According to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York City’s subway tunnels, among the very few large urban places where cell phone service remains out of reach, will be wiring to connect people traveling underground, according to the Metropolitan Transport Authority.
The city’s metro operator administration said it would take 10 years to complete the task due to the size of the project. Crews will install the infrastructure along 418 miles of underground tracks — roughly the distance from New York City to Cleveland — without additional service disruption.
The $600 million project will be paid for and built by Transit Wireless, a New York-based communications infrastructure company that already provides access to cellular and Wi-Fi service. live all 281 metro stations of the city. The project will also extend Wi-Fi service to all 191 subway stations and 21 Staten Island train stations. The agency’s board of directors approved the proposal in a meeting this week. An agency official said the project is in the design phase.
Danny Pearlstein, a spokesman for Riders Alliance, a grassroots organization of transit riders, praised the decision and said there was no downside in making the system fully connected to the cellular network. motion.
Mr. Pearlstein said: “Drivers are eager to be more connected. “Expanded mobile service will make the subway feel safer and make it easier to get work done and stay in touch while on the train.”
Metro commuters will be able to use their mobile devices as each section of the tunnel system is completed, although project leaders have yet to decide which train lines will be implemented first.
Scott Christiansen, a spokesman for Transit Wireless, said users will be able to connect to cellular data if they sign up for the service through a major cellular carrier. connected to the transit wireless system. The company says it is a server-neutral network provider and does not collect personal information from mobile devices.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is not halting service, slowing trains or running them on different routes to carry out the project, government officials said. Instead, when scheduled maintenance takes place in a system that requires service interruptions – such as monitoring, signaling or switching work – teams will install new infrastructure.
“We think this is a great project for our clients and for the MTA,” Fredericka Cuenca, the agency’s deputy director of planning development, said during the board meeting.
Transit Wireless is expected to pay off the project’s costs by generating revenue through licensing fees, monetizing data analytics and leasing fiber to network providers, according to documents from the association. board of directors. Once Transit Wireless has repaid its $600 million investment, it will share a portion of the revenue with the administration – 20% over six years, before steadily increasing to 40% starting in year 15 after the payback. . The agency will also benefit from free Wi-Fi and dedicated access to fiber-optic internet to support its operations.
Authorities expect to receive more than $400 million in benefits – including revenue and cost savings – over the life of the agreement. The agreement will allow the authority to phase out payments to Transit Wireless for services such as leased fiber optic cable, real-time train arrival information and subway Help Point equipment, allow riders to call 911 and provide them with information at dedicated locations.
Transit Wireless has been building cell phone and Wi-Fi service throughout the subway system since 2007. The agreement grants the private company a 20-year contract with the government, which can then be renewed. two additional five-year terms at the discretion of the agency.
The company establishes Wi-Fi and mobile phone services on the L line two years ago. The connection between Brooklyn and Manhattan on the L line became the first tunnel in the New York City subway system to provide full connectivity to AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile customers.
Several other transit systems around the world are already equipped with similar technology or are under construction.
In Northern California, Bay Area Transit Transit has a plan Wi-Fi settings at all its 50 stations in 2024.
During this week’s meeting, the administration also revealed that it will face a $2.5 billion deficit by 2025 – a year earlier than expected – largely due to ridership. has plummeted during the pandemic, and the federal government’s coronavirus relief aid will be used up by then.
Administration officials are also one step closer to implementing a congestion pricing program that charges drivers who enter Manhattan under 60th Street and uses the proceeds to fund improvements to the transportation network. traffic of the city. The agency has added five designees to a panel that will propose rates, credits, and discounts for the program, and the agency has revealed plans to launch an environmental assessment of the pricing scheme in June. next month.
