Let’s master Grand Central Madison

Grand Central Madison LIRR station is now open! You might have seen a video I published two weeks ago on the LIRR Grand Central opening. That was a simple walkthrough and tour (to include the elevators and escalators). Today, we are going to cover the layout of Grand Central Madison in comparison to Grand Central Terminal and Grand Central Station. We’ll also talk about why Grand Central Madison is important to public transportation in New York City.

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[UrbanCaffeine]

Here are resources I referenced. Using these affiliate links help support the channel.

[johntomasso]

You are a treasure - your videos are so well researched and communicated = I look forward to each and every one. I've said it before. I am a native NYer and I still learn things by watching your videos. Kudos.

[billjones]

45th st has an entrance into Met Life bldg which leads to escalators into the terminal

[michaelli]

wow, really inspiring video that had Grand Central EXPLAINED! Great work!

[WillsJazzLoft]

Thank you for an interesting and informative vlog. I do not get up to the City as much as I used to ( I live in Virginia for the moment ). So, I found the distinction between Grand Central Terminal, Station and Madison illuminating. Referencing your closing remarks even with a president who has a high affinity for a public transit, there is simply not the political will and capital to finance passenger rail. We have a finance model for passenger rail that is very dysfunctional. It's guided by a mentality that capital improvements to passenger rail must be 'funded'. Whereas financing for highways and freeways require 'investment'. That is what is at the heart of the long time horizon for capital improvements to passenger rail. Until that mentality is changed, passenger rail will take many generations to improve. Let's be thankful for what we do have.

[keshavrawat]

I can't wait to visit NYC, I sometimes dream of swiping the MetroCard and getting it first try and feeling happy with myself.
I love your videos, keep up the amazing work!

[irener.]

I was very excited to find out about new terminal. I live in central Connecticut, and driving to JFK is not fun. I often fly to West Coast. Most return flights land in JFK in the evening, and I hate to drive back home at night, often in bad weather, and being tired after a long flight. Now it looks like I can take a train to Grand Central, switch easily to Long Island train and get out in Jamaica to take an Air train. The only thing I wish you would show in your video is a location of the elevator(s) from Metro North terminal to a new terminal. For passengers with luggage.

[FPXS]

I loved your thorough explanation regarding Grand Central Building. Always so sharp and easy to understand! As a tourist and a NYC aficionado, I look forward to videos with full of content and useful information like yours! Kudos to you Thea! 👏🏻🙌🏻

[kongr]

Very useful and informational to me! I has been trying to fine the best walking path between my office and the new LIRR station!

[alexvasquez]

Loving Grand Central Madison, but that doorway at 0:20 is such a design flaw. Imagine walking through that glorious main hall and down that escalator just to pass through those doors 😂

[Neillan]

Amazingly produced and highly informative! Greeat work Thea.

[h-nice]

I read that book twice!! Great read abs enlightening.

[OscarDiaz-nnch]

What’s funny is that this videos popped on my feed right after my trip to NYC
Tbh I didn’t have a hard time finding directions as I’m used to walk and use public transportation. But everything changed once I stepped inside Grand Station. Not included in this video, there was an entrance the leads to a supermarket where I got sushi and spend 30 min finding a spot to eat… right under the main platform there was the food court 😂
Your channel has everything I needed before my trip. Next visit I’ll be even more prepared! Excellent work!

[emergencystoppingonly]

I used to walk 25 min to 3rd middle of the night from penn station for a night shift job. Now I get off at grand central. The relief is amazing. So it takes 10 min for me to get out of the station and 5 min to walk to my job. Before at penn it took about 30 min to walk to my office, walking through all sorts of dark roads and scary people. Like it's 1am there is no reason to walk up to me aside from either you want money or you are up to something. Ain't no salesmen out there at 1am trying to sell me hello fresh. Walking usually faster than the subway. Because at that time of night you are waiting 15-20 min for one train then 15-20 min for the 7 to Grand Central. Both walking distance and time I am saving a lot. I am mostly inside with lots of police presence and nicely lit big hallways and standing still on escalators, couldn't be safer. GSM changed my life completely, I love commuting to work now, it is so easy and safe.

[orangetzar]

GC Madison also has the nicest bathrooms I’ve ever been in lol.. albeit, they are only a few weeks old

[alfredoalvarez]

Wonderful explanation. Very useful maps. It was very easy for me to take the LIRR to Jamaica to get to JFK. You are of the best. Thank you so much.

[TripHacksDC]

I love these graphics and illustrations as always. The Power Broker is required reading.

[courtneyjoelson]

Love your videos! So informative and you have a great personality! I hope to visit NYC one day and experience it myself!

[captainkeyboard]

The construction of Grand Central Madison was a smashing success, thanks to the tunnel boring method. The Grand Central Madison's tunnels and stations were built to perfection. It cannot be better than that.

[stepheneson]

1. I've been paying close attention to Grand Central Madison (formerly East Side Access Project) for years; and so far yours is the best review by far-- and you're the only vlogger I've yet to see actually refer to Cairo's biography of Robert Moses (impressive!). Your quick history of Grand Central and the clear and concise maps and graphics are excellent.
2. Another vlogger did a comparison of actual commute times traveling from Jamaica station to the front door of Grand Central via GCM, vs. going through Penn Station & the subways. The actual time savings is only a few minutes due to the vast amount of time it takes just to emerge from the ultra-deep train tunnels. You are right about the subway savings though (the LIRR fares into either destination are identical).
3. Critics of this project point out (with hindsight) that the billions of dollars invested in GSM in an era of reduced ridership due to remote work could better have been spent on the many other needs around the MTA system... but it's a little late for that!.
Well done, thank you!