The complex art of creating station capacity to handle the circulation of riders was explained by NYCT’s David Haase, Director of Station Planning at the NYCTRC’s July meeting. The job is complicated due to the nature of rider “surges” — the outflow of people when a train pulls into the station. The goal is to get the surge off the platform in 30 seconds and prevent a queue (people stopped) as they exit the station. Haase noted that circulation planning overlays emergency egress requirements and his first responsibility is to the building codes. Long-range planning for egress capacity and movement in the station is dependent on future expected ridership growth which is a function of service levels and neighborhood development projects that add households to the catchment area.
At the end of the presentation questions were raised about the role of elevators. Haase admitted that sizing the elevator is tricky. It has to be small enough for passengers to move freely around it on a platform; yet, it must be of ample capacity to serve those who need to use it.