This column originally appeared in On The Way, a weekly newsletter covering everything you need to know about NYC-area transportation.<\/p>\n
Sign up<\/a> to get the full version, which includes answers to reader questions, trivia, service changes and more, in your inbox every Thursday.<\/p>\n Amtrak\u2019s vision for the reconstructed Penn Station<\/a> includes an increasingly rare luxury in New York City rail hubs: places to sit.<\/p>\n The architects behind the federally run overhaul of the train hall want long, wooden benches throughout its concourse. The plan features closed-off seating areas reserved for ticketed passengers, but also swaths of free, public seating for anyone passing through.<\/p>\n Luke Bridle, who is the managing architect on the project from the design firm HOK, said in an interview that the benches will do more than help commuters take a load off \u2014 they’re designed to improve pedestrian flow for the 600,000 commuters who pass through Penn Station every weekday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re viewing it not so much as an amenity but as a piece of important infrastructure as well,\u201d Bridle said. \u201cSeating really helps shape how people feel in Penn Station, whether they\u2019re stressful, whether it\u2019s chaotic, whether they\u2019re calm or whether it\u2019s manageable.\u201d<\/p>\n Seats have become something of a novelty in New York City\u2019s major transportation hubs. Places to rest in public keep disappearing<\/a> as part of a growing trend of hostile architecture meant to discourage people \u2014 many of them homeless \u2014 from loitering or sleeping.<\/p>\n But that comes at the cost of commuters\u2019 comfort.<\/p>\n When New York state opened Moynihan Train Hall across Eighth Avenue from Penn Station in 2021, commuters immediately noted the lack of seating in the building\u2019s main concourse. The space has areas with seats reserved for ticketed Amtrak and Long Island Rail Road passengers \u2014 but many of them often sit on the floor next to their bags, waiting for the train.<\/p>\n At Grand Central Madison, the subterranean LIRR extension on the East Side that opened in 2023, the MTA added a select number of benches<\/a> with a 90-minute time limit. The MTA has also piloted waist-height leaning benches<\/a> on some subway stations.<\/p>\n Currently, Penn Station commuters on all three railroads typically crowd around large track information screens or sit on stairs, blocking the way for others trying to get through.<\/p>\n The lack of seating in New York City made renderings of Amtrak\u2019s proposed Penn Station redesign stick out.<\/p>\n Courtesy Amtrak<\/p>\n Renderings<\/a> show commuters entering from Eighth Avenue can take escalators or stairs to the main floor, where rows of wooden benches wrap around a second set of escalators to the train platforms. There will also be public benches throughout the revamped station, including near retail areas in the center of the complex. The design also includes a set of long bars, where commuters can grab a stool for the price of a drink.<\/p>\n Bridle said the benches are a nod to the ones in the original Beaux Arts Penn Station that was torn down in the 1960s.<\/p>\n \u201cThe choice of wood here is something that\u2019s tactile, but it\u2019s also comfortable to sit on throughout the year,\u201d he said. \u201cNot having hard edges, making sure they\u2019re smooth and comfortable to sit on was something that was important.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, Bridle said the benches featured armrests to \u201cdiscourage sleeping.\u201d He said they should be prioritized for elderly riders, parents with children and others who need a break from the rat race.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a plan that could offer comfort to train riders at Penn. Now the federal government just needs to figure out how to fund it<\/a>.<\/p>\n NYC transportation news this week<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Late-night riders after the Knicks win. After the Knicks won the NBA Finals this month, millions of people flooded the streets \u2014 and public transportation. On Monday, NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow said the crowds sent overnight ridership \u201cthrough the roof.\u201d During an MTA committee hearing, Crichlow said that from midnight to 5 a.m. following the championship win, the system clocked about 329,000 riders \u2014 about 18% more than the 268,000 it typically sees during the same window after midnight on New Year\u2019s Eve. Crichlow also credited transit workers with keeping people moving throughout the celebrations, including last week\u2019s ticker-tape parade. He also said he expected to see more of a bump in ridership as World Cup matches continue in the region<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ongoing disputes between the MTA and Amtrak. Amtrak senior adviser Andy Byford this week wrote a letter<\/a> to MTA Chair Janno Lieber, asking the agency to sign on as a \u201cfull partner\u201d in the federal government\u2019s reconstruction of Penn Station. Lieber responded by dismissing the offer<\/a>, calling the federal government\u2019s planning process “bizarre<\/a>.\u201d He said he wanted to \u201cprotect the interests of thousands of MTA riders at Penn Station. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who controls the MTA and appointed Lieber, chimed in a day later and urged both sides to work collaboratively to rebuild the train hub<\/a>.<\/p>\n Teen sentenced for setting fire to sleeping man on subway. A 19-year-old man was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for setting a man on fire while riding the subway last December<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lawmakers look to ban horse carriages after teen\u2019s death. City lawmakers are pushing to ban horse carriages after a teenage tourist died after falling out of a runaway carriage in Central Park this month<\/a>.<\/p>\n Curious Commuter<\/p>\n