As of this morning, all 279 NYC subway stations are connected with free cell phone service and wifi, wiping out one of the last service-free black holes of modern life. That news is being heralded by by go-getters who couldn’t stand to be incommunicado for even a few minutes of their commute, and mourned by those of us who live in a frazzled state of constant overstimulated and relished the few minutes free of app alerts and text messages when underground.
In some ways, wiring the subway, the crucial lifeblood of the biggest city in the country that millions of people use every day, seems long overdue, an oversight of planning that added an anachronistic to your commute. In other ways, with all the problems the MTA has every day — from overcrowding to delays to its vastly crumbling infrastructure — it seems like a lower priority: oh THIS is what you thought needed fixing? It didn’t help that commuters this morning were met with a tangle of subway delays that affected 16 (!!) lines. Having cell service on every station means you can tell your boss right away why you’re running late — and take to twitter to rage at the MTA without delay. Here’s how people are reacting to the first day of connectivity underground:
Here’s how Governor Cuomo announced the news this morning:
(note: the connectivity is at train stations only, not on trains and tunnels. Yet.)
Which people immediately pointed out was out of touch with the way most commuters were feeling:
So while everyone would rather the MTA spent the money making the trains run more efficiently, we’re going to see a lot more complaints popping up in real time:
Some are already missing the days of the (relative) peace of service-free commutes:
And most tragically, we must now say RIP to everyone’s default excuse for being late to anything ever:
But the more things change, the more they stay the same:
Follow Tim, who loves morning existential commuter dread Twitter: @timdonnelly.
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