What NYC Does Wrong With Its Rolling Stock 

It's the, "......because of a stalled train at ur mom's house" for me! LMAO

3:28 “Manhattan bound trains are running on the express track because of a stalled train at ur moms house” 😂 that literally got me laughing

IMHO, as a retired transit professional, the reason the TA doesn't upgrade its older cars is because of cost. If it costs x number of dollars to upgrade an existing fleet, which may only be around 10 more years, it may be more cost effective to spend 1.25 times x number of dollars to get a brand new fleet that will last 40 years or more. Also, the TA wants to eliminate 75 foot long cars, since they cannot travel over all lines in the B Division.

Driver here from 🇬🇧 the UK. I was in NYC for the second time recently, and as a train geek it goes without saying I was excited to ride the subway. However it really makes me seriously appreciate what we have back here in London. The NYC could be so much better for everyone. Especially us tourists. Three worst things for me, information hard to come by, unloved and dank looking stations and the lack of station staff. Couldn’t believe how many fare dodgers their were, in brazen disregard of any sense of any self respect. Made the system feel like crime was most welcome.

2:04 can i just say that train conductor is THE GOAT

that announcement you used as an example is so much clearer than what i normally hear on those cars, if they were always that clear it would be an improvement haha

Once tech trains (R142, R142A, R143, R160, R179, R188) reach 25 years of service, I think they should get mid-life overhauls assuming they’ll stay in service for ~50 years.

While I'm thinking about how difficult and costly this would be, I'm reminded that they did exactly this on buses. Most buses before 2016 received retrofits of ceiling displays, text-to-speech announcements, and Wi-Fi on some of them. (New buses 2017 and onwards came with them.) I love these announcements; sure, they're not human, and they're annoying when there's so many stops close to each other, but they're crystal clear and easy to understand, even more so than many of the newer pre-recorded announcements on NTTs.

3:36 really bro🤣🤣🤣

Its probably better to focus on the 1st generation NTTs when it comes on to upgrades. From the looks of things, most of the SMEEs are going be out the door in relatively short order, which would make upgrading them a massive waste of investment. Also, why was the R46 the only set to get LCD screens after the R110 trails? That was a missed opportunity by the MTA to upgrade the present fleet at thay time, especially those ones that had a litte more life left in them.

THANK YOU for mentioning the blue toned light. It makes me SO anxious and everyone looks unhealthy. It's very unnerving. I prefer the warm lighting of the old Q trains. I actually feel less on edge.

it's not just the 1992 stock , the older 72 stock while not as extensive is receving dot matrix screens and already got retrofitted with LED lighting, tho the main reason is to comply with new requirements,

Screens in Japanese subways show both ads and service announcements.

You're talking about all this technical advancement that the MTA could be implementing and in the same agency, taking them 25 years to implement OMNY. We still have MetroCards today

I can say this much about mta's advancement. It isn't horribly eye bleeding, so I can give mta that.

I'm surprized tht the new trains don't flash maps. At the very least, they should be showing service changes, especially at night and on weekends.

The screens should also show transfer points

i honestly appreciate that conductor that was making the announcements on the 6 train, not many conductors take the time out to let ppl know what’s going on. cause we all know how like half the intercom speakers on the R62s, R62As, and R46s barely work or don’t work at all it’s kind of refreshing to me because he actually says what transfers are at specific stations, elevator outages, etc. he probably already knows how the aesthetics are on those R62A’s 😂 so it’s nice to hear him when i get on the 6 going to work and heading back home

This Times Square transfer is available to the entire alphabet had me dying😂😂😂

I think the biggest problem here is the MTA is in control of the BIGGEST mass transit system by far with a heavily competitive leftover budget from national defense, split between education, sanitation, other civil services (like fire department and police), and X politician's new limousine.

Speaking as a lighting designer, have to say if anyone specs that clinical cold white LED kit they should be fired, warm white is the same price - only possible justification is to deter antisocial behaviour and that can be done with classical music \m/

This is just the depressing state of America. The infrastructure that holds up the world's economy is 50 years behind and falling apart, and third-world budgets. Yet anything that allows big car and oil companies to generate more profit means unlimited government resources.

Kind of how MARTA Upgraded their CQ310S AND CQ311S

They to upgrade some R68 cars to have LEDs, digital signs and better PA systems in 2010, but something horrible must have happened as everything was ripped out. They tried it again more recently with tech from a company that wound up being heavily tied to the Chinese government, and so it was all ripped out again.

