Can you design a better NYC Subway system?

Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/08/05/can-you-design-a-better-nyc-su.html

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I just wanna dig the tunnels.

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Yes. Put all the freight and commercial traffic on the subways, and reconfigure the subways stops into delivery depots. This allows you to take all the trucks and heavy vehicles off the streets. Convert all streets into pedestrian ways, light rail, generous bike paths, and lightweight (like, gem car) electric taxis / access-a ride cars. Sprinkle the highway access points to the boroughs with underground / green-roofed parking garages and have all incomers transfer to allowed forms of transport.

Oh, you meant in an app…

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My preferred activity in SimAnt was to dig out every single block of earth.

Oh the memories.

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No, and I doubt anyone else can, either. It seems rather foolish to have an underground transportation system on a small island on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, with the sea level rising due to climate change, and a growing number of devastating storms due to the same (as Sandy proved).

Unless you’re going to seal the whole thing off, with airlocks and such.

Ah, right. Never mind, then.

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subway, submarine - what’s the difference?

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It’s not that hard in Minecraft, just time-consuming.

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I threw wave after wave of troops against the hated lawnmower.

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How about if that island is home to six million people?

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Well, there needs to be a line that connects all the stations at 96/86 Streets and then continues on to Queens for a start.

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It seems even more foolish to stick six million people onto a small island on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.

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In a similar vein: Mini Metro
More game, and less simulator, but a heck of a lot of fun.

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Chris Christie, may his corpulent body roast in the flames of hell, earns my eternal hostility for nixing the plans to connect the 7 train tunnel to the Secaucus NJ Transit train station in exchange for lowering the tax on gasoline. As well as diverting state funds to a casino which went bankrupt.

So not only does Shamu take out a train commute for me (and thousands of jobs in the area and infrastructure improvements), but also makes the bus commute more difficult by giving incentives for more people to drive in.

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This looks dangerously up my alley.

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That actually wasn’t all that successful the last time it was tried… Chicago Tunnel Company - Wikipedia

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London seems to have a better go at it… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Post_Office_Railway

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Oh, you should definitely get Mini Metro. I don’t play it as obsessively as I did when it was a web-only demo model, but it’s still tons of fun. I prefer to play on the London map myself.

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I’m off to build a new subway system 'round Tokyo with me Black & Decker Work Mate!

Alexei Sayle’s “Stuff”, IIRC

Sorry, I gotta get pedantic about the population, etc.:

New York City is home to 8.5 million people, but the minuscule island of Manhattan houses a mere 1.6 million, though the number of people there during the day is estimated at around 4 million. But the subway extends into Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx; the MTA reports that the mean weekday ridership for the subway was 5.7 million last year.

Manhattan isn’t the only island involved in the subway system, since Brooklyn and Queens constitute the westernmost part of Long Island. The Bronx is on the mainland, and the Staten Island railroad stays in Richmond County. The subway isn’t always underground either, despite its name. There are many portions that run elevated, especially in the outer boroughs.

It’s kind of hard to put a seaport inland.