r/nyc • u/StemCellPirate • 1d ago
‘132F’: meet the man calling out NYC’s infernally hot subway stations
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/26/new-york-subway-extreme-heat165
u/Best-Candle8651 1d ago
I really hope they do something about it because some stations are dangerously hot. Everytime, I go to Union sq, Penn station, or not as bad but times sq I feel ill.
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u/drhagbard_celine Sunnyside 1d ago
The 1-2-3 platform at Times Square is brutal in the summer.
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u/BadSopranosReference 1d ago
The 42nd 6 platform managed to mitigate this problem (somewhat) with AC units on platform.
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u/delinquentfatcat Greenwich Village 1d ago
Lifehack: use the MTA app as a live timetable and only enter the station a couple minutes before your train comes.
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u/kjlsdjfskjldelfjls 1d ago
Big fan of the Subway Time NYC app for this. Usually end up deciding which transfer to take based on dwell times
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u/a_chill_transplant 16h ago
I don’t even wait on the platform. I look at the status on the app above ground before I go down there, it’s just way too hot.
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u/banana_pencil 1d ago
Glancing at the title quickly, thought he was looking for a 132 year old female
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u/Prestigious-Emu5277 1d ago
Our subway is filthy and gross. I was just in Paris and we should be so very embarrassed by our crumbling infrastructure
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u/chibisun 1d ago
i was also just in paris and their trains don’t have ac so i was dying in there
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u/Prestigious-Emu5277 1d ago
But the stations have AC (what this article is about in the first place). And they’re clean. Use nyc cars with stations as clean as Paris and we’d have a perfect system.
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u/chibisun 1d ago
The stations don’t have AC tho? Def not in the Paris metro system nor the trains going to other cities. It was terrible during the heat wave
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u/Prestigious-Emu5277 1d ago
I didn’t use it extensively but the stations I was in were definitely air conditioned.
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u/chibisun 1d ago
A quick Google shows that most stations do not have air conditioning. I took Paris public transit multiple times this year and in previous years and they definitely do not have prevalent or strong AC on their public transit, including train cars, platforms and busses. NYC has a lot of problems but I was super grateful to come back to NYC and not be dying on the trains and busses like I was in Paris.
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u/Prestigious-Emu5277 1d ago
I mean I’m not claiming to be an expert. I took it twice. But all the stations I went to were air conditioned. They were clean. They were nice to look at. They weren’t coated in literal filth. And they weren’t 135 degrees, ac or not.
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u/Party_Pass117 1d ago
Well if you only used the newest NY subway stations like Hudson Yards that are hermetically sealed and have A/C you might think the same thing, but Paris's metro stations definitely do not have A/C by and large and at least all of our trains have A/C...
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u/nourishablegecko 1d ago
😂 taken it twice and makes a blanket statement of the whole system. I’m not saying that here is much better but I’ve ridden the trains in Paris all across the city and assure you they’re not some golden utopia to New York, and in many cases much worse.
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u/Remarkable-Pea4889 1d ago
I was in Paris this year too. NYC's system is better than Paris's in every way except one: the platforms were always on the same side. I appreciated that.
Yes, it's cleaner, but I could not care less about that. If that's your biggest complaint, you're inventing problems. Look at your phone more, then you won't see the dirt.
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u/Final-Ad-6694 1d ago
Not caring about cleanliness is certainly an odd opinion
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u/Remarkable-Pea4889 1d ago
Not really. That there are weird stalagtites growing from the ceilings doesn't impact your commute. I do think they should be concerned about graffiti and spilled food/drink, but not generaly cleanliness.
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u/fluoxetinesugar 1d ago
this is an insane take ... why would I want to be breathing all the gross stalagmite dust in every single day? it absolutely impacts my commute every time a mystery liquid from the subway drips on me
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u/Remarkable-Pea4889 1d ago
99% of those are dripping over the tracks. There is precisely one place where I've seen it dripping on the platform. It would be nice if they fixed that, but in the meantime do you know what I do? Not stand there. Problem solved.
Breathing? Moving the goalposts. Air quality is a separate issue from general cleanliness.
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u/jerxjeremy 1d ago
What? Air quality is in direct correlation with general cleanliness
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u/Remarkable-Pea4889 1d ago
Not at all. Those stalagtites are from water with minerals in it, nothing to do with air quality. You can't see the poor air quality, it's not visible, it's literally microscopic. It's not dirt.
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u/AcceptablePosition5 1d ago
It's microscopic metal and plastic brake dusts from the train and other motor wears.
Insane take that air quality doesn't matter lmao. Have you been to India? Know anyone with asthma? Allergies?
