New York's Governor Wants Corporate Businesses to Adopt Subway Stations

On Thursday, New York governor Andrew Cuomo lofted a new idea to help the city's crumbling subway system: an "adopt-a-subway" program that would allow corporations to sponsor local stations, according to CBS New York.

At the Association for a Better New York Breakfast, Cuomo discussed a few different options for how business could swoop in to help the city's aging infrastructure. For a $250,000 buy-in, corporations could join the Subway Partnerships Sponsors Council, which would work to help with system upgrades, Gothamist reports. The separate adopt-a-subway program would allow certain businesses to donate up to $600,000 per subway station for the right to help maintain it.

"Through this first-of-its-kind program we are giving private sector partners an opportunity to play a part in bringing our subway system into the modern age," Cuomo said. "The businesses can enhance those stations, enhance maintenance, enhance security, enhance aesthetics, bring art to the stations."

According to New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chairman John Lhota, it's "very possible" business-sponsored subway stations could even get a name change.

"We'll decide whether or not there are naming rights," Lhota told reporters, according to CBS.

Still, that doesn't necessarily mean we'll see the Bedford L stop turn into the "Bedford-MasterCard" stop any time soon. Requests from sponsors to rename stations will only be considered if said group has a unique "geographic, historic, or other connection" to a station, according to current city rules. The "Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center" station near the Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn would be considered a model for potential renaming proposals.

However, with the way the subways have been running lately—stalling straphangers underground in sweaty cars for 45 minutes and suffering multiple derailments—it's not clear if companies would even want to attach their names to individual stations. Having separate corporate-sponsored stations could also lead to some inequity across the system as a whole.

"If you rely on private companies to make these improvements, you then run the risk of having improvements only made in specific areas," Andrew Albert, a member of the MTA Board, told Gothamist. "You are only as good as your weakest link, so you really want system-wide improvements."

Cuomo's pitch comes in the wake of MTA's "Summer of Hell" which has been filled with ongoing delays and derailments due to the city's outdated infrastructure. Cuomo recently declared a "state of emergency" for the system, promising to add $1 billion of state funds toward improving the subways. Just last week, the MTA outlined its "NYC Subway Action Plan," which includes removing seats on some trains in order to squish even more sweaty travelers into each car.