Let’s master Grand Central Madison

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Let’s master Grand Central Madison

Рет қаралды 22,626

Жыл бұрын

Grand Central Madison LIRR station is now open! You might have seen a video I published two weeks ago on the LIRR Grand Central opening. That was a simple walkthrough and tour (to include the elevators and escalators). Today, we are going to cover the layout of Grand Central Madison in comparison to Grand Central Terminal and Grand Central Station. We’ll also talk about why Grand Central Madison is important to public transportation in New York City.
RELATED LINKS:
End of the Line movie (affiliate link) → amzn.to/3k7Jkd7
Book by Jane Jacobs (affiliate link) → amzn.to/3IxEYFr
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Пікірлер: 75

@UrbanCaffeine Жыл бұрын

Here are resources I referenced. Using these affiliate links help support the channel. End of the Line movie → amzn.to/3k7Jkd7 Book by Jane Jacobs → amzn.to/3IxEYFr

@user-qx6mm1hz8r 8 ай бұрын

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 8:58

@johntomasso3314 Жыл бұрын

You are a treasure - your videos are so well researched and communicated = I look forward to each and every one. I've said it before. I am a native NYer and I still learn things by watching your videos. Kudos.

@broyofroyo1207 Жыл бұрын

They r cool

@jacoanimationstudio-di7hi Жыл бұрын

Word!

@FPXS24 Жыл бұрын

I loved your thorough explanation regarding Grand Central Building. Always so sharp and easy to understand! As a tourist and a NYC aficionado, I look forward to videos with full of content and useful information like yours! Kudos to you Thea! 👏🏻🙌🏻

@kongr889 Жыл бұрын

Very useful and informational to me! I has been trying to fine the best walking path between my office and the new LIRR station!

@WillsJazzLoft 2 ай бұрын

Thank you for an interesting and informative vlog. I do not get up to the City as much as I used to ( I live in Virginia for the moment ). So, I found the distinction between Grand Central Terminal, Station and Madison illuminating. Referencing your closing remarks even with a president who has a high affinity for a public transit, there is simply not the political will and capital to finance passenger rail. We have a finance model for passenger rail that is very dysfunctional. It's guided by a mentality that capital improvements to passenger rail must be 'funded'. Whereas financing for highways and freeways require 'investment'. That is what is at the heart of the long time horizon for capital improvements to passenger rail. Until that mentality is changed, passenger rail will take many generations to improve. Let's be thankful for what we do have.

@alexvasquez2464 Жыл бұрын

Loving Grand Central Madison, but that doorway at 0:20 is such a design flaw. Imagine walking through that glorious main hall and down that escalator just to pass through those doors 😂

@UrbanCaffeine Жыл бұрын

I don't know if it's true, but I overheard the doors were temporary. I hope they are.

@broyofroyo1207 Жыл бұрын

Hopefully they are temporary, they are awful

@stepheneson4107 Жыл бұрын

@@UrbanCaffeine Those doorways were the quick fix necessary to resolve airflow and ventilation problems that were a last-minute obstacle to opening Reply

@keshavrawat4949 Жыл бұрын

I can't wait to visit NYC, I sometimes dream of swiping the MetroCard and getting it first try and feeling happy with myself. I love your videos, keep up the amazing work!

@lamegaming9835 Жыл бұрын

the tracks are under madison ave

@alexvasquez2464 Жыл бұрын

Enjoy your visit when you do eventually come over!

@ej_tech Жыл бұрын

MetroCard is going to be phased out very soon. "Please Swipe Again" "Please Swipe Again" "Too Slow" and good riddance!

@michaellawrence588 Жыл бұрын

@EJ Tech Of course, there is a delay in the phase-out of MetroCard.

@billjones424 11 ай бұрын

45th st has an entrance into Met Life bldg which leads to escalators into the terminal

@Neillan 9 ай бұрын

Amazingly produced and highly informative! Greeat work Thea.

@orangetzar7099 Жыл бұрын

GC Madison also has the nicest bathrooms I’ve ever been in lol.. albeit, they are only a few weeks old

@broyofroyo1207 Жыл бұрын

I hope it stays that way

@emergencystoppingonly Жыл бұрын

I used to walk 25 min to 3rd middle of the night from penn station for a night shift job. Now I get off at grand central. The relief is amazing. So it takes 10 min for me to get out of the station and 5 min to walk to my job. Before at penn it took about 30 min to walk to my office, walking through all sorts of dark roads and scary people. Like it's 1am there is no reason to walk up to me aside from either you want money or you are up to something. Ain't no salesmen out there at 1am trying to sell me hello fresh. Walking usually faster than the subway. Because at that time of night you are waiting 15-20 min for one train then 15-20 min for the 7 to Grand Central. Both walking distance and time I am saving a lot. I am mostly inside with lots of police presence and nicely lit big hallways and standing still on escalators, couldn't be safer. GSM changed my life completely, I love commuting to work now, it is so easy and safe.

