Moynihan Station Poll Reveals Desire for Public Voice

NEW YORK CITY-The Municipal Art Society of New York, a private, nonprofit membership organization whose mission is to promote a more livable city according to their website, recently released poll results, which reveal that commuters and mass transit riders want a voice in Moynihan Station’s development. The poll showed that many favor a whole-scale renovation, redevelopment and expansion of Midtown’s Penn Station that enhances pedestrian access and accommodates increased rail traffic. Though the results show that respondents believe they are not fully informed about plans to expand the station into the Farley Post Office building, they do want to have a voice in its development.

The poll, conducted by Whitman Insight Strategies LLC, used online interviews to gather information and opinions from 500 New York area residents, including 160 Penn Station commuters. The poll was conducted from June 20 through June 25, and has an overall margin of error of +/- 4.4%. According to the report, respondents were asked a series of open- and closed-ended questions about their use of Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal, and their preferences between the two stations.

According to the report, “a majority of poll respondents supported an expansion of the current station that would accommodate a projected increase in passengers while improving the facility aesthetically, architecturally and functionally.” More than 66% of all respondents would rather travel through a train station that looks like Grand Central than Penn Station.