Comments on: Paris Shows How to Automate a Subway

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 23:08:57 +0000

To clarify: when I said 1 line, I meant New York’s, not Paris’s.

By: Ocean Railroader

Ocean Railroader — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 01:53:15 +0000

I like them having people driving them in that a computer system can be hacked in from any where by anyone or short out. Also crime too if there is no one with the railroad on the train people will be more willing to start fights with one another or rip the place apart.

By: Minato

Minato — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:13:13 +0000

In reality Paris line 1 carried 213 millions passengers in 2008.
About 750,000 per workdays.

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:58:37 +0000

Jon, automation costs money in software installation, testing, fail-safe systems, and rolling stock upgrades. The salaries you save aren’t material – if you automate the 1 train, you can expect to save about $10 million a year in labor costs, assuming all engineers and conductors are laid off instead of redistributed. The total ridership of the 1 per year is about 140,000,000, which translates to annual revenues of $260 million, 26 times what you’d save if automation cost nothing.

In other words: it’s completely unnecessary.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:02:53 +0000

Does anyone know how Vancouver’s SkyTrain works? It is automated, but does not have platform gates.

By: jon

jon — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:22:37 +0000

i’m interested in how automating a subway line improves farebox recovery. it would seem to me that some existing subway lines could be profitable without the expense of operators making $100,000+/year opening and closing the doors.

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:17:06 +0000

The only reason 24-hour service works in New York is the express tracks, which enable running trains around maintenance sites at night. Two-track systems can’t do that, and not coincidentally, New York’s two-track lines, the L and the 7, are really messed up on some weekends, with entire sections shut down or reduced to 20-minute headways.

By: Chris G

Chris G — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:26:17 +0000

The NYC system leaves SO much to be desired. But my first complaint anywhere else in the world is when the trains shut down for the night.

NYC needs to put doors along the platform for many reasons. But the most important to users is that you can then air condition the platforms.

NYC needs to have displays of the next coming trains.

There are others but those are two of the big ones.

But above all, NYC has 24 hour service and that is huge. So as much as NYC wastes time and money studying things that work extremely well everywhere else in the world, the world can learn something from us too.

By: NV

NV — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:42:56 +0000

I have to second Cap’n Transit’s point about the NY subway. Weekend reroutings make everyone mad, but what’s the alternative on a 24hr system? I’d much rather have 24hr NY than always be worrying about pumpkin hour as in Paris and London, and pretty much the rest of the world.

By: Yonah Freemark

Yonah Freemark — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:51:03 +0000

Jarrett -
Thanks, yes.