The futureNYCSubway: Introduction

Those who follow the MTA closely will scoff at the ideas for such a fantastic expansion but like with the futureMBTA, these ideas are not based on political reality, rather they are presented to stir the mind and to inspire future leaders and city officials of the possibilities. Today, the City of New York has recovered from the population drain of the late 20th Century and now boasts a larger population than ever before with up to a million new citizens expected to move into the city in the next generation. In the past 30 years the city has planned for a reduction of population and services. Now the city needs to plan for expansion. This will take time and it is because of this I think that now is the right time to share my ideas and maps.

This is just the introduction to a series of posts I plan on writing explaining the history of subway expansion in NYC, first with an analysis of the famous IND Second System, a close look at the long history of the Second Ave Subway and my first new map of the SAS System, and finally my plans for new lines into Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Staten Island.

Frank Gehry: The Wes Anderson of Architecture

I twittered that I was on my way to the Bauhaus exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art and a friend responded that Walter Gropius was the Wes Anderson of architecture. After thinking very long about this prospect I realized that the closest analogy would actually be Frank Gehry, the wonky starchitect known for milking his dying brand long after it was fresh and innovative. This also brings up the close analogy between Gehry and M. Night Shyamalan but I think Anderson wins out since Shyamalan’s work is far too serious.
You might want to queue up some Rolling Stones to accompany this post.

More futureMBTA reader submissions

I just posted some more fantastic read submissions to the futureMBTA. Head over and check them out. Great work guys, keep them coming!

Personal Rapid Transit (is stupid)

I’m looking at the date and it says 2010. That seems more futuristic to me than 2001 did for some reason. So we are in the future, where are the flying cars? Flying cars are what I call a zombie technology, an idea that just won’t die no matter how ludicrous. I’ve been researching rapid transit for many years now and what continues to fascinate me is how some ideas never die. The first zombie idea of rapid transit is Monorails which still hold their 1960s futuristic charm even though they always come up short compared to conventional rail. The second idea, and the subject of this rant post is Personal Rapid Transit (PRT).

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