Proposed new MSGSubmitted by WatchesAndNYC t3_1251xg4 in nyc
idontlikeanyofyou t1_je4mt2h wrote
Reply to comment by Wintermute7 in Proposed new MSG by WatchesAndNYC
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Grand Central's main hall doesn't have benches. Aren't train stations supposed to be places where people are in motion (going in or out), and not necessarily hanging around? I get waiting for a train, but there's lounges for that.
brianvan t1_je4wyc9 wrote
Historically those main halls were nothing but benches for people waiting for trains to pull in / tracks to be announced. Including GCT
Pulling all the benches out (and designing for NO sitting space at all) is a fairly recent thing
iStealyournewspapers t1_je50yqs wrote
For as long as I can remember going to Grand Central (30ish years) there have never been benches in the main hall. Only place to ever sit would be downstairs in the food area, or the restaurants upstairs.
_allycat t1_je588xv wrote
Good example of the older waiting area style is Hoboken Terminal.
Tall-Ad5755 t1_jecob7k wrote
30th street in Phillys main hall is still full of benches…surprisingly not filled with homeless either.
idontlikeanyofyou t1_je51ri8 wrote
I'm not sure about that. Here's that famous light picture
https://www.history.com/.amp/news/grand-central-terminal-facts
There's too many people coming and going to have benches in the way.
brianvan t1_je57thp wrote
GCT is so big that it had adjoining rooms for benches that were nearly as big as the main hall.
The old Penn Station was the same. It had numerous large rooms; one of them was a waiting hall that was not photographed as much as the entrance and concourse rooms.
In other stations and terminals, such as 30th Street Philadelphia and Hoboken, there are many benches in the main halls.
idontlikeanyofyou t1_je5dubt wrote
Fair, but the rendering pic only shows one room. Additionally, id think that train travel has changed quite a bit in the last 60 years. It uses to be the way one got to different cities, now Penn is mostly serving commuters. Amtrak does have a sitting area.
brianvan t1_je5f3ds wrote
Amtrak's sitting area is distant from where they ask you to line up for the trains, which starts more than an hour before departure (like airport gate lice). It means you are forced to stand or forced to take really unhappy seat choices on the trains.
Airport gates have seating areas!
The problem is, it's now policy to not have benches in transportation facilities. They do not want to have to move homeless people off of them, because there are now tens of thousands of documented homeless people in the city every night & the shelters are terribly unsafe and overcrowded. So they've removed or altered benches in the subways, they close parks, they've taken benches off the sidewalks, and now they build new train stations (notably Moynihan and WTC) that have nowhere to sit at all, except for the tiny disconnected far-from-platforms Amtrak waiting area you mentioned.
People are mentioning it because sometimes they WOULD like to sit, and commuters are sometimes waiting 1-2 hours for their next train when it's off-peak service. (e.g. the weekend trains on Metro North past Croton and White Plains are hourly, and some destinations have even less frequent service) And these people tend to have luggage and don't want to arrive early and stand around with it. This isn't a bizarre hypothetical.
down_up__left_right t1_je6v3ct wrote
>now Penn is mostly serving commuters.
Go to Penn Station at about 9 pm tonight and you'll see those some of those commuters sitting on the floors as they wait almost an hour for the next train on their line.
down_up__left_right t1_je53hl5 wrote
>Aren't train stations supposed to be places where people are in motion (going in or out), and not necessarily hanging around?
With the headways on some routes if you miss your train off peak it can be an hour or more until the next one.
>I get waiting for a train, but there's lounges for that.
Penn Station has a lounge for Amtrak customers not for NJ Transit and LIRR riders.
izzo444 t1_je8dfau wrote
theres a lounge at moynihan
down_up__left_right t1_je8hkfc wrote
> Penn station[/Moynihan] has a lounge for Amtrak customers not for NJ Transit and LIRR riders.
thebruns t1_jeam5g4 wrote
> Aren't train stations supposed to be places where people are in motion (going in or out), and not necessarily hanging around?
With this logic, airports shouldnt have seats either.
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