Considering we’ve needed an easier way to travel between Brooklyn and Queens like, yesterday–since riders are currently forced to transfer across multiple subway lines or take an obnoxiously long detour through Manhattan–NYC’s Interborough Express (IBX) has quickly become one of the city’s most anticipated transit projects. And while progress has been slow, it is happening: this past July, the MTA board approved the full design, and now an NYC urban planning research group is calling on the MTA to make the IBX a fully driverless system.
As part of a new study, the research group partnered with NYU’s Marron Institute of Urban Management, which reviewed hundreds of train systems across dozens of countries to see how many trains operate with two, one, or even zero train operators.
They found that fewer than 6.25% of systems still rely on two-person train operations (TPTO). And even among those few, places like Japan are already in the middle of modernization efforts to transition to one-person train operations (OPTO) and even zero-person train operations (ZPTO).
That’s where the idea came in: what if the IBX rolled onto the tracks without any operators at all, similar to JFK’s AirTrain? The study states that “Ideally, IBX will be fully automated when it opens so that it can operate the most robust service possible.”
Eric Goldwyn, who contributed to the study, told amNY that a fully automated train could dramatically improve both speed and service. Goldwyn stated:
When you have a subway, the most important thing is reliability and frequency. And the way you have the highest frequency is through automated operations.
And reliability and frequency are exactly what make the IBX so exciting for New Yorkers.
The 14-mile rapid transit line is expected to connect 20 currently underserved neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens–linking 17 subway lines, the LIRR, and more than 50 bus routes–with end-to-end travel times of under 40 minutes.
Goldwyn also noted that automation could shorten the time between trains, pointing out that some systems around the world run trains as frequently as every 90 seconds.
Of course, while fully automated trains may sound efficient, there’s also a major downside: the potential displacement of transit workers and the loss of the comfort and safety that comes with a human presence on board.
John Samuelsen, president of the Transit Workers Union International, told amNY that the union’s current contract essentially makes an automated IBX impossible. He stated:
If the IBX utilizes NYC Transit’s fare medium, and provides seamless transfers into the subway, then it’s TWU 100 work, covered by our contract. Automation and OPTO [one-person train operation] are prohibited. Fully manned trains are required.
Governor Kathy Hochul has until the end of 2025 to decide whether to approve, veto, or amend a bill that would extend the city’s two-person train operation requirement indefinitely–potentially shaping not just the future of the IBX, but the future of subway service in NYC as a whole.