The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is making efforts to have all subway stations in New York wired by the year 2016. Following this aim, cell phone and Wi-Fi services were moved under the ground on April 25, 2013. Last year, six stations were tested with Wi-Fi, while the MTA has expanded services to 30 additional stations, which include Times Square, Columbus Circle and Rockefeller Centre.
Tech giants AT&T and T-Mobile have joined hands for a ten-year contract, to provide cell and Wi-Fi services through the network, which has been built by Transit Wireless. Thomas Prendergast, the MTA Interim Executive Director said, “Technology wasn’t even a word back then and almost everything was done with human labor”.
Prendergast added that the service will allow users to check email, surf the web and do almost anything on the internet, while they wait for trains. Such a service is essential during times of emergency like Hurricane Sandy and the recent Boston Marathon bombings.
Bill Bayne, said that the new service will connect people and allow them to make use of the facility in case there is an emergency. Prendergast went on to say that the services were intended to provide an additional layer of security as well.
