New NYC Subway Cars Get Mixed Reaction From Commuters

HUDSON YARDS — Commuters think the subway cars of the future will be a welcome change when they hit the rails in three years — though some think it's an upgrade that's "too little, too late." The MTA opened a prototype of the R211 train car for tours on Thursday at the 34th Street-Hudson Yards station.

The new cars feature wider doors and an "open gangway" design that lets riders move freely between cars. The design is meant to help reduce crowding on the trains as more people ride the subway than ever before.

The cars also bear some design features that MTA Chairman Joe Lhota has implemented on existing trains. They have arrows printed on the floor to direct riders away from the doors, and seats that can fold up against the wall to make more room for standing passengers.

Barry Oxley said he thinks the new cars will help the trains feel less crowded, making his commute from East New York to Manhattan a little more pleasant.

"It looks perfect," Oxley told Patch. "It's spacy. There's room and it's aerodynamic, and it's looking like it's more efficient."

The open-ended cars will take away the possibility of some risk-taker riding between the cars and getting hurt, commuters said. The new design replaces the metal bridge between cars with an accordion-like wall where passengers can stand safely.

Riders also liked the lights along the sides of the doors that turn green when the doors open and blink red when they're about to close.

The lights will accompany the usual announcement warning riders to "stand clear of the closing doors." They'll hopefully give straphangers another cue not to delay trains by holding the doors open, commuters said.

"Whoever thought of this is a doggone genius," said Michael Wilbekin, a 6 train commuter from the Bronx.

Wilbekin noted that the new MTA cars — which won't start running until 2020 — look like those that have long been running on European subway lines.

That shows how far behind New York's system is compared to the rest of the world, said Daniel Foster, an L train rider from the East Village. By the time they hit the rails in three years, the cars will be "too little, too late," and they're "whitewashing and hiding the other problems of the system," he said.

"New York is supposed to be a leader, not a follower," Foster said. "This looks like something that is nice, but would have impressed me 10 years ago."

As much as he likes the new cars, Oxley said they don't change the fact that the MTA has to fix the backbone of the system that carries them.

"You're updating the cars, you need to update the infrastructure and the rails too," Oxley said. "Because you're putting a new system on the old rails."

A prototype of the new R211 subway car is open for tours until Wednesday at the Hudson Yards station. You can fill out a survey there to give the MTA feedback on the new design. It's also available on the MTA's website.

"Developing a first-in-class subway car is an essential part of modernizing our subway system," Lhota said in a statement Wednesday. "It is important that our subway customers provide their feedback in this process and we hope they will do so after visiting the prototype."

(Lead image: Straphangers tour the prototype of the MTA's new R211 subway car, set to start running in 2020. Photo by Noah Manskar)