Many of Queen’s subway stations just went online.
The MTA announced the second expansion of wireless service in the subway system on Thursday with 29 stations in Queens and 11 in Manhattan.
The initiative from the MTA and Transit Wireless, which is covering the $300 million price tag along with the major cell phone carriers and installing the system, will see all 279 underground subway stations connected by 2017.
“The virtual revolution in ridership is growing in leaps,” said Bill Wheeler, MTA planning director.
The underground Queens stations include the E, F M and R trains on the Queens Boulevard line and Main Street-Flushing on the No. 7 line. Manhattan stations now wired for service include Grand Central, Bryant Park and Herald Square.
Plans to bring wireless to the Bronx are next on the agenda. There are no plans to connect the tunnels anytime soon, although it is a possibility for the MTA down the line.
On the risk of having devices out while in transit, Wheeler said people need to use good judgment.
“I think that those of us that have millenials as kids and friends,, we know that they’re going to want to say connected so they’re going to use these devices,” he said.