I agree they need to fix their signs

3:34 Really Bro 😂

Thanks!

2:02 and BTW his announcements are like the clearest like with him i'll be knowing why my express train turned local or turned express. But in genreal it goes from like unintellgable to you gotta put in ear work to understand.

2:04 As I've seen the the comments, this conductor is epic

3:32 LMFAO 🤣

I’ve been saying the NTTs need updates, R142 foamers can’t handle that especially

This and on top of the fact that some stations only have one countdown clock in them. Why should I have to walk down the whole 2nd avenue platform just to find one countdown clock to figure out the F train was never going to show up?

If TfL can upgrade their 30+ year-old trains for the current generation, surely the MTA can do the same with the R62/A’s and R68/A’s. Sadly, the MTA is unlikely to make any modern-day changes to the 80’s-era trains and is instead planning to replace them in the late 2020’s or early 2030’s. I would’ve liked to see a fully-refurbished R68 with automated announcements, LED displays, and even FIND screens similar to what you’d see on the R160’s, but again, it seems pretty unlikely.

The r211s cannot come soon enough. Let the r46s and r68s run on the A line to rockaway like the r38s and r40s before them? How can you have good service with fixed block signals and trains that constantly breakdown, like on the Q and B lines?

why is there a 9 train rollsign in the thumbnail? Im wondering that

I agree with retrofitting over buying new rolling stock. Those older trains made in the 1980s are generally mechanically sound and the bucket seating is a plus over the bench style seats for me.

MTA is losing $ 700 + million a year, from fare payment evasion. Let them reduce that, then worry about modernizing the trains.

Most Smee trains will be out of service soon. Not worth retrofitting especially how MTA handles its budget. It may be cheaper to add newer fleets.

Definitely would’ve agreed about the smees 20 even 10 years ago but at this point they should just work to retire all of them. New techs could be a good move depending on cost effectiveness

I love the yellow older lighting

Yes they could retrofit or overhaul the old stock with new panels. The A trains with the old digital displays are so old that many times those screens don’t work. For the new trains where you say put service changes on them were my idea and I they post garbage advertisements. Also they could do what other counties do to like post weather updates and news updates as well.

Cool

Nah. Look at the WMATA. Entire propulsion swaps only to retire younger than the NYC fleet. The MTA keeps their trains for too long. WMATA learned their lesson and ordered 7000 and soon 8000 series trains and will not be refurbishing old fleets anytime soon.

The MTA policy if it’s not broken don’t fix it

Agree with everything said

3:29 this part is pretty funny if you mean, it says Manhattan bound trains are running on the express track because of a stalled train at ur mom‘s house friendly fire, bro

the buses with vianova screens already show service changes on the route

Mystiic 😃

What if the MTA is going to added a new ui version of the subway

MTA: "But that cost money! We need to spend it on more useless schemes and equipment."

What is sad is the oldest trains now replaced trains that themselves were 50 years old in the 1980s. The MTA has been trying very hard not to change for decades.

Rolling signs?...on the 6 you see signs like Parkchester trains going to Pelham Bay Park and Pelham Bay trains going to Parkchester..they never update the rolling signs...MTA would rather have ADS than service updates...it's called $$$$...1,3 and 6 trains approaching 40 years old

I don't live in NYC anymore, so I can't speak for how the current status of its subway really is. But I'm not sure what you mean by "outdated", because most people in NYC only want what they pay for, i.e. a subway system that actually works, whether the trains are new-tech or old-tech, just my opinion. Please keep in mind, also, that over 95% of the trackways, stations, bridges, tunnels, open-trench or elevated structures are well over 100 years old. No matter how good things look with all this new-technology everywhere--problems will still occur just like back in the good old, dirty dim-lighted graffiti days. Most importantly, if you REALLY want to improve the current subway fleet's conditions--the current MTA and/or NYCTA ass-management fleet needs improvement simply by showing them the door, and replacing them with a truly competent, experienced, customer-friendly management staff who will actually listen to the 10 million-plus riders and railfans who knows what's most needed in this system. There's always room for improvement, new-technology won't necessarily solve them all. Those are my thoughts, thanks for sharing.

I've been saying this that the r142 and r143 should have their electronic strip maos replace with something similar to the one in the r211 fleet

we saw that 9 in the thumbnail-ALSO WHAT IS COOPER UNION?

