Exploring the Network Intricacies of New York City
Resource: http://fourthplan.org/action/new-subways
Thanks to the NYC MTA connecting all five boroughs, visiting different parts of the city has never been easier. Even areas like Staten Island, Roosevelt island and Randalls island are easily accessible by buses and trains. A student from Astoria could be in Brooklyn in just an hour by riding the G but you’re not just limited to where one line goes. Thanks to the vast network of stations and stops, different lines from across the city meet at stations such as Harold Square or 59th Lex where you can transfer to different lines.
The subway system can be translated into a network made up of nodes and edges, in my below illustration we focus on just the 6 (green), 7 (purple), and N (yellow) lines.
As shown in the picture above, the stations on the subway system can be seen as nodes and they are connected by trains which are edges. You can take this further by translating it into a traffic game. We know that some trains are more commonly used by others because they reach more popular destinations so there are local and express trains for certain lines. Local trains go to more stops but take more time while express trains skip certain stops in exchange for less travel time. For example, the express 7 will get you from Manhattan to Flushing very quick but it’ll skip many stops- including the station you wanted to get off at for lunch. This tradeoff in convenience can deter people from taking the express trains at all times, allowing the express train to stay fast.
Having even one subway station near you opens you up to an entire network of transportation and allows you access to all other stations in that network. Which is why it’s important to consider the areas of the city that are neglected by this system. As mentioned in the article, many parts of the Bronx and Eastern Queens do not have access to the subways and have to rely on buses to commute to nearby subway stations. Areas such as Bayside and Fresh Meadows are almost completely isolated due to the lack of stations.