ARTICLE: Yankee stadium station gets Metro-North nod

the development is all shopping mall all the time - big box stores no housing.
one has to ask the LIRR why their station is called Mets - Willis Point.

It's Mets - Willets Point.

It's official, the opening of the station will be May 23:

http://mta.info/mnr/html/yankeestadium.htm

It wasn't the Bronx County Courthouse that was ripped down, it was the Bronx County Detention Facility / Jail. Nor sure of the exact designation. The Courthouse is the iconic building you can view from the old Stadium. I don't think the new stadium will have a view of that building. But none of that has anything to do with railroads, does it?

There really is nothing near the new station, and the new stadium is farther away from the new stadium than the old one. Still, I think it will be pretty well patronized by fans, as parking can be pretty steep, and pretty far, too. You do have some old walkups and some homes near the area. There are also projects across the Harlem River that I think, since the abandonment of the 9th Av El stub, are not served by subway/rail. The development was supposed to be mixed use; residential and retail. I doubt that would have added sufficient population to make it worthy as a commuter stop.

The Yankees actually had the best record in the 80's, they were just never good enough in any one year to win anything, outside of 80 and 81.

[quote][quote="RearOfSignal"]It's Mets - Willets Point.[/quote][/quote]
whe you spped by in the dark you see what you see

Tommy Meehan wrote:First of all, I can't believe many people are going to be riding "regular service" from this station. Even during the transit strike of a few years ago few people rode from the temporary Yankee Stadium stop. It's too far from River Avenue/Grand Concourse where the population is. You'll have to walk right past the 161st Street No.4/D train station to get to Metro-North. And Metro-North won't match the frequency of service/lower fare of the subway.

The subway doesn't go to Yonkers, Tarrytown, or other employment centers along the Hudson, and stations in the Bronx tend to be used more by reverse commuters than people going to Midtown.

Sarge wrote:There really is nothing near the new station, and the new stadium is farther away from the new stadium than the old one. Still, I think it will be pretty well patronized by fans, as parking can be pretty steep, and pretty far, too. You do have some old walkups and some homes near the area. There are also projects across the Harlem River that I think, since the abandonment of the 9th Av El stub, are not served by subway/rail. The development was supposed to be mixed use; residential and retail. I doubt that would have added sufficient population to make it worthy as a commuter stop.

Over and above the Stadium traffic, this is a perfect place to put a Metro-North station. It will be well used on non-game days. This is the densely populated South Bronx. There are more people living within a half-mile radius of this station than the majority of suburban stations. Look at an aerial photo of the area. You have one block next to the station that is used for parking. There are not a lot of Metro-North stations that don't have parking lots nearby. East of River Avenue you have block after block full of large six-story apartment buildings. I live in one of those buildings and plan to walk to this station every day.

Besides this, there is the Gateway Center at the Bronx Terminal Market opening this fall adjacent to the station's west side. (Here is how construction is coming along as of March 21.) This is an 18-acre, 2.25 million-square-foot mall of big box stores including Applebee's, Babies R Us, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, BJ's, Home Depot, Marshall's, Staples, Target and Toys R Us. It does not have a residential component and I am not aware that it ever was supposed to have had one. However, it is planned to have a 225-room hotel adjacent to the station (although with the downturn in the economy who knows). Shoppers will have the option of taking Metro-North to this mall, and it will house 1,921 jobs. Many of those employees will be able to commute via Metro-North. The County Courthouse and numerous other courthouses are within walking distance as well. Many people use the Melrose station to commute to jobs at these courthouses, and now people from the Hudson Line will be able to do the same.

Looking at the bigger picture, the Bronx has a population of 1,369,859 per the latest census estimate, but has just 12 (soon to be 13) Metro-North stations. For comparison, Westchester County has 949,041 residents but has 43 Metro-North stations. And 77% of households in the Yankee Stadium neighborhood, like mine, have no car. Many others have only one car, so commuting by train allows the other spouse to use the car.

In a nice write up, the Westchester Journal-News quotes a Metro-North spokesperson as saying the new station serving the big ballyard in the Bronx will open May 23rd.

Westchester [i]Journal-News [/i] wrote: Yankees train station opens May 23, walkway this weekend
Ken Valenti
The Journal News

NEW YORK - It won't be ready for the Yankees' home opener on April 16, but Metro-North Railroad plans to open its station at Yankee Stadium about a month later, on May 23, the railroad announced yesterday.

The $91 million station features platforms up to 25 feet wide, twice the width of a typical platform, to handle the hordes of fans. It will be a regular stop on the Hudson Line, open 365 days a year. But on game days, when up to 10,000 people are expected to use the station, fans can reach the station on Harlem and New Haven line trains as well, and beefed-up service will be aimed at keeping the fans moving.

The station is part of sweeping construction activity in the Bronx neighborhood that includes a new Yankee Stadium. Next to the station, the Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market is under construction, with stores such as Target, BJ's Wholesale Club and Marshalls planning to open. A park and esplanade are planned along the Harlem River nearby.

When there's no game at the stadium, the railroad expects Manhattan-bound suburbanites to drive to a 2,400-space parking garage on 153rd Street and take the 15-minute ride to Grand Central. Metro-North also expects Bronx residents to use the trains to commute to Westchester communities such as Yonkers and Tarrytown.

Here's a link to the full article-

http://lohud.com/article/20090402/NEWS02/904020424

Ok, not really railroad related but...

Yesterday, worked my relief day and got HOS for today. My buddy calls me tells me he's going to Yankee Stadium for the opening of the Hard Rock Cafe, I tag along. We get there the place is packed. People have tickets to get in the stadium. So we ask the guy how to get the tickets; he tells us obviously the ticket window. So we go, wait about 10 mins on the line. The biggest surprise was that the tickets were free!!!! You just had to ask for them. Inside the place is packed as well. The Yankees are on the field taking batting practice, giving autographs, and hordes of media. The place is huge, the concourses are wide, and bright. You can see the field from the main concourse, everything's open. A bunch of elevators. There's a several really nice restaurants, the Hard Rock Cafe, a Steakhouse, Mohegan Sun Sports Bar and others. Plus a bunch of food stands, hot dogs, beer, pizza, cheesesteaks, sushi, Carolina BBQ, spanish food, it's ridiculous! The place really feels like Yankee Stadium even still. There isn't a bad seat is the house. Oh and the only bad news is that the only tickets left for the entire season are individual seats. No two seats together for the rest of the season!!!!!! Gonna have to get them second-hand through stub-hub or somewhere else.

Oh yeah, they had signs up that pointed to the Metro-North station, so ok this is now rr related.

BTW, Jeter hit the first HR in batting practice into the left-field bullpen. The ball really flies out of right field too. Damon hit 5 l o n g ones in a row into the seats. Of course it was just batting practice.

RearOfSignal wrote: Oh and the only bad news is that the only tickets left for the entire season are individual seats. No two seats together for the rest of the season!!!!!! Gonna have to get them second-hand through stub-hub or somewhere else.

There are still tickets for adjacent seats through Ticketmaster. Especially the $2600 seat tickets!

Westchester [i]Journal-News [/i] wrote: ...the railroad expects Manhattan-bound suburbanites to drive to a 2,400-space parking garage on 153rd Street and take the 15-minute ride to Grand Central.

You can't blame Metro-North for trying, but I see one big problem with suburban commuters using the lot at Yankee Stadium, then commuting from there to GCT. (And I assume they mean Bronx commuters from 'suburban' neighborhoods like Riverdale or Spuyten Duyvil where station parking is probably scarce.) The drive to Yankee Stadium at commuting hours might involve some pretty heavy traffic just getting there. The Deegan below Fordham Road is often stop-and-go by 8 o'clock.

If you work late then traffic will be okay when you arrive homeward bound but there might be -- depending on what kind of security they have -- a safety issue involved.

RearOfSignal wrote:

Erie-Lackawanna wrote:"Yankees-E. 153rd Street". There is no station called "Yankee Stadium".

Steinbrenner has no need to do anything outside the stadium footprint. He sells out regardless of what the train station nearby looks like, or even whether there's a train station or not. And since he didn't build the station, he doesn't get to decorate it.

Jim

E 153rd street, my foot!!!! It's freaking Yankee Stadium!!! Maybe they should call it Macombs Dam Bridge Station or River Street Station. Anyway, that's just me.

Now, you have to agree with this undeniable logic steeped in human nature; "153rd Street", what's that, a SUBWAY STOP? It doesn't mean anything to anyone outside of those intricately aquainted with the surrounding ghetto. How do people get to the stadium for years? Take Mosholu Parkway or the Deegan and FOLLOW THE SIGNS. You ask most people and they don't know where 153rd street is.

As "Hastings-On Hudson" is called "Hastings", "Ardsley-On Hudson" is called "Ardsley" (BY THE TRAIN CREWS, WE SHOULD NOTE!), 153rd street will fall off the minds of people as Willets Point did, and people are only going to ask ticket agents for "YANKEE STADIUM". Do you really think people are swallowing this CITI FIELD tripe? Citi what? Oh, the stadium our money paid for? EVERYBODY'S CALLING THE NEW PLACE SHEA.

Adding 153rd street to the mix just wreaks of someone trying to be difficult and to make their mark in a board room.

D/

A) E.153d Street runs alongside the east side of the station for several blocks and b) it's a full service station, they're not only marketing it to baseball fans. So to me it makes sense to include the local street location in the station name.

Btw, not for nuthin', Dieter, but parts of your message sound downright elitist if not out-and-out racist.

OT - The name Ardsley-on-Hudson goes back to the days when Ardsley had a second commuter station, listed in New York Central System timetables as Ardsley-on-Putnam.

Now that the season is actually underway I'm really getting psyched about using the new station. So many times I used to try and figure out when to leave to make such-and-such Hudson Line train (usually the 10:30 C-H local) at 125th but the No.4 was so unpredictable. Sometimes it was packed. So packed I couldn't even get on the first train. Sometimes I had to wait for a 4 train to arrive. Then, when it did, they'd hold the train, sometimes as long as 10 minutes.

Figuring the GCT-Yankees station running time at about 15 minutes, I can leave my seat about the same time the train I want to catch is leaving GCT (10:20PM). I figured out, based on past experience, this service will save me 45-60 minutes. When you go to a weeknight game, and have to get up at 6AM the next morning, 45 minutes is huge.

One question, I wonder if the mid to late evening Poughkeepsie trains will stop at Yankees-153rd St.? Hope so.

Btw, without saying too much, you CAN still find reasonably priced seats on the Internet.

Tommy Meehan wrote:One question, I wonder if the mid to late evening Poughkeepsie trains will stop at Yankees-153rd St.? Hope so.

The timetables haven't been finalized yet, but that's our desire. Southbound express trains before the game may make the stop as well.

Jim