A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SUBWAY SYSTEMS AND COMMUTER RAILS IN THREE MAJOR WORLD CITIES: PARIS, NEW YORK AND SEOUL By Samantha Spagnoli Honors Dissertation (Global Studies) - Spring 2015 Department of Global Studies and Geography - Hofstra University Supervisor: Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue. Committee: Dr. Grant Saff, Dr James Wiley Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ i Glossary of Acronyms ................................................................................................................... ii Introduction ....................................................................................................................................1 The Case Studies ....................................................................................................................................... 1 Emerging Challenges for Public Transportation ....................................................................................... 1 The Approach ............................................................................................................................................ 3 Methodology ............................................................................................................................................. 4 Part 1: History of the Transit Systems .........................................................................................5 Paris ........................................................................................................................................................... 5 New York .................................................................................................................................................. 9 Seoul ........................................................................................................................................................ 13 Part 2:Fare Systems .....................................................................................................................17 Paris ......................................................................................................................................................... 17 New York ................................................................................................................................................ 21 Seoul ........................................................................................................................................................ 24 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 27 Part 3: User Issues .......................................................................................................................28 Safety and Comfort ............................................................................................................................... 28 Crime Distribution in Subways and Commuter Lines ....................................................................... 29 The numbers ........................................................................................................................ 29 Police Response ................................................................................................................... 30 Security Systems, Structure and Maintenance ................................................................................... 32 Video Surveillance and Intercom Buttons .............................................................................. 32 Design and Lighting ............................................................................................................. 33 Platform Screen Doors ......................................................................................................... 36 Cleanliness and Overall Comfort ........................................................................................... 39 Gender and Cultural Differences ....................................................................................................... 41 A Case for Women ............................................................................................................... 41 Cultural Differences ............................................................................................................. 42 Fare Evasion ........................................................................................................................ 44 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 45 Accessibility .......................................................................................................................................... 45 System Layout and Accessibility through Other Means of Transportation ........................................ 46 Train Station Accessibility for Disabled Passengers .......................................................................... 47 Information Displays ........................................................................................................................... 49 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 51 Part 4: Operations ........................................................................................................................51 Paris ......................................................................................................................................................... 52 New York ................................................................................................................................................ 55 Seoul ........................................................................................................................................................ 58 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 59 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................60 Appendices ....................................................................................................................................63 Bibliography .................................................................................................................................67 i Acknowledgements First and foremost, I wish to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Grant Saff without whom I would never have taken on such a project. His belief in me, coupled with quite a bit of coercion, was the only thing that made me go through with it. Words can barely express how grateful I am that you pushed me to undertake this. I am also grateful to Dr. James Wiley who helped me through the initial phase of defining my project and narrowing down the necessary research. Thank you for your constant enthusiasm. I want to thank Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue, my academic advisor for this project; thank you for your feedback and for helping me incorporate certain theoretical aspects into my research. Mom and Dad, thank you for always being supportive of what I do and for believing in me. Thank you mom for that last week of intensive editing; I couldn’t have done it without you. Victoria Lauren Cocolaras, thank you for putting up with my ‘crazy’ these past few years and especially this last semester. You have been there and have been supportive no matter what. I also wish to thank Lee Wonsuk for translating the survey in Korean and helping me conduct it in Seoul. I am grateful to all the people in New York, Paris and Seoul who so graciously took the time to fill out my survey. Finally, I take this opportunity to thank Johan Thomas Salin, the thought of whom kept me going on many of those late night, coffee-and-Redbull-induced research and writing sessions. Thank you to all my friends and family who had to hear me complain for a whole four months. What can I say, I’m French! ii Glossary of Acronyms ADA: Americans with Disabilities Act BMT: Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation BRT: Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company CCTV: Closed Circuit Television CMP: Compagnie du Chemin de Fer Metropolitain de Paris CPTED: Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design GPSR: Groupement de Protection et de Securite des Reseaux IND: Independent Rapid Transit Railroad IRT: Interborough Rapid Transit Company KORAIL: Korea Railroad Corporation KPI: Key Performance Indicators KSCC: Korea Smart Card Company LIRR: Long Island Rail Road LCD: Liquid Crystal Display LED: Light Emitting Diode MDBF: Mean Distance Between Failure METEOR: Metro Est-Ouest Rapide MMTOA: Metropolitan Mass Transportation Operating Assistance Tax MTA: Metropolitan Transit Authority MTAPD: Metropolitan Transit Authority Police Department NFC: Near Field Communication NYPD: New York Police Department NYCTP: New York City Transit Police OTP: On-Time Performance PSD: Platform Screen Door RATP: Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens RER: Réseau Express Regional SDRPT: Sous-direction Regionale de la Police des Transports SMG: Seoul Metropolitan Government SMRT: Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit SNCF: Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français STIF: Syndicat des transports d'Île-de-France USCTC: