T time

I can’t help but like how much the East Side has preserved its character. I know the West Side is a lot trendier and more popular, but that just seems to drain out the area’s character. While taking long walks up 6th or 7th Avenues, I see some gradual change in the landscape, but not too much. Most of the buildings up and down these avenues are modern or post-modern, the overpriced coffee shops and sandwich places have a relatively large storefront while the old-time businesses – the one dollar pizza places, the delis, and the neighborhood staple stores – have smaller and smaller storefronts or close altogether. The East Side isn’t like that, or at least not nearly to the same degree as the West Side.

It’s also worth noting that there isn’t nearly as much subway service to the East Side as there is on the West Side. Most of the time, I can get on an F train or a 2 train with almost no problem, even at rush hour. I can’t say the same about the 6 train when I commuted from the Upper East Side; it was always difficult to get on the platform to the 6 train, as it was the only local subway to the Upper East Side. MTA has had a 2nd Avenue subway, the T train, under construction for a while, but it has constantly delayed its opening – going over budget while doing so. Welcome to New York construction.

On the surface, this looks like a much needed link between Uptown and Downtown to alleviate the crowds on the 6 train, providing some subway service to neighborhoods in East Midtown that currently have little to none. Despite this, I can’t help but wonder what will happen to these neighborhoods once the subway is complete. What will happen when property values and rent increase? Will the businesses that make the neighborhoods all old-fashioned and unique be bought out by the same chains that took over the West Side? Will the T train even be that useful for people who live on the East Side but work on the West Side? How much will MTA hike the fare when it’s complete? I have my theories, hopes, and worries, but I’ll just have to see in due time.

Moving past the stories and speculation, there’s actually a timeline for this subway; the first event doesn’t involve a single T train moving. Instead, MTA is bringing back the W train. The W train ran from Astoria, Queens to Whitehall Street, right by the Manhattan terminal for the Staten Island Ferry, until June 2010. The revival of the W is so that it can provide service to Queens when the Q gets rerouted to the northern section of the 2nd Avenue line. These first few stops, all of which are north of 72nd Street, will be stops for both the T and Q train. They are scheduled to open in December 2016. The next phase of the project will be to build stations between 72nd Street and Houston Street. The final phase will finish when the Hanover Square station in the Financial District opens. I can’t really give any dates for when the last two phases will be done, since I’m sure they’ll have delayed openings, but it will be interesting to see what happens once this project is complete.