Many New York City subway riders will have to wait longer for countdown clocks. Estimated time of arrival for about 150 more of the subway stations: Sometime after 2020. While some stations in the systems have the devices—which tell riders how many minutes remain before their trains arrive—the clocks for many of the subway’s lettered lines were among the casualties of a protracted fight over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s capital-spending plan. After a monthslong city-state feud over funding, the 
’s board on Wednesday approved a slimmed-down, $26 billion plan of repair, improvement and expansion projects through 2019. officials say they trimmed 10% of the plan’s earlier expenses by finding efficiencies, but in some cases funding delays forced them to defer work. Included in the plan: early work for the next phase of the Second Avenue subway; a Long Island Rail Road station under Grand Central Terminal; and new Metro-North stations in the Bronx as part of a plan to bring that railroad to New York Penn Station. But cut were chunks of at least one big project, including $633 million for tunnel boring to make way for the Second Avenue subway. Smaller elements of projects were also delayed, including $150 million for the countdown clocks on many of the subway’s so-called B Division of lettered lines. Stations on the 
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on the “A Division” subway lines already have the clocks, as do stops on the 
line. The clocks’ absence at many stations is source of annoyance for riders. “It obviously reduces a lot of the attention and frustration when you’re waiting for the train, especially when it’s hot and uncomfortable wherever you are,” said Dan Hegwood, a 35 years old, as he waited for a train at Rockefeller Center. officials say they are nonetheless making progress on the clocks. There are 176 subway stations now outfitted with them, an spokesman said. Another 33 offer some sort of arrival information, via announcements or light-up signs when trains are close. By the end of 2016, the authority will add clocks to 27 more stations stretches of 
, 
, 
and 
lines. Then the 
train’s 22 stations will get them by the end of 2018. By 2020, a total of 320, or 68%, of the system’s current 469 stations are expected to have the clocks, the spokesman said. That is the year when the expects to have installed a system that makes the countdown clocks possible. That system will also let the transmit train arrival times via its website or apps, accessible by riders’ smartphones. By 2020, all of the city’s subway stations are expected to offer wireless Internet and cell service. Tom Prendergast, the chairman, said the lack of real-time information had been a source of frustration for the , too. “We’ve got a system that was designed at the turn of the [last] century,” Mr. Prendergast said. The ’s vote Wednesday followed more than a year of conflict over the capital budget. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio recently agreed to commit about $2.5 billion to the plan, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo agreed to contribute about $8 billion in state funds. A state panel is set to review the plan in coming weeks.
Source: http://www.wsj.com/articles/mta-board-approves-26-billion-capital-spending-plan-1446052998