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Cake day: July 2nd, 2023

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  • It’s the opposite. If you pause the video you the viewers are almost always looking at the screen. The pause button on a mobile phone or web browser is literally on the player. You are guaranteed to see it immediately after you push the button. You will see it when you un pause. These ads are display banners not video. It only takes a second to see the ad.

    Unlike video ads that just auto play, especially when the video player auto plays more videos, there probably is more probability you aren’t actually watching, unlike pause ads that require user activity and focus on the screen to push the pause button.



  • Yes, they are standing to board. Because the NYC train station is under ground (tunnels are needed to get under the river, the platform is also under ground like a subway. The platform for the tracks are very narrow. So a train will come in, it will disembark all passengers and change crew. During this time above ground passengers get in line to present tickets. They then walk downstairs to the platform and board the train. But because the platform is underground and relatively small, it is not a comfortable or safe place to wait to board while guests disembark.

    Platform for amtrak at Penn Station/Moynihan:

    I think that is correct about consider Amtrak like an international train like SNCF in France to TGV. It’s passenger focused, but generally for longer trips with people carrying luggage. We also have regional/commuter trains for rides less than ~90 minutes meant to get people to work in the city.

    For seating, it’s somewhat limited because of the size of the station, but it’s also right in the middle of new york city. If you are looking to sit for an extended period of time and the weather is nice, there’s public seating at bryant park or the squares or blocked off seats on broadway outside of times square. But NYC doesn’t have a ton of space, and the train station is designed to prioritize the train passengers.


  • Nice thing about NYC is that housing is a right based on the Callahan v. Carey ruling. Every person that asks for temporary shelter is supposed to have access to it. It’s not perfect, doesn’t have the funding or capacity to deal with the bussed in migrants, but it’s better than most cities/states. And it does more to address the issue directly than viewing benches as a crutch for the problem.

    But re the engineer question, I think Moynihan probably had a lot of engineers. And safety, security, egress, congestion, etc were considered in the design which is why they put seating around the perimeter and not the center of the hall.


  • That is dangerous in NYC. Penn/Moynihan Station is a terminating station. I’m guessing over 60% of the train capacity often unloads at Penn/Moynihan Station (assuming NE corridor from DC with stops in philly and other towns along the way). You can’t have passengers waiting to board obstruct that many people disembarking on a narrow platform. You’re thinking of suburban train stations that just quickly pass through, not a major urban station. Also, because it’s amtrak there’s a lot of luggage being carried which needs more space. Not to mention room for dedicated luggage service to move bags to baggage claim.



  • Look at a station map or visit the station. When you have 2 or more trains boarding near simultaneously the queue to get down the the platform level is pretty long and snakes. There’s a difference between waiting for a train at a terminating station where you don’t know the the track assignment vs boarding a train at a non terminating stop or minor station where the is no grand hall. Moynihan has underground non open air platforms so you need to keep people waiting above in the hall since there’s not a lot of room at platform level.

    This is the map:

    See that area on the right called ticketed waiting room? That is where everyone with a train ticket can sit at a bench/chair or grab a table/desk to do some work. On the other side there is a food hall. As someone that travels out of that station regularly, I think the design totally makes sense based on the size, amount of foot traffic, and etc. If I need a place to sit before my train boards, I know where to sit.

    The waiting area with seats:

    These are the one way escalators that you don’t line with benches where people queue to get up. You don’t want people sitting and possibly blocking the escalators either.

    The real crime here to complain about is that the Old Penn Station was destroyed to put in a MSG. We have a stadium at the expense of a well designed train station. Moynihan being built next door on a small footprint really was a breath of fresh air to a terrible train station. You don’t get situations like this in Moynihan: https://www.westsidespirit.com/binrepository/576x432/0c0/0d0/none/3502612/ODJP/penn1_4-3802539_20211210112648.jpg

    Instead you get this queue for 1 train boarding on track 13/14. (it is worse if there’s multiple trains boarding simultaneously): If there are multiple simultaneous boardings, I am not sure if they use space between escalators to snake the line instead of wrapping around all escalators (at times I do see some of those lane rope things in use to encourage people to no clog up the middle to foot traffic) That does not compare to a minor philadelphia suburb platform where you wait on the platform because the already full train isn’t going to stop for more than 2 minutes to pick up a few passengers. That would be a massive safety risk to allow this kind of seating on platform in NYC rail system with underground platforms. And this is not even considering how to move people off a train before moving the next group on the train. Also crew changes since NYC is a terminating station for a lot of lines.

    You can have folks queuing up and still have a lot of room for people to navigate through the main hall. Probably as a much a security and anti-terrorism feature as well as a design to not obstruct boarding or create bottle necks for emergency egress.

    I don’t think you’ll find many new yorkers complaining about a lack of seating in Moynihan right on the main hall where all the foot traffic is. We like it when people get the fuck out of our way while we try to get from point A to B.

    Edit: also I don’t think people understand the scale of NYC’s population and train rider ship. Moynihan ridership is 8 million annually. 2nd place is DC with 3.6 million. Moynihan is a amtrak only station so it’s built for luggage, but even then Moynihan is probably a smaller station than either DC or Philly, yet has over double the ridership. I don’t think folks appreciate how much traffic goes through a relatively small train station, but I think that factors into the design of NYC stations vs any other picture you have of spacious stations that have less than half the ridership in buildings of comparable size.

    Edit 2: In this thread people that don’t understand the difference between Amtrak, regional commuter trains, or subways, or the difference between urban vs suburban stations, above ground vs underground stations, and the fact that NYC has over double the annual amtrak ridership than the 2nd and 3rd most used amtrak stations. Not to mention, NYC has tons of benches and public seating. Sections of broadway are closed down with chairs and tables out, bryant park isn’t too far away with tons of public seating. Not surprised that the small train station is designed to have seating options only for riders of the train.


  • Guys. I am pretty sure that is Moynihan train station next to Penn Station. People sitting on the floor are literally leaning against the stairs down to the track. Thats is where people lineup to go on the train when it arrives at the station. Of course you don’t put benches there. In this station there is a seating area where all you need to do is show your train ticket. On the other side there’s a food hall with lots of public seating. There just isn’t seating directly where all the foot traffic is. I take trains in the North East corridor on Amtrak somewhat often. There’s seats there. Just not where seating would obstruct movement on and off the train platforms.


  • At literally every point of modern history, a reduction in the amount of humans was beneficial for the vast amount of humans in the long run.

    Like, even the Black Death led to reduced wealth inequality and the beginnings of workers rights.

    I don’t see how someone can claim that the mass death of people is simultaneously beneficial to that people.

    There’s a difference in reduction of humans by events that cause death at large scale vs decline in rates of reproduction. Clearly catostrophic death is being used as an example of “a reduction in the amount of humans.”








  • I’m not making a both sides argument about history. I’m making a both sides observations about personal experience and belief. Individuals on both side have experienced things that compel them to feel justified in war at a personal psychological and biographical level. Collectively, at a sociological level too. Explanation/description and justification are not the same thing, and I am merely trying to explain that no side thinks they are the bad guys, and both sides think they have justification. If you want to explain “why” israel goes to war it’s not useful to describe them as a maniacal bond villain or one dimensional like a Marvel Villain.

    I think the conflation of justification vs understanding, description, explanation, is preventing us from having meaningul discourse. When Hannah Arendt wrote “The Origins of Totalitarianism” it wasn’t a justification for the the holocaust. It was a description of the rationality that lead to the holocaust. Just because you can attempt to understand evil doesn’t mean you are promoting or justifying it. Today, merely suggesting that Israeli’s suffered and had had experienced a sense of duty to rescue hostages is somehow interpreted as an argument for genocide and will somehow cause someone to be accused of being a zionist or some other inflammatory rhetorical pejorative.