Even cities like Phoenix have been going back and RETROFITTING maybe 10 year old rolling stock with new color LCD screens. (I have an example of this on my channel)...there is NO Excuse that NYCT can't do the same.

"SMEEs"? Can you please explain what a SMEE is? (I was hoping to see at least a screen caption that would have explained it.)

I'm always frustrated by those kiosks on the platform that, for a few seconds, DO show information about service changes, and then cycle through 60 seconds of ads while I try to figure out if I should jump on the train arriving at the platform. Vital info like that needs to be STATIC, instead of being another casual reminder of our late stage capitalism era.

3:28 lol

The old cars are not worth facelifting at this point. But the newer ones (longitudinal blue bench seating, black on the very newest) despite riding far better also have the worst seating in the world and the same old porthole windows and pocket doors as 50 or 75 years ago. And ventilation systems that move more air but are so poorly designed they are the loudest thing in a subway car. Look at for example Munich U-Bahn cars that were introduced ten years ago. They are like a science fiction miracle from the future compared to the latest MTA cars. I don't get it.

I thought the SMEEs were receiving LED lighting little by little

The annual salary range of train operators in London's subway is between $50k and $72k. The MTA's is between $73k and $112k. Add to that all the good-for-nothing bureaucratic bloat, the fair skipping from customers, and the general notgivingafuckness of MTA employees. I'm surprised it's still operating.

@MysticTransit Where is the money coming from for all these changes.

I did it! Under 10 minutes but cool

It's the MTA, they'll never do it

Why would a transit system invest millions of dollars to put new technology in 50 year old cars? It's not like those cars will be around for another 50 years. They might not make it another 5 years. That's a waste of money. Yes you can update 10 year old cars. The service life of a transit raul car is 30 years. Anything older than 20 years is a risk unless you do rehabs to extend the useful life of those cars for another 10 plus years.

What do you use to edit your videos?

Oh how quickly you have forgotten the feeble MTA attempts at retro fitting fails. The list is long so I’ll just remind you of a couple. The G train had a number of cars retro fitted with I believe two different systems of signage. Both systems were removed before the recent upgrade with newer cars. The 7 trains were retrofitted with green local circle and Red diamonds expresses. Those cars were sent to the 6 line were you see trains with green signs and some red signs on the same 10 car train unit. And how hard is it to cover up “Van Wyck Blvd” tile signs with something along the line of “Briarwood” “@ Queens Blvd” “@ Main St.” (and it goes on and on 63rd St exit at 65th St - when there is none; and another at Northern Blvd; and Grand Ave. 54th Ave exit??and ugh (95th St “Bay Ridge” which is in Fort Hamilton).

It’s the NYC Subway but it’s run by a New York State agency…Oh well, it doesn’t matter…

U know it's bad when even London is more humane.

Yeah, but since it’s NYC, any of these “small upgrades” would need to be rolled out to hundreds or thousands of cars. Sure it’s easy to say they SHOULD do something, but even the little changes costs millions.

1:03 piss lighting

"The entire alphabet"!

I understand if you have any problems with those cars 0:38

Plus their new rolling stock already looks outdated

NYCTA SHOULD NOT GET A DIME FROM CONGESTION PRICING JUST PRIVATIZE THE SYSTEM

The F and M swap did not happen. Tell me your thoughts on this!

To be honest they look okay 0:38

ive always said, not to be political, you get what you vote for...

3:34 a stalled train at ur mom’s house LOL 3:45 Transfer is available to the entire alphabet. Including the non existent ones (I)(K)(O)(P)(T)(U)(V)(X)(Y).

It’s embarrassing that countries with similar labor laws as our, smaller infrastructure expenditures, and quite literally a smaller pool of innovative talent have managed to advance their systems to the point where they can seem flawless. Yet NYC, the city we believe to be the best in the Western Hemisphere (there is an argument to be made for SF, Toronto, Montreal, and other notable walkable cities) has failed to make an sort of advancements beyond an over budget LIRR connection and over budget 3 station branch of the Q train. But hey, at least we’re getting congestion pricing.

They should overhaul the R62 and R68

It comes down to money, which is why New York City (who owns the subway system) need to step in more and put more money into it and stop waiting for state and even federal funds to take care of everything.

We don't want to live in those cars, we just want to go to work and home. Don't like it ? Take the bus or move to London......

New Tech???!!! @MysticTransit Please explain!!!