MTA’s officials gave the press tours of the new South Ferry station that is expected to open next month.

Many reporters made comments about how clean it was, as it it were a hospital wing.  The fancy new station cost about $500 million to build directly under the current South Ferry station.

What does this mean for straphangers?  Once it opens, you’ll never hear a train conductor say that you have to be in one of the front five cars at South Ferry ever again.  The new station allows all 10 cars to platform.

The current South Ferry station is a gem.  It was opened just two years after the subway opened!  However, the turn is so sharp and the platform so short that only five cars are able to pull up to it.  So that meant riders would have to keep track what car they were in if they planned to get off.  Otherwise, they’d have to walk forward to another car or be stuck.

The new station has elevators and escalators as well as one of the more sophisticated security systems in the entire subway.