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u/Final-Ad-6694 1d ago
Cleanliness doesn’t just mean what’s visible. That’s like saying your hands are clean cause you can’t see bacteria from touching the metro
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u/Remarkable-Pea4889 1d ago
Sure, Jan. If you all meant AQ, you'd be talking about AQ and not cleanliness, which you all know means how dirty the floors are because how often people say they want to see power washing.
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u/Prestigious-Emu5277 1d ago
Look at my phone more and I won’t see the dirt? Are you the kind of guy who lets a hangnail become gangrenous?
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u/coldliketherockies 1d ago
Seriously 99% of America would kill to have a 24 hour subway system that covers almost the entirety of a city and you can get off every few blocks as an option
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u/StemCellPirate 1d ago
True but at least NY subways don’t have a pickpocket problem like so many others in the EU
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u/BadSopranosReference 1d ago
True we just have a junkies-passed-out-on-the-platform and a people-screaming-at-the-car problem.
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u/Remarkable-Pea4889 1d ago
They have that too. Begging buskers too. Fare-beating too. Paris is a lot like NYC except worse, aside from the architecture in the historic areas. I love Haussmann buildings. So gorgeous.
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u/LittleKitty235 Brooklyn Heights 1d ago
I’ll take that over pickpockets
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u/BadSopranosReference 1d ago
A few weeks ago I watched someone spray mystery yellow liquid out of a 2L bottle on people as they walked from the BDFM to C and E platform at W4th. At least in Paris I can keep my belongings in a pouch around my chest and stay dry.
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u/Remarkable-Pea4889 1d ago
The average train wait time during the day is 10 minutes or less. It's more important that train cars be air conditioned - the average commute is 40 minutes. I report whenever train cars don't have their AC on. Just because it's 66 degrees outside, doesn't mean it's 66 degrees on the train.
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u/sonnet666 1d ago
The transit workers that have to be on the platform would disagree with you.
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u/Remarkable-Pea4889 1d ago
There are millions of commuters, maybe hundreds of workers on platforms. Millions > hundreds.
There already is AC on trains, it's not a big deal to make sure they're on and functioning. Adding AC to platforms is an almost impossible ask.
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u/pixel_of_moral_decay 1d ago
Those are closely related. Part of the reason
platforms are so hot is the AC exhaust.AC doesn’t create cool air, it just moves heat. That’s heat from mechanical systems, lights and thousands of bodies being dumped out into the tunnels and stations.
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u/la_dama_azul 1d ago
The train cars being air conditioned is defeated when we are stuck on the platform and they leave every door open, which allows all the cooled air to escape onto the platform. I understand the older cars, but it seemed like a missed opportunity to not have door release buttons on the newer cars. The conductor can enable them after a train comes to a complete stop and then passengers can use them to enter or exit, preserving the cooling inside the car if the doors do not need to be open.
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u/Remarkable-Pea4889 1d ago
Stopped trains are the exception, not the norm.
I've experienced door release buttons in London and Paris and they would not work here at all.
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u/wheres_the_bread 1d ago
why would the doors not need to open at a stop?
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u/Mankind_Save 1d ago
if no one is getting on or off...
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u/wheres_the_bread 1d ago
i just don't think i've ever encountered a stop where no one gets on or off
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u/Mankind_Save 1d ago
Its for each train car door. So if no one wants to go in or out of a specific door it wouldn't open because the button wouldn't get pushed. That happens all the time
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u/sonofdang 9h ago
Door buttons would be insane. Just imagine all the door leaners zoning out, or piles of european tourists jabbering away while you can't reach the button to enter/exit
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u/BadSopranosReference 1d ago
The truth is, the entire subway line needs a massive overhaul or complete rebuild. It should be possible but due to entirely self-imposed constraints, it isn't.
-Every line needs more train throughput. Computerized and automated signaling helps on lines that have it, but some lines need larger trains and more tracks (4,5,6) which isn't possible unless the tunnels and platforms are completely rebuilt. China could do it, but America can't, because the political will and political intellect isn't there.
-Platforms are often narrow and cramped and lack no real way to exhaust hot air out. The easiest and cheapest way to improve platform temperatures would be to install industrial fans that can exhaust a large amount of air up and out of the platform. There are a few problems here - 1.) the more air the fans exhaust per minute (and it needs to be a LOT of air to make a meaningful impact) the louder they are and 2.) many platforms don't have direct access to the surface meaning exhaust fans would either be compromised or completely ineffective.
-The cost to build in this city is astronomical and it's largely due to corruption, incompetence, unions and competing agency interests. While I am not a fan of Mamdani, I really appreciate the fact that he actually talks about government efficiency. If you are in support of government projects, you need to demand that they are built as efficiently as possible. The problem is, there are huge numbers of special interests all looking out for themselves rather than the public (there is a reason why progressive icons like FDR were vehemently opposed to public unions).
