Photo of Knickerbocker M Station sign by spreetaper, from the BushwickBK flickr pool
If like me, you push subway turnstiles with your forearm instead of your palm, you’ll enjoy this news. The nasty M line stations in Bushwick and Ridgewood are earmarked for some fix-up funds. The MTA plans to spend $3.7 BILLION on renovations in various Brooklyn subway stations over the next 4 years. The L stations have already received some much-needed attention — ever think you’d see fresh grout in an NYC subway?
Of course it has to be said that if slightly more than a modicum of maintenance had been afforded these pitiful stations over the years, they would not need massive redos now. Only OUR government could let a system crumble like this one has, failing to see the propaganda value of a showcase mass transit system. I say let’s Draft the Donald!
stockholmer March 12th, 2008 at 11:49 am
The money can’t come too soon. The Central stop has been down to one stairway for the past week. I’m guessing they’re waiting for these funds to arrive before making the structural repairs needed to get the second one working again. (I’m only half kidding)
bambina March 12th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
I don’t use the M but I’m glad they’re getting fixed up.
Guest March 12th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
BOOOOOOO… This is not enough. Not only does NY need all lines, tracks to be fixed so that subways will no longer be a danger to your ears (riding subway can damage your ears according to a study), but it needs a complete redo of every line. If London can make its old stations look decent why can’t NY? Why do NYers put up with it.. Look at DUBAI’s new subway, its stunning.
armstrong March 13th, 2008 at 11:03 am
I used the M as much as the L for several years before I moved within two blocks of the L. I’m still glad I have two options if necessary.
The M really is the sad stepchild of the system. I wish it still went all the way down Myrtle to downtown Brooklyn.
That the line is next on the list for repairs is definitely good news.
Jimmy Legs March 13th, 2008 at 11:56 am
damn the M gets all the attention for some reason. wasn’t the Myrtle-Wycoff renovation enough? i would like to petition the MTA for $50 to rent a big masonry drill to poke a hole in the floor of the Halsey J station, so water stops gathering in a huge pool INSIDE the station. is that too much to ask?
FormerRidgewoodite March 13th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Armstrong…of course the idiots of the city in 1969 abandoned the lower end of the Myrtle El back in 1969. The line used to go over Broadway (that’s what all that stuff is above the Myrtle and Broadway station, and went down to Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn. At one time, the trains ran even further and ran over the Brooklyn Bridge to Park Row! Wouldn’t it be great if the Full Myrtle Ave line still existed. It would have been a valuable link.
“Guest”, while I agree the subway needs a lot, but apparently you never rode the subway in the 70′s and 80′s as otherwise you would never have made such an uniformed comment. The subway has had billions pumped into it. The subway system today is like the Disneyland monorail compared to the 70′s.
ESPEZY March 16th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Viva La Bushwick!