumbling steel boxes on rails and tires. They smelled soo bad, and some were missing seats, and it was dangerous, not because of the condition, but creepy people and gangs would hang out in the trains to cause trouble. It was sweltering hot in the summer and it was bone chilling cold in the winter. Some of the buses and the trains had probably been in service for soo long to see the 64 world's fair.
People were soo fed up with the conditions of New York City public transportation, they demanded that their taxes should be put in somewhere useful, like the repairing of the public transit and bus.
In the mid 80's, they struck good big with the repairing of the public transportation, perhaps, upgrading it. The city paid millions after millions on brand new subway cars, imported from Japan in 1983. I think in 1985 was when they made their true debute. They featured carpetting, comfortable seats, maintenance on keeping the trains clean, and brought the luxury of heating in the winter and cooling in the summer to the public. Plus, they retrofitted a handful of the 60's trains as well while some were scrapped or dumped in the oceans. They bought the new buses for the city to use and new taxis as well.


My dad used to tell me stories of how he used to ride on the new ones durring highschool nights with friends before he got his car. He said how the people thought the renovation was "space age".


I've been in the new york city bus stations before, rode on lots of trains. It is not really that bad. Their punctual timing is ok. But if it gets this way again in the 70's, I hope history repeats itself again, and we will have the "space age" feel once again.

[darkwaters]

New York City subway controls still use 1930s electronics???

[forzabowe]

When you look at other metros around the world, the New York subway is so outdated and dirty.

[sddzdcu]

That old subway tech should be in a Museum, not being used.

[bl]

Pataki: *cuts the budget of the mta*
Subway: *gets worse*
Pataki: *“h u h”*