On 15.11.15 21:36, Paul Corfield wrote:
On Sun, 15 Nov 2015 16:12:06 +0000, Clive Page
wrote:

A long but interesting article on the problems of updating the
antiquated systems on the New York subway (warning, lots of ads
especially if you have flash player enabled):

http://www.theatlantic.com/technolog...ns-are/415152/

Very interesting in terms of the monumental mess the MTA have got
themselves into. Reminded me of some of the worst conflicts in LU but
I think TfL have smoothed a lot of things out although obviously the
SSR debacle is a case where they didn't. I think the funding
environment in New York is vastly worse than London experiences and
there are regular political turf wars causing ever changing political
priorities for the MTA. Causes all sorts of ridiculous problems - it's
a miracle the trains run.

There is that, yes.

It's also worth noting that the New York City Subway was once three
separate entities -- the Interborough Rapod Transit Company, the
Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation and Independent Subway System --
and the City of New York started only to actively merge them under its
own administration in 1940.

Parts of the system still carry their old respective names to this day,
AIUI, even though 75 years have passed since the merger.

The City of New York to this day makes a delineation between them in
operating terms and uses the terms A, B-1 and B-2, respectively IRT, BMT
and IND.

It would thus not surprise me to find out that each division has
retained a certain degree of its own cultures to this day.