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The subway might just be getting a little safer, station by station.
According to Gothamist, the MTA has installed 4-foot-tall metal barriers at 10 subway station platforms—half of which are on the L line.
We reported back in January that the agency put in the first barrier at platform on 191 Street station in Washington Heights, which services the 1 train, as part of a pilot program to improve rider safety and test to see if the presence of the barriers interferes with the flow of commuter traffic.
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Since then, Gothamist says 10 have been installed at the following platforms:
- 191st Street (1)
- Clark Street (2/3)
- Morgan Avenue (L)
- Crescent Street (J/Z)
- Fifth Avenue (7)
- 57th Street (F)
- First Avenue (L)
- Bedford Avenue (L)
- Grand Street (L)
- Dekalb Avenue (L)
It turns out that these metal barriers are more affordable to install compared to the full-sized doors like those at the JFK Airport AirTrain. Those would cost the MTA about $7 billion and could only be installed at only a quarter of NYC’s stations, Gothamist says.
So cheaper, shorter metal barriers will have to do for now, especially as congestion pricing and the funding that would provide to the MTA is on hold. They’ll continue to be rolled out across the system, at about one or two stations a month, a spokesperson told Gothamist.
What do you think about these barriers? Will they be enough?