New York subway goes the way of Lehman Brothers
Posted
Jun 26 2009, 09:27 AM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
New York's cash-strapped Metropolitan Transportation Agency -- the behemoth that oversees the operation of the city's subways, buses, and commuter rail lines -- has sold the naming rights to one of the busiest subway stops in Brooklyn, and may do the same with stations throughout the system.
Barclays (BCS) will soon add its name to the Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street station in Brooklyn, a major stop where 10 subway lines and the Long Island Railroad converge. The hook: There are plans to build a huge housing development and sports complex nearby, boosting the area’s prestige -- and the number of people passing through the station each day.
If the Brooklyn project succeeds, don't be surprised if express stops on the West Side line become Starbucks (SBUX), formerly known as 14th Street station; General Electric (GE), formerly 33rd Street-Penn Station; or McDonald's (MCD), formerly 42nd Street-Times Square.
The possibilities are almost endless: There are 468 stations along the system’s 26 lines and 722 miles of track. Advertisers already turn the inside of the subway’s 6,400 cars into rolling billboards. So why shouldn't there be illuminated signs on the tracks saying: “This rat-infested hellhole brought to you by Clorox"?
Sponsored stations are hardly what the subway's creators had in mind. Opened in 1904, the subway was originally intended as an ad-free public space.
More than 100 years ago, when the subway was first introduced, its technology was as new and intriguing as the Internet would be in the 1990s. It was the Steam Age, and electric propulsion was as-yet unproven. At the time, there were no commercial power companies, so the Interborough Rapid Transit Company built what was then the world's largest generating plant on a spot overlooking the Hudson River.
Engineers had to devise new tunneling techniques and equipment to handle the city’s varied geology. But they got the outlines of the system so exquisitely right that today few of the 4.5 million daily riders give the subway a second thought on their way to and from work.
An urban archipelago, New York's 5 boroughs are separated by the harbor and the Hudson, Harlem, and East Rivers. Four of New York’s 5 boroughs are on islands, and water was an early barrier to development. But the area boomed, thanks to its ice-free harbor, the Erie Canal, and waves of immigrants.
By 1900, the city’s population was about 3.4 million, and the lack of an efficient mass-transit system limited the city's growth potential. The subway handily solved that problem, replacing the city’s extensive system of elevated lines, especially in Manhattan.
Clifton Hood underscores the importance of the subway in his book, 722 Miles: The Building of the Subways and How They Transformed New York:
“Conceived by mercantile leaders … who had a far-reaching vision of New York as a commercial metropolis that would dominate world trade, the subway was a political masterpiece that combined business and government in an innovative partnership."
"The subway remade New York City’s landscape by stimulating real estate development in upper Manhattan and the outer boroughs. It changed the way New Yorkers experience their city by moving passengers below ground, shortening distances, and quickening the pace of urban life.”
For most, that's ancient history. Welcome to the future: We’re now faced with the prospect of Columbus Circle -- brought to you by Coca-Cola (KO) -- and South Ferry, brought to you by Intel.
But what the heck -- New York's the media and advertising capital of the world. And the MTA needs the money.
Top Stocks blogging partner Todd Harrison is founder & CEO of Minyanville.com. This post was written by Minyanville Contributor Scott Reeves.
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