New York’s deteriorating subway stations may be getting makeovers sponsored by companies that would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for the opportunity to promote their brands at stops along the 700-mile system.
For $600,000, a donor may participate in an “adopt-a-station” program and help pay for amenities such as WiFi and stepped-up cleaning, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Thursday during a Manhattan breakfast speech to business leaders. For $250,000, a firm could join a “Partnership Council,” that would help raise money for improvements without attaching its name to the station.
The appeal for private contributions to the city’s crumbling subway system comes after months of breakdowns and delays that have contributed to the first decrease in ridership in more than 20 years. The city’s economy has lost about $15 million for every hour of delays, according to research conducted by the Partnership for New York City, a civic group of corporate executives.
“Businesses can enhance those stations, enhance maintenance, enhance security, enhance aesthetics,” Cuomo told the gathering sponsored by another business group, the Association for a Better New York. “We want to bring the private sector in as a full partner.”
Better Service
Joseph Lhota, chairman of the state’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the subways, said any company that sponsors a highly trafficked station in Manhattan would also be asked to take responsibility for stops in far-flung residential neighborhoods.
“We’ll require that if you do one in the central business district, you have to do some outside the center,” Lhota said. “All people in the city deserve the best subway service possible.”
The plan is still in its early stages, Lhota said.
Lhota this week unveiled a plan to fix the subways that includes adding cars on trains to ease overcrowding, removing seats from some cars to increase capacity and prioritizing door maintenance. There will be more police in subways to reduce littering and the presence of homeless people on the trains, and more cleaning and better maintenance of elevators and escalators, he said Tuesday.
Cuomo during his speech called on President Donald Trump to act on a $1 trillion infrastructure program he promised during the campaign.