Years of promises gave way to abandonment as flawed scope development and unrealistic expectations derailed the MTA’s program from the start.
After years of public pressure, the MTA announced a Platform Screen Door pilot program at the end of 2022 with the project to start in early 2024. Three years later, PSDs seem to be another project fallen by the wayside, so what happened?
First a little context. Platform Screen Doors (PSDs) are a staple in public transportation systems worldwide. Since their introduction in the mid-1980s, they have been widely adopted, particularly in Asia and much of Europe. New York’s only platform protections are at Newark and JFK AirTrain people movers, not even subway stations. PSDs are full-height barriers installed along platform edges to protect passengers from oncoming trains. They synchronize with train doors, allowing safe boarding and exiting while preventing track access. (Though technically, PSDs refer to full-height barriers and platform screen gates to half-height ones intended for NYC, the terms will be used interchangeably here.)