Feb. 20, 2014 Staff Report
Subway riders will soon be able to tap into Wi Fi and cell service at every underground station in Queens by June.
Starting in March, construction will begin on a project that will bring free Wi-Fi and cell service to every underground station in the borough, according to Transit Wireless, which is providing the service.
“Providing cell phone and data connectivity to our Queens customers is the latest step in keeping everyone connected and bringing a new level of security with the ability to dial 9-1-1 in an emergency,” said MTA CEO Thomas F. Prendergast in a statement.
The Queens service represents the second phase in the MTA’s plan to bring Wi-Fi to subway commuters.
During the first phase of the project, Transit Wireless brought the service to 36 stations in the Chelsea, Midtown and Upper West Side neighborhoods of Manhattan.
The second phase, which will bring Wi-Fi to Queens, will also include 11 stations in Midtown Manhattan.
Phase two is expected to be completed by June of this year and will serve about 250 million riders annually with cell service on AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon Wireless as well as Wi-Fi.
4 Comments
What happened to this? http://www.nycedc.com/blog-entry/bringing-wifi-long-island-city-gowex
This will be nice. How about now that they will be closing our station (Vernon Jackson) down for 22 weekends they also renovate it? Our station looks awful and needs a face lift.
Absolutely. The MTA has essentially abdicated its role as a responsible transit agency, but we’re stuck with them.
I wonder how many MTA pigs received kickbacks from Transit Wireless for this project.
How about we address the issue of not having the 7 train for 22 weekends this year? Shuttle bus directly through the Midtown tunnel to Grand Central? Spreading the work out overnight for several weeks?? I think this is WAY more important than having wi-fi installed. Does anyone else agree?