@TripHacksDC Жыл бұрын

I love these graphics and illustrations as always. The Power Broker is required reading.

@broyofroyo1207 Жыл бұрын

They r good

@OscarDiaz-nn9ch Жыл бұрын

What’s funny is that this videos popped on my feed right after my trip to NYC Tbh I didn’t have a hard time finding directions as I’m used to walk and use public transportation. But everything changed once I stepped inside Grand Station. Not included in this video, there was an entrance the leads to a supermarket where I got sushi and spend 30 min finding a spot to eat… right under the main platform there was the food court 😂 Your channel has everything I needed before my trip. Next visit I’ll be even more prepared! Excellent work!

@UrbanCaffeine Жыл бұрын

Adventure! Hope the sushi was good. Thanks for watching!

@stepheneson4107 Жыл бұрын

1. I've been paying close attention to Grand Central Madison (formerly East Side Access Project) for years; and so far yours is the best review by far-- and you're the only vlogger I've yet to see actually refer to Cairo's biography of Robert Moses (impressive!). Your quick history of Grand Central and the clear and concise maps and graphics are excellent. 2. Another vlogger did a comparison of actual commute times traveling from Jamaica station to the front door of Grand Central via GCM, vs. going through Penn Station & the subways. The actual time savings is only a few minutes due to the vast amount of time it takes just to emerge from the ultra-deep train tunnels. You are right about the subway savings though (the LIRR fares into either destination are identical). 3. Critics of this project point out (with hindsight) that the billions of dollars invested in GSM in an era of reduced ridership due to remote work could better have been spent on the many other needs around the MTA system... but it's a little late for that!. Well done, thank you!

@UrbanCaffeine Жыл бұрын

Thanks for this! The subway indeed needs a lot of help, if only there was less bureaucracy involved.

@broyofroyo1207 Жыл бұрын

@jamallhayden2512 Жыл бұрын

@@UrbanCaffeine I just wish more people looked at Grand Central Madison from the operational aspect in terms of flexibility. The current Amtrak owned east river tunnels are due for repairs and would drastically reduce Lirr’s service to Penn station, riders can still have direct Manhattan service via East side access! The current unfortunate East Bronx residents would also indirectly benefit from East side access via the Penn station access a project that would bring Metro North to Penn station via Amtrak’s Hell Gate Line. I know it’s not a new subway line but it’s better than the current lack of subway access in the project’s planned new stations!

@h-nice1142 11 ай бұрын

I read that book twice!! Great read abs enlightening.

@alfredoalvarez3401 11 ай бұрын

Wonderful explanation. Very useful maps. It was very easy for me to take the LIRR to Jamaica to get to JFK. You are of the best. Thank you so much.

@courtneyjoelson6609 Жыл бұрын

Love your videos! So informative and you have a great personality! I hope to visit NYC one day and experience it myself!

@jfmezei Жыл бұрын

After Penn Station was demolished so Pennsylvania Railroad could sell air rights, it wasn't a question of building over it. It was truly demolished. And the same fate awaited Grand Central Terminal about a decate later during the bankruptcy pf what was now Penn Central Railway. Jackeline Kennedy Onasis fought against it and initiated a process to help preserve historical buildings. The compromise saw the building and air rights over it preserved but air rights over tracks, and adjoining lands opened for construction (hence the Pan Am building). One month later: MTA/LIRR had overestimated demand for GCM and the initial week saw the reduced traisn to Penn highly congested and trains to GVM underused and they had to shift capacity back to Penn. Also, saw videos of a guy calculating time to GCT main hall from GCM vs Penn station. The time to walk from train, escalators etc was not that much less betwen GCM-GCT versus taking subway from Penn to GCS and walk to GCT. (but your argument about saving MTA fares if you can walk from GCM is very potent). BTW, saw videos taken from trains, and for the money spent was surprised to see train go so slowly in tunnel for something that is brand spanking new.

@tomtrask_YT Жыл бұрын

A+ for the graphics of blasting a tunnel for a subway.

@stevenj2380 Жыл бұрын

Important to note the street entrance on 42 st. between Madison and Vanderbilt Ave, in One Vanderbilt down to GCT, a subway passage between 4-5-6-7 and the Shuttle and the Grand Central Madison Concourse. Bad sightlines at that south end of the GCM Concourse mean while at one entry you may not notice the other. The entry from food court lower level GCT is surely not adequate by itself for people and is best for those going East toward Lexington Ave. etc. and wanting to walk thru GCT. The few elevators and ways out from the Concourse level are very difficult to spot now, while it is not crowded. PS. LIRR services are changing (whether or not it is the full service intended to GCM) on FEB. 27.

@RedArrow73 Жыл бұрын

They're going to have to have another one. The commuter base has had a cow over making all trains local.

@3985uprr Жыл бұрын

I took my Filipina wife to Grand Central for the first time on Monday and she didn’t like it because one of the escalators weren’t working and it’s too far from where she hast to go downtown. I am a train enthusiast who finds this facility stunning.

