750,000 people pass through Grand Central Terminal daily, making it one of the busiest transportation hubs in New York City. It serves commuters using Metro-North, the subway, and buses, as well as millions of tourists each year. Commuters using Grand Central have high average incomes and education levels. The terminal also contains numerous shops and restaurants. In contrast, Pennsylvania Station sees over 600,000 passengers daily using the Long Island Rail Road, Amtrak, and New Jersey Transit. It is a larger transportation hub encompassing three rail systems under one roof, but is described as more crowded and less comfortable than Grand Central.

1. Grand Central Terminal
&
Pennsylvania Station
Angelica Morales & Sylvia Martin
Angelica Morales & Sylvia Martin
Angelica Morales & Sylvia Martin
Angelica Morales & Sylvia Martin
Angelica Morales & Sylvia Martin

2. Life in the
commute of
Christina Jorge
http://youtu.be/13rFaLwqnH4

3. Grand Central Terminal
Demographics
❖ 750,000 people pass through Grand Central daily and over 1,000,000 people during
the holidays
❖ Metro-North passengers are 55% male and 45% female, the median age is 41. 93% of
Grand Central Terminal commuters are college graduates.
❖ Mean household income for Grand Central Terminal commuters is $95,800; 50% of
household incomes are over $100,000, and 20% are over $200,000.
❖ The captive shopping population of more than 326,000 neighborhood office workers
earn a combined $11.3 billion a year.
❖ An average 7,500 people an hour pass the corner of 42nd Street and Vanderbilt
Avenue, making it one of the busiest intersections in the city.
❖ 21.6 million out-of-town tourists, with a mean income of $62,000, visit Grand
Central each year.
❖ Grand Central is served by Metro-North commuter trains, 31 commuter and 15 city
bus routes, 7 subway lines, buses to and from the area's three airports, and two
million taxis a year.
❖ Grand Central Terminal subway station is the busiest stop in the New York City
subway system.

6. Penn Station

7. Retail shops
GRAND CENTRAL
❖Apple Store
❖The Art of Shaving
❖Aveda
❖Banana Republic
❖Cursive
❖Dahlia
❖Forever Silver
❖General Nutrition Center
❖Grand Central Optical
❖InnaSense
❖Jo Malone
❖Kenneth Cole
❖Kidding Aroung Toys
❖LaCrasia Gloves & Creative
❖L’Occitane
❖LittleMissMatