Lyra Martin Tech 07.31.2022 22:Jul PM EDT

New York’s Subway Tunnels Will Eventually Get Cellular Service — But When?

Every subway station offers WiFi and cell service, but this new collaboration between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and Transit Wireless would expand the service to areas that are currently dead zones.

New York Subways Will Have Mobile Service Soon

The subways in New York will soon have cellular service. The MTA said this week that it would begin a 10-year initiative to wirelessly link the city's 418 miles of subterranean track. Transit Wireless will construct the required infrastructure and pay the associated $600 million cost as part of an ongoing public-private partnership between the two organizations.

Presently, WiFiWiFi and mobile service are available at every underground station, but this new partnership between the public and commercial sectors would extend the service to spaces between stations, which are currently essentially dead zones.

The MTA's existing underground WiFiWiFi network is run by Transit Wireless. It is also a division of BAI Communications, a business that has completed projects of a similar kind in Toronto, Hong Kong, and other locations across the globe.

Additionally, Transit Wireless will install WiFiWiFi at 21 Staten Island Railway stations and all 191 aboveground MTA stations under the terms of the arrangement. The renovation won't cause any extra disruptions to the subway service, which is excellent news for residents of New York and tourists.

The New York Times reports that Transit Wireless intends to fund the project via data collecting and leasing fiber-optic cable to carriers. As soon as it recovers its original investment, the business will start splitting income with the MTA. The agency will first get a 20 percent share until it rises to 40 percent in the 15th year after Transit Wireless recoups its investment.

Not only is the MTA attempting to provide cellphone service to its patrons. Transport for London predicted that by 2024, the Underground would have complete mobile access. Similar systems have been in operation for many years in other cities, including Seoul and Paris.

Transport for London Expects Full Mobile Access by 2024

Not only is the MTA attempting to provide cellphone service to its patrons. Transport for London predicted that by 2024, the subway would have complete mobile access. Similar systems have been in operation for many years in other cities, including Seoul and Paris.

The Q line will be extended up to 125th Street in East Harlem as part of the Second Avenue Subway's next phase of expansion, which will also see the construction of three additional stops and the closure of the tunnel below Lenox Avenue. Planning for this project is already well under way.

The MTA is now aiming much higher. According to documents made public this week, the organization will look at extending the planned subway line even farther down West 125th Street to build a crosstown route that would add two to four more subway stations.

The project will start soon in Harlem. The MTA said the 125th Street extension is one of 24 projects they'll explore as they update the city's transportation infrastructure over the next 20 years. It may choose a couple of the twenty concepts to get financing beginning in 2025 after studying them until October 2023. Afterward, the selected projects might be completed anytime between 2025 and 2044.

Although the MTA has never mentioned the 125th Street subway line, the concept is not entirely new. Similar proposals were made in 2008 by the nonprofit Regional Plan Association under the name "Second Avenue Subway 125th Street Crosstown Express."