Transportation: Subways Can Be Beautiful

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"The most squalid public environment of the U.S.: dank, dingily lit, fetid, raucous with screechingclatter."

Thus Mayor Lindsay's task force on urban design characterized the New York City subway system last year.

But the description applies just about as well to any of the nation's other three metropolitan subways. Riding underground in the U.S. is such an un pleasant experience that countless potential passengers simply avoid it, and their lost fares contribute significantly to chronic operating deficits.

The situation should soon begin to improve dramatically. Already existing underground systems are slated for ex tensive renewal. Faster and quieter passenger cars are now in the prototype stage. And the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development is dis tributing grants around the country to such cities as Seattle, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Washington— all of which are planning to build new subways— to help them finance technical studies. 80-m.p.h. Bursts. Most heartening example of what a modern subway system can look like and accomplish is Montreal's new Metro. With its quiet, rubber-wheeled cars and elegant, uncluttered stations, it is, except for a lingering problem with the air conditioning, a positive pleasure. One year old this week, it has proved so popular that passenger traffic is running 50% higher than expected; the Metro has even generated an extra midday rush as executives have taken up the European practice of going home for lunch. Montreal's present transit strike only points up the Metro's importance: by conservative estimate, 50,000 additional autos are clogging downtown streets because of the strike.

Spurred on by Montreal, San Francisco is making an all-out effort to have good design the hallmark of its $1 billion-plus Bay Area Rapid Transit system, now under construction. About one-third of the 75-mile system will be underground, and Market and Mission streets are already being excavated. What San Franciscans will ride in when B.A.R.T. begins operations in 1970 is the latest in trains: streamlined, air-conditioned, 72-passenger cars that will average 50 m.p.h., with bursts up to 80 m.p.h., and will be directed by computers to run as close as 90 seconds apart during peak hours.

Convinced that the time has come to overhaul its antiquated and uncomfortable system, New York City's Transit Authority recently announced a $5,800,000, six-station renovation program. It has also begun experimenting with air-conditioned, sound-proofed cars with fiber glass molded seats and hopes to cut down noise by laying rubber cushioning between the tracks and roadbed and by replacing short sections of track with longer, welded ones.