Half of Bronx, N.Y., Subway Stations Lack PA Systems
Posted on: Thursday, 8 September 2005, 15:00 CDT
Sep. 8--The Bronx is getting the silent treatment -- almost half of the borough's subway stations don't have a public address system, while more than 90 percent of Manhattan hubs do, the Daily News has learned.
That means thousands of Bronx straphangers on platforms and mezzanines can't get directives on how to get around during service shutdowns, or get crucial instructions in case of an emergency.
Queens and Brooklyn riders also get a bum deal: About one-third of the stations in those boroughs don't have loudspeakers, compared with just 8 percent in Manhattan, Transit Authority data show.
In the Bronx, 32 of 71 stations -- or 45 percent -- don't have info-delivering equipment.
Jose Bergez, 23, recalled yesterday how he once waited and waited for a train at the 167th St. station in Melrose, the Bronx, before learning service was suspended due to construction.
He had to ask the token booth clerk upstairs because there are no loudspeakers in the B and D train station. "I wasted a good 30 minutes," he said. "I got to work late. It would be nice if they would make announcements."
At the same station, Erenia Ulloa, 39, a Bronx resident from the Dominican Republic, called the situation dangerous. "If something happens, the people who are in here are not going to know," she said in Spanish. "It's discrimination against the people who live in this neighborhood and [elsewhere] in the Bronx."
Plenty of Manhattan stations that are rigged for sound have less ridership than some without the equipment.
The 167th St. station, for example, had nearly 3 million riders last year, according to TA data. Two dozen Manhattan stations with public address systems have fewer riders than that.
TA spokesman Charles Seaton yesterday could not explain why some stations have public address systems and others lack them. He said stations are wired for sound in groups, not individually. He denied the TA discriminates.
As The News reported yesterday, 131 of the system's 468 stations don't have public address systems -- and some may not get them for a decade or more.
-----
To see more of the Daily News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.NYDailyNews.com.
Copyright (c) 2005, Daily News, New York
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.
Source: Daily News
Related Articles
- Public radio stations enjoying support
- Top Telecommunications & Media Advocate Lawrence R. Sidman Named President of the Association of Public Television Stations
- WNET.ORG, NY's Public Television Station, Creates Citizen Media Partnership With 'Worldfocus' and GroundReport
- American Airlines Again Underwrites Rick Steves' Europe Television Series on 300 Public Broadcasting Stations
- CPB Awards Grants to 85 Public Radio Stations for Transition to Digital Service
- CPB Announces More Public Radio Stations to Receive Community Service Grant Funds in Fiscal Year 2007
- U-M Radio Station Probed: Public TV Channels Also Under Review
- Radio Too National for Detroit Public: NPR Station's Patrons File Suit Over Cutbacks of Local Programming
- Norman Residents to Discuss Lift Station at Public Meeting
- London Underground to Use Wonderware Industrial Application Server Built on ArchestrA Technology to Equip 150 Rail Stations With an Advanced Station Management System
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds