Train station project mostly repairs neglect. Clock tower remains!

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) designed the White Plains train station badly in the mid 1980s and neglected it.

http://web.mta.info/mnr/wp-reno/wp-reno.html#p1

The current three year project is presented by both the MTA and the City of White Plains as a major change but no matter how many times I read the MTA's own description I come away thinking: so?

The 1980s work omitted heating and cooling and made a roof which did not cover and protect passengers from water when getting on/off trains. Fixing these mistakes is presented as a "significant makeover", yeah of MTA mistakes.

The work that just started seems to be cleaning and painting, you know, like responsible people do for routine maintenance.

Then MTA will make the waiting areas larger. Nice touch. "On-platform vendor space" will presumably be for coffee for the commuters who really count, the ones who drive and park in the garage and don't want to descend to ground level to get a cup of coffee. That's for pedestrians who live in apartments and walk to the station. The Common Council always takes care of its own.

Oh, and replace the disgraceful restrooms.

There will be an "information dashboard", which they sort of already have. And WiFi, presumably like Hastings Tea & Coffee has had on Main Street for years. USB charging stations! Yippie!

The new side platform sounds good, whatever that is.

Since "only 11 parking spaces will be displaced", that means that the fleeting idea of removing the parking garage was dumped along with any real attempt to get residents to/from the train station other than by residents driving their cars and parking them for ten hours. Not an efficient use of resources, either personal or municipal. I guess they could take the county Bee-Line bus. Nah.

Clock tower remains! Yes, that symbol of MTA incompetence and White Plains mediocrity. The primary photo shows no substantive change in the station design and retains the clock tower, which has not kept correct time for years. About three years ago MTA simply set all four sides to noon/midnight. So in three years when this project is complete, the clock tower will be there but will time be correct? Hey, why not fix the clock NOW?

"Installation of a new sidewalk between Hamilton Ave. and the lobby entrance". Right now there is no crosswalk on the west side of Hamilton on Bank Street or west of the tracks for people on the pathway. What's happening to facilitate pedestrian crossing of Hamilton Ave. anywhere near the train tracks, including people on the Bronx River Pathway on foot or bike? Right now even project workers must wait for a traffic opening and dash across to get from one part of the work area to another. The City did not even have enough common sense to deal with that.

The new station should be a big improvement, if only because the MTA neglected the current station so much for so long. But functionally it does not seem to be very different. Maybe it will at least clear the way for the Common Council to finally put those ground level parking areas to good use, like generating tax money.

Regional buses: percent of seats occupied, percent of passengers who merely board a train?

Those are two simple common sense questions that Mayor Tom Roach and traffic commissioner Tom Soyk should answer.

Some of the regional bus companies that drive to the White Plains train station:
Coach (allowed by city to park illegally adjacent to mini mall)
Adirondack Trailways
Greyhound
CT Transit (Connecticut)
Leprichaun
TappanZeezpress (Rockland County, NY)

Along with:
Afternoon rush hour traffic on Hamilton Avenue: where are all those vehicles coming from and going to?

Finally, the BIG common sense question:

How does any of this benefit White Plains, especially downtown?

Bus battle: Westchester pushes back against Tarrytown express bus
Matt Coyne, mcoyne@lohud.com Published 6:30 p.m. ET April 12, 2018

"Where are you going here?" said Assemblyman Tom Abinanti, D-Greenburgh. "Tarrytown doesn't need those buses. They do nothing for Tarrytown besides create havoc and put people in danger." ...

Original plans for the bus system, now being branded the Hudson Link instead of the wordier Lower Hudson Transit Link, saw Metro-North-bound Rocklanders ferried to the White Plains TransCenter instead of Tarrytown.
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Mayor Tom Roach: "bring an east-west bus rapid transit system to Westchester County" Wednesday, August 30, 2017

... those HUGE regional buses barge into downtown White Plains and drive along multiple residential streets, including North Broadway, Barker Avenue, Park Avenue and most recently Grant Avenue. Regional buses going to and from the train station are facilitating transportation through White Plains but those passengers are not staying in White Plains, not even long enough to shop in a department store. How does that benefit White Plains?

Plus, the 287 corporate parks have fleets of local private buses taking workers to/from the train station and the 287 offices. White Plains gets some benefit from corporate tax paid to White Plains. See Leros, "33 Westchester Avenue".
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http://white-plains-ny.blogspot.com/search/label/Buses