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Eagle-eyed straphangers on the MTA’s new open gangway subway trains may notice they’re not completely “open.” And the reason why has to do with a policy that makes New York City’s subway system more expensive to run than those of other major global cities.
The gleaming 10-car trains — which started carrying riders on the C line last week — have a conductor cab at their center, which prevent passengers from walking end to end. Riders can only stroll through the train’s first five or last five cars.
But that conductor cab has to be there according to MTA policy. The vast majority of the city’s subway trains are run by two people: an operator at the front who drives and a conductor in the middle who opens and closes the doors.
The same goes for the cutting-edge open gangway trains where the conductor’s cab serves as a dividing line between two sections of the train.
But the two-person approach increases the costs. A 2021 report published by the MTA found the agency spends more on running its subways than all but four of its international peers.
Several lines on the Paris Metro, for example, are run by just one person. And unlike New York, the French capital has for years had open gangway trains that allow riders to walk from end to end. Subway car doors in many European and Asian cities are also opened via a button pushed by riders, rather than by conductors.
The MTA only has two open gangway trains in its fleet, and is testing them out before it considers a larger order. (The second open gangway train started picking up passengers on Monday, the MTA confirmed). The agency said it currently has no plans to remove the conductor cabs — and conductor jobs — from the subways.
Officials…
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