4 The Courier sun • JULY 21, 2016 for breaking news visit www.qns.com MTA unveiled new designs for subway trains and stations By Angela Matua amatua@qns.com/@AngelaMatua Open cars, wider doors, Wi-Fi and charging stations are just some of the features included in the new subway cars unveiled by Governor Andrew Cuomo on July 18. As part of the $27 billion, five-year MTA Capital Program, 1,025 new subway cars will be enhanced and 31 stations will be completely renovated. Up to 750 trains will have “open car end” designs, which means the door between cars will be replaced with an accordion-like connector in order to create longer, open spaces. This feature allows for “greater passenger flow movement and increasing capacity in the process,” according to a press release. Other large cities such as London, Paris and Toronto use this design element. All 1,025 cars will have wider doors – up 58 inches from 50 inches, which the MTA hopes will allow customers to enter and exit more quickly. According to a computer simulation of passenger flow conducted on behalf of the MTA, wider doors can reduce a train’s dwell time in the station by 32 percent. Wi-Fi, USB chargers, full-color digital customer information displays, digital advertisements, illuminated door opening alerts and security cameras will also be installed in the new cars. The new exteriors will include a blue font with large windows, LED headlights and a blue stripe with gold accents along the side. Cuomo also unveiled plans for extensive renovations taking place at 31 subway stations across the five boroughs. The plan includes renewal work at more than 170 stations across the city. In January, Cuomo announced that these renovations would be completed by 2020. Queens stations that will receive extensive renovations include the 30th Avenue, Broadway, 36th Avenue Subway stations and trains will be renovated as part of the MTA Capital Program. and 39th Avenue N/Q stations in Astoria. The Parsons Boulevard F station in Jamaica and the 67 Avenue and Northern Boulevard M/F stations in Forest Hills and Woodside, respectively, will also be renovated. New stations will include enhanced lighting, improved signage such as digital, real-time updates about on-time performance at subway entrances before customers even enter the station and countdown clocks. Wi-Fi and new art that “consider the architectural legacy of each station, and remain sensitive to historical elements” will also be installed. A requests for proposal (RFP) will be issued for each package of 31 stations over the next 12 months and the first contract is expected to be awarded in the fall. The MTA will shut down each station going through extensive renovations for six months rather than making the renovations on nights and weekends, Cuomo said at a press conference. “New York deserves a world-class Photo courtesy of MTA transportation network, worthy of its role as the heartbeat of the 21stcentury economy,” Cuomo said. “The MTA design team developed a bold and visionary re-imagining of the quintessential commuter experience, incorporating best practices from global transit systems, and focusing on our core mission to renew, enhance and expand.” The RFP will outline what the MTA is looking for in terms of the timeline of design and production and cost-effectiveness. Queens police precinct uses ‘predictive policing’ method to historically lower crime By Anthony Giudice agiudice@qns.com/@A_GiudiceReport Queens’ 102nd Precinct has seen an impressive drop in crime over the last year, thanks to the success of the commanding officer’s “predictive policing” method. Officers from the 102nd Precinct patrol the neighborhoods of Kew Gardens, Richmond Hill East, Richmond Hill, Woodhaven, the northern part of Ozone Park and all of Forest Park, and have helped bring the areas’ crime numbers down over the last year. “We’re looking at an astonishing decrease in crime,” said Deputy Inspector Deodat Urprasad, commanding officer of the 102nd Precinct. “We’re going from last year at this time we had 756 index crimes — murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglaries, grand larceny, GLA’s (grand larceny auto). This year, we are at 588. In raw numbers, that’s a negative 168. We are at negative 22 percent.” Citywide, the 102nd Precinct is fourth out of 77 precincts in crime reduction year-to-date, Urprasad said. Borough-wide, they are seventh in crime reduction year-to-date. “What we’re doing, we are targeting specific areas within the precinct,” Urprasad explained. This is what the commanding officer calls “predictive policing.” An example of this would be focusing on Jamaica Avenue, a long commercial strip that has businesses, lots of cars, pedestrians, youths and shoppers. A heavily trafficked area like this can attract criminals. Urprasad has the same set of officers patrol Jamaica Avenue so they can get a feel for what is going on in the community and interact with the people and store owners. “Instead of having the crime occurring there, I try to do predictive policing,” Urprasad said. “I know certain areas in the precinct are prone to robbery, I’ll have my officers go over there, park their car there and do a walk, on all the tours … I’ve been doing that more and more and I’m seeing results.” Urprasad and Police Officer Edwin Martinez, the precinct’s community affairs officer, also touted the success of the new smartphones given to officers throughout the department. Not only do the smartphones allow officers to receive and send out information instantaneously, the technology provides them with crime patterns and trends, which helps them in their “predictive policing.” The 102nd Precinct is looking to continue the “predictive policing” method, and seeing an even bigger decrease in crime, as they have added 32 new officers to the precinct over the last two years.
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