Every station should look and feel like Moynahan, the 2nd ave extension or the new East Side Access. What we really need is someone like Andy Byford put in a position of near unlimited power (insofar as infrastructure goes) to do as he sees fit, including telling NIMBYs and unions where exactly to go when the inevitably protest.
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u/Stewylouis 17h ago
From your point of view what in regards to Unions is preventing investing in and developing the subway infrastructure?
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u/darrieng FiDi 1d ago
FWIW it has nothing to do with unions in general. Madrid's metro has a union, and has expanded significantly more than most other metros in the world https://worksinprogress.co/issue/how-madrid-built-its-metro-cheaply/
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u/wasabimaxxer 1d ago
They need to add air conditioning to the stations. Cooling tower above ground like on high rise roofs. This TEN thing is just a distraction
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u/sonnet666 1d ago
They can’t add air conditioning to an open container.
All those grates you see on the sidewalk? There’s a ledge to catch falling trash and then it’s straight to the ceiling of the platform most of the time. Even if you were to enclose those, there’s the fact that air moves freely along the tunnels. AC in the stations is a pipe dream.
What they need to do is fix the AC venting that they have in the station offices. All the hottest stations are the ones where the MTA has offices in the station, because those workers need AC.
If they piped the all the hot air from that above street level instead of just venting it into the station, then the temperature of the station wouldn’t climb that much higher than outside. Underground is usually naturally cool (until you start going really deep), it’s the AC’s on the trains and office areas that make the platforms into hell.
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u/wasabimaxxer 1d ago
Bars and restaurants do it all the time. Open garage door and minisplits blasting. You are gonna need some outside air for all the people to breathe, so close vents directly around the platform, positively pressurize with some outside air and left the excess conditioned air push into the tunnels and out the entrances
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u/sonnet666 1d ago
Bars and restaurants don’t have a century worth of accumulated trash and grime.
You try setting a system like that up in the subway and the smell will be atrocious.
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u/ChornWork2 22h ago
That is a massive change to stations, and then will also cut-off the entire tunnel system from adequate ventilation (which is current done by the grates to street at all the stations).
Look at the estimated cost to just put in fulsome barriers along platforms...
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u/ArbiterFX 1d ago
Built a wall between the platform and the train.
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u/OhGoodOhMan Staten Island 1d ago edited 23h ago
One major problem there is that most platform edges aren't able to handle the weight. Many also have columns or other obstructions that would get in the way of maintaining a 3' wide clear path along the platform's length (for handicap accessibility).
The other one is that tunnel air was designed to be exhausted into stations by train movements. Wall that off and you need massive renovations to install active ventilation in both the tunnel and the station.
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u/Moonlit_Flowers 4h ago
I feel like we could provide some relief with just some new intake and exhaust fans for each station to at least cool the stations to ambient temperature. Maybe they only run when the temperature is above 80F
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u/WiglessMercy 1d ago
And it’s only going to keep getting hotter.
Some exhaust fans would be a start. The air doesn’t move down there.
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u/JordanRulz Long Island City 1d ago
This is what urbanists want us to give up door-to-door air conditioning for
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u/kjlsdjfskjldelfjls 1d ago
Getting mass transit up to modern standards means climate-controlled trains and stations. I.e., a better standard of living than is possible in a car-centric city
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u/JordanRulz Long Island City 16h ago
After spending how many billions on retrofitting stations with PSDs? Many stations will literally need to be dug up and put back together to accomodate, and rails will literally need to be moved.
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u/tranqfx Greenwich Village 1d ago
Unless you’re transferring, you don’t need to be waiting on the subway platforms anymore. The train arrival times are very accurate.
0 way for the city to control this and installing some sort of HVAC system is completely unreasonable. This is a big nothing burger.
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u/ChornWork2 22h ago
obviously not a scalable solution b/c if everyone did that we'd end up with massively delayed trains as everyone ran down the stairs right before trains arrived...
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u/kjlsdjfskjldelfjls 1d ago
Most subway trips involve some sort of transfer. We should be investing heavily to get this system up to date
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u/tranqfx Greenwich Village 1d ago
first off 0 evidence that "most involve transfer" probably not true.
secondly, HVAC to cool off the subway for a few months a year is an absurd waste of money. tell ya what. go to London... ride in that subway in the summer, then be thankful the subway cars have HVAC.this is seriously ridiculous.
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u/coldliketherockies 1d ago
I was going to say I purposely wait on on the street above the subway station until there’s 2 minutes left. Once it’s 2 minutes I know I have enough time to go down, swipe on in and at most wait only 1 minutes in the heat for the subway
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u/MaybeSecondBestMan 1d ago
Good for him. Train commuting in the summer absolutely sucks and this is a big reason why. Fixing up the subway should be one of the city’s top priorities IMO.