@irener.3849 Жыл бұрын

I was very excited to find out about new terminal. I live in central Connecticut, and driving to JFK is not fun. I often fly to West Coast. Most return flights land in JFK in the evening, and I hate to drive back home at night, often in bad weather, and being tired after a long flight. Now it looks like I can take a train to Grand Central, switch easily to Long Island train and get out in Jamaica to take an Air train. The only thing I wish you would show in your video is a location of the elevator(s) from Metro North terminal to a new terminal. For passengers with luggage.

@lamegaming9835 Жыл бұрын

i saw miles in transit’s video on gcm and wow is it HUGE!

@broyofroyo1207 Жыл бұрын

It is giant

@strafrag1 Жыл бұрын

Excellent video. Thank you.

@arturodelpech7955 11 ай бұрын

Excellent Videos Tea, have of great help. One Question... When does the Unlimited Time Metro Card starts to count... when you buy the card or upon date of the first use? highly apprecciatted. Arturo Delpech Mexico City

@captainkeyboard1007 Жыл бұрын

The construction of Grand Central Madison was a smashing success, thanks to the tunnel boring method. The Grand Central Madison's tunnels and stations were built to perfection. It cannot be better than that.

@Hypestrike1 Жыл бұрын

It's just a pity it took over 50 years from conception to ribbon cutting.

@captainkeyboard1007 Жыл бұрын

@@Hypestrike1 You got that right! The next thing you know is that the Second Avenue Subway is taking much longer to be completely built underground. Thank you for tapping or typing to me.

@Hypestrike1 Жыл бұрын

@@captainkeyboard1007 You're welcome. BTW, I keep my ear to the ground for news about the Second Avenue Subway and the latest I read the MTA anticipates starting construction on phase 2 next year. This is contingent on the agency securing 460 million in federal grants, but the grants were supposed to be covered in Joe Biden's 2021 Infrastructure Bill and the MTA has already filed documents to seize properties along the planned route via eminent domain. Even so, I'll believe phase 2 is happening when I see the TBM's have been sunk under East Harlem.

@captainkeyboard1007 Жыл бұрын

@@Hypestrike1 👍

@russellgxy2905 Жыл бұрын

As a rail-fanatic, I cannot believe I didn't think of using this system of names to refer to the different services. Grand Central Terminal, as it should, refers to the old New York Central terminal where Metro North calls home. Station goes for the Subway, which I never realized is all Number trains besides the Shuttle, and Madison for the new LIRR terminal. Essentially a big Deep Level station but built to bigger standards. I feel like Penn Station Access would be a slightly easier undertaking compared to what it took for Grand Central Madison. With less LIRR trains running there, MNRR trains from the Hudson and New Haven lines would reach lower Manhattan. The only problem I see is the types of trains to use. In terms of electricity, none of Metro North's trains are currently capable of running into Penn Station. Even so, that could be an easy enough fix, and while LIRR does have trains which could fit the bill I'm not sure the busiest commuter railroad in the country would spare its equipment for the third busiest, even if both are owned by MTA.

@CrazedSyko Жыл бұрын

Great video! Keep up the great work. I've learned a lot through your videos.

@broyofroyo1207 Жыл бұрын

They r good

@robertbrainerd5919 Жыл бұрын

I hope your videos will help me find the best, easiest, and fastest ways to go from the Hoyt/Schermerhorn subway station to EWR Terminal B.

@ZachAJ77 Жыл бұрын

You forgot the shuttle to Times Square 4:05

@UrbanCaffeine Жыл бұрын

You know, I remembered only after the video just published. 😅

@TheNoerdy Жыл бұрын

Bon video.

@UrbanCaffeine Жыл бұрын

✌

@mikvas8088 Жыл бұрын

So helpful 👍🇨🇦

@JohnDoe-zk1sy Жыл бұрын

That was great Thea! Nice job! Very informative! Where can we watch ‘End of the Line?’

@UrbanCaffeine Жыл бұрын

Thanks! I rented it on Amazon. Here's an affiliate link: amzn.to/3k7Jkd7

@joshuafajardo5697 Жыл бұрын

Don’t forget the 42nd Street Shuttle

@henryjpridejr Жыл бұрын

I so love you're transit videos

@broyofroyo1207 Жыл бұрын

They are nice

@jonathansy4552 Жыл бұрын

What does "considering New York is not Europe" mean?

@JoeyLovesTrains Жыл бұрын

I am so sad that I missed the Grand Central Madison opening

@broyofroyo1207 Жыл бұрын

I need to get to grand central Madison

@sebas9504 Жыл бұрын

Great video!

@TomEMullaney Жыл бұрын

Are you going to do a video about the disastrous rollout? This should be good but it's not. They opened a new terminal without spending money on new trains and this is the result.

@UrbanCaffeine Жыл бұрын

I was thinking about it.

@TomEMullaney Жыл бұрын

@@UrbanCaffeine Awesome. This seems like an example of forced scarcity hurting us all but the poorest the most. It's outrageous that what should have been a monumentally good development is instead making transit worse.