This is cool: The Times' Sewell Chan reports that the MTA is planning to finally connect uptown 6 service to the B-D-F-V line, at Bleecker St./Broadway-Lafayette.
One thing that confuses newbies is that the only connection available at that station is to or from the downtown 6 train. As Chan points out, if you want to get from the B-D-F-V line to the uptown 6 (or vice versa), you have to actually leave the system, go above ground, and re-enter, swiping your MetroCard again.
If you have an unlimited card, this isn't such a problem (although it's an asspain when the weather's bad). But I myself was really confused by this when I was new here, and I've seen many tourists and other new arrivals get confused. It's really bad when the tourists speak little English. The confusion will be even worse in a few months, when one of the token booths at Broadway-Lafayette is slated to close.
Building the connection is part of a $50-million project that will also renovate the Bleecker St. station and make both Bleecker St. and Broadway-Lafayette handicapped-accessible. Chan talks to some riders who question the worth of the project, since it is fairly easy to go above ground and transfer, but I think those riders aren't seeing the full value of the project.
First, Bleecker St. is in bad shape and really needs the makeover. The station is poorly lit and the beautiful tilework is grimy and, in many places, broken. Bleecker St. was among the system's first stations in 1904, and as such, it should be among the system's showpieces. As it stands now, though, it's an embarrassment.
Further, the area around these stations is seeing several new commercial and residential developments. It's likely, then, that these stations will see an upsurge of traffic, so I think riders in the area will certainly benefit from the improved facilities and accessibility.
Chan gives no timetable for the project, but it's going to be a doozy. The uptown platform of the 6 at Bleecker St. will actually be shifted south a few hundred yards, because the uptown and downtown platforms don't actually face each other. The uptown platform isn't adjacent to the B-D-F-V in the way that the downtown is, so they need to be aligned. The MTA will have to shore up neighboring buildings, tunnel under the streets, install stairs and elevators, and so on. The engineering alone makes this a cool project, as far as I'm concerned.
The Times has a diagram of the proposed changes, but it might disappear behind their subscription wall in a week or so.
