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Effective Transit Alliance

@etany.org
2.3K followers 0 following 746 posts

ETA advocates for high-quality, accessible, and forward-looking transit through internationally-inspired, technically-oriented analysis in greater New York.

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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 21/09/2026
You can also reach out to: @thefoxandthecity.com @alonlevy.bsky.social @khyber.bsky.social @progwml6.bsky.social
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 21/09/2026
ETA is here in Berlin and will be all week for InnoTrans to bring the best insights back to New York from the biggest public transit showcase in the world! If you'd like to meet with our team while we are here, we'd love to hear from you, feel free to drop us a message!
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Adam Fisher-Cox @adamfishercox.com · 10/09/2026
Announcement pollution is one of those things that’s a huge problem but complaining about it sounds like nitpicking. It’s a respect and safety issue. Training riders to tune out announcements has consequences when you finally announce something important!
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 10/09/2026
Abuse of announcements also impairs accessibility, making travel much harder for both the visually impaired and those for whom English isn't a first language than it needs to be. Read ETA's full report: www.etany.org/briefs/too-d...
etany.org
Too Damn Loud: Announcements on NYC Transit are Out of Control — Effective Transit Alliance New York
The seemingly-endless onslaught of announcements on NY transit not only annoys riders, but impairs accessibility, making navigating transit far more difficult than it needs to be.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 10/09/2026
The New York Groove sat down with ETA to discuss the onslaught of unnecessary announcements facing NY riders. This type of noise pollution not only annoys riders, but trains them to not listen to announcements. As the NY Groove's tag puts it, "Better Things are Possible."
The assault of noise coming out of the speakers in the subway system can feel as random as it is grating, with an onslaught of PSAs and other announcements penetrating any moment of peace on a commute. But the issue reached a real breaking point a few months ago: ads. 

Last year, the MTA announced it would test a pilot program piping 30 seconds ads into select stations and trains every 10 minutes or so, which would last until June. The implication was dire: we have you trapped, Black Mirror style, in a tube where you have to listen to commercials at a volume of our choosing. 

