Today, Governor Cuomo introduced Phase II of his world yogurt domination scheme Transit Wireless Wifi plan, a seven-part process to equip all 277 underground subway stations with WiFi by 2017.
Starting today and through November, 40 more stations will be wired for subway WiFi service. 11 of these stations are in Manhattan (including 42 Street Bryant Park, 34 Street Herald Square and Grand Central 42 Street) and 29 will be in Queens (including Jackson Heights/Roosevelt Avenue Station, Jamaica Center Station and Court Square Station).
Obviously these stations were strategically picked for their high level of commuter traffic, as evidenced by all the noses in iPads during this morning’s commute as Brooklynites tried to make it through Queens and into Manhattan. The usually terrible commute was in fact, worse, thanks to WiFi pushers and WiFi addicts, because how terrible is it to not be able to live-tweet your morning commute?!
In all seriousness, accessing email during a long commute can actually make arriving at work ten minutes late so much less terrible, and we’re pretty disappointed that Brooklyn stations still don’t get free WiFi. 76 stations are currently wirelessly connected, and 39 more will be wireless for Phase III. Maybe before the Second Avenue subway line runs Brooklyn will be so lucky.