“That’s really a step too far,” Blair Lorenzo, executive director of the Effective Transit Alliance, said. “You can look away from an advertisement … You really can’t turn off hearing. It’s exploiting people.”
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Alon (they/them) @alonlevy.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
On the Berlin S-Bahn and the London Underground, the proportion is about half that.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 09/09/2026
The best announcements are be clear, concise, and based on actionable information. All other noise only makes travel harder and more annoying for everyone, especially for the visually impaired and for those who don't speak English as a first language. Read more: www.etany.org/briefs/too-d...
etany.org
Too Damn Loud: Announcements on NYC Transit are Out of Control — Effective Transit Alliance New York
The seemingly-endless onslaught of announcements on NY transit not only annoys riders, but impairs accessibility, making navigating transit far more difficult than it needs to be.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 09/09/2026
ETA measured that on a 40 minutes trip from one end of the 7 train to another, nearly a full 25% of the time was filled by announcements. That makes it hard to talk with traveling companions, read a book, or even just travel in solitude.
Chart of announcements as a percentage of trip on the 7 train, showing 25% of the time taken up by noise.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 09/09/2026
Transit in New York is just too damn loud. The seemingly-endless onslaught of announcements not only annoys riders, but impairs accessibility, making navigating transit far more difficult than it needs to be. ETA discusses how to let riders travel in peace: www.etany.org/briefs/too-d...
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 28/08/2026
MTA planners should be more concerned about the project’s long-term benefits to New Yorkers than the short periods when construction noise and heavy trucks will dominate.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 28/08/2026
Another lesson they should learn is that NIMBYs are going to NIMBY. Many engineering choices are apparently being made to minimize disruption, but the number of Phase 1 complaints shows that they didn’t.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 28/08/2026
The MTA needs to be learning from SAS Phase 1 and unfortunately, they’re making the same mistakes they did there, with the big, deep stations.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 28/08/2026
Some of these stations will take five minutes on an escalator to get from the surface to the platform or back. That’s a long time to be on an escalator.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 28/08/2026
One of the biggest drivers of this cost are the stations, which are both unnecessarily big and unreasonably deep.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 28/08/2026
$7.7 billion for 1.25 miles of subway is an order of magnitude more than what other developed countries pay.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 28/08/2026
Extending the Second Avenue Subway is a great idea, but the price is way out of line. Read more: www.etany.org/reports/digg...
etany.org
Digging Out of a Very Deep Hole: Saving Billions on 125th Street — Effective Transit Alliance New York
A 125 St subway should be a slam dunk. But at $7.7B and with stations more than 100 ft underground, it would be the most expensive subway in the world, and cost riders more than 5 minutes every trip b...
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 28/08/2026
If it's your first time, keep an eye out for Blair who will be there with a sign and business cards.
Blair Lorenzo
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 28/08/2026
TONIGHT, August 28, come join ETA for TOD: Transit-Oriented Drinks, August! Join us for drinks, transit discussion, and transit advocacy. Tonight, Friday, August 28 6-8 PM Vanderbilt Market Vanderbilt Avenue & 45 Street Behind Grand Central All are welcome!
Tonight, Friday, August 28 
6-8 PM 
Vanderbilt Market
Vanderbilt Avenue & 45 Street
Behind Grand Central
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 25/08/2026
This Friday, August 28, come join ETA for TOD: Transit-Oriented Drinks, August! Join us for drinks, transit discussion, and transit advocacy. Friday, August 28 6-8 PM Vanderbilt Market Vanderbilt Avenue & 45 Street Behind Grand Central All are welcome!
Friday, August 28 
6-8 PM 
Vanderbilt Market
Vanderbilt Avenue & 45 Street
Behind Grand Central
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 22/08/2026
And the previous plan: www.mta.info/document/175...
The previous rendering of the 116 St station on SAS Phase 2 from the 2025 station design update meeting. The plan was to use a below-platform mezzanine accessible by elevators only for both entrances.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 22/08/2026
See the presentation here: www.mta.info/document/211...
mta.info
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 22/08/2026
This is a great change, if confirmed. Riders won't have to go all the way down just to go back up again. They'll be able to take a short escalator ride to a shallow station. Moreover, the mezzanine is small, not full-length, saving money and minimizing surface disruption.
A cropped version of the same 116 St station rendering. An elevator bank is visible, vs. the previously elevator-only station.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 22/08/2026
According to a CB10 presentation in June, it appears the @mta.info may have reverted its plans to make 116 St on Phase 2 of the Second Avenue Subway an elevator-only station with a below-platform mezzanine. It now appears to be a standard above-platform mezzanine with escalators.
The rendering of the 116 St station on SAS Phase 2 from the June CB10 presentation. It shows small above-platform mezzanines instead of the previous below-platform mezzanines.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 21/08/2026
Read the whole report: www.etany.org/reports/digg...
etany.org
Digging Out of a Very Deep Hole: Saving Billions on 125th Street — Effective Transit Alliance New York
A 125 St subway should be a slam dunk. But at $7.7B and with stations more than 100 ft underground, it would be the most expensive subway in the world, and cost riders more than 5 minutes every trip b...
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 21/08/2026
To make matters worse, the justification that underground construction reduces disruption is totally false. When SAS was under construction residents still got angry about blasting noise and narrowed sidewalks, while staging areas took up whole blocks.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 21/08/2026
Platforms are too long and too wide, while they include unneeded office space and other additions that maximize costs without increasing utility. Such deep stations also require extensive and expensive ventilation equipment.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 21/08/2026
In addition to depth, the MTA has been overbuilding the stations, thanks to overly cautious interpretations of building codes.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 21/08/2026
“Every foot of depth and every cubic foot of material removed from the ground causes prices to rise and also usually makes stations harder to access in the process,” we write in our report.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 21/08/2026
SAS Phase One was also unnecessarily expensive, thanks to deep, gigantic and over-engineered stations. The MTA needs to be learning from these projects.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 21/08/2026
Every dollar the MTA spends on this project that it doesn’t need to is a dollar that could be going to projects like making more stations accessible.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 21/08/2026
It also adds complexity and cost: the tracks and stations can only be built with expensive, custom-built tunnel boring machines and at such depths, more redundant safety features are needed, while removing the excavated material is also more complex.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 21/08/2026
Many would-be riders will find it faster to walk instead of riding up and down escalators for 10 minutes.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 21/08/2026
While this depth is supposed to minimize surface disruption, it adds significant travel time because riders will have to get to the stations from the surface and back.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 21/08/2026
One of the big reasons for the big price tag is that the MTA wants the line very deep under the street – up to 130’ deep – while the max. depth of SAS Phase One was 100’ and Grand Central Madison is 140’.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 21/08/2026
The cost is also 7x the per-mile cost of the D Line extension in LA and 12x the per-mile cost of the Grand Paris Express.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 21/08/2026
According to the Transit Costs Project, Stockholm has built new lines for its metro at about $300 million per km, an order of magnitude lower than the MTA’s projections for SAS West of $3.85 billion per km.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 21/08/2026
But the almost $8 billion price tag is absurd. It’s more expensive per mile than the original SAS, which was already the most expensive subway project in the world.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 21/08/2026
It would be a huge benefit to thousands of riders every day, especially with the traffic on 125th Street. It would benefit the businesses on 125th St, too.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 21/08/2026
Such an extension would replace buses that carry 25,000 riders a day and provide more transit access to the heart of Harlem.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 21/08/2026
Extending the Second Avenue Subway west along 125th St to Columbia University is a no-brainer, on paper at least. #sas #saswest #mta #nycpoli www.etany.org/reports/digg...
etany.org
Digging Out of a Very Deep Hole: Saving Billions on 125th Street — Effective Transit Alliance New York
A 125 St subway should be a slam dunk. But at $7.7B and with stations more than 100 ft underground, it would be the most expensive subway in the world, and cost riders more than 5 minutes every trip b...
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 19/08/2026
If the MTA learns more about these techniques now, it could help subway expansions down the line, Lorenzo said.

“This could be a good time to consider bringing in some international consultants to help train local contractors and help give them the expertise in doing this,” she said. “The problem is not just that this project ends up costing so much more than it should cost. It’s, what does that mean for the next project and the project after that? You need to start to learn how to do things better and to do things at a reasonable price if New York is going to build the subway system it needs in the future.”
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Streetsblog NYC @nyc.streetsblog.org · 19/08/2026
The MTA could halve the $7.7 billion price tag for the planned subway extension along 125th Street — but only if its leaders have the will to use “cut-and-cover” techniques to build shallower and smaller stations more in line with peer cities. buff.ly/sH1eo4b
nyc.streetsblog.org
Shallower, Smaller Stations Could Cut 125th Street Subway Costs In Half: Report - Streetsblog New York City
The MTA could halve the $7.7 billion price tag for the planned 125th Street subway if it's willing to use "cut-and-cover" construction.
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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 19/08/2026
This is such an impressive report, every paragraph is just a wealth of information. Here's a random one:
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 19/08/2026
A 125 St extension should be easy for the region to celebrate. But the simple truth is, if it costs $7.7B to build 1.25mi of subway—a number many, many times higher than similar projects in other cities—then New York will never be able to build the transit it needs. www.etany.org/reports/digg...
etany.org
Digging Out of a Very Deep Hole: Saving Billions on 125th Street — Effective Transit Alliance New York
A 125 St subway should be a slam dunk. But at $7.7B and with stations more than 100 ft underground, it would be the most expensive subway in the world, and cost riders more than 5 minutes every trip b...
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 19/08/2026
* Grand Central Madison was not only incredibly expensive, but is incredibly deep. It takes 8 mins to get to the surface, and as a result, the station has failed to save most riders significant time. SAS West currently plans for escalator transfers over 5 minutes long.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 19/08/2026
NY has made these mistakes before: * Second Ave Subway Phase 1 was already the most expensive subway ever built, costing many times more than similar projects elsewhere. SAS West will be nearly 1.5x more expensive per mile, adjusted for inflation.
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 19/08/2026
By learning from international best practices and building a more shallow route, however, New York would not only be able to build more transit for less money, but would build a line that would save riders significant time every single day. www.etany.org/reports/digg...
etany.org
Digging Out of a Very Deep Hole: Saving Billions on 125th Street — Effective Transit Alliance New York
A 125 St subway should be a slam dunk. But at $7.7B and with stations more than 100 ft underground, it would be the most expensive subway in the world, and cost riders more than 5 minutes every trip b...
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 19/08/2026
A 125 St subway should be a slam dunk. But at $7.7B for 1.25 miles, and with stations deep underground, current plans would not only build the most expensive subway in the the world, but would cost riders valuable minutes every single trip. It's not too late, however: www.etany.org/reports/digg...
etany.org
Digging Out of a Very Deep Hole: Saving Billions on 125th Street — Effective Transit Alliance New York
A 125 St subway should be a slam dunk. But at $7.7B and with stations more than 100 ft underground, it would be the most expensive subway in the world, and cost riders more than 5 minutes every trip b...
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 06/08/2026
And if you like what you see – you can join ETA’s mailing list here: www.etany.org/stay-informed
etany.org
Stay Informed — Effective Transit Alliance New York
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 06/08/2026
Today, ETA is happy to announce the launch of its newsletter! Take a look at the first edition to find out what we’ve been up to in the past couple months, get the latest scoop on Penn Through-Running, and keep tabs on what’s ahead in transit. mailchi.mp/2499ad698d30...
The first few paragraphs of ETA's August newsletter. See here: https://mailchi.mp/2499ad698d30/eta-august-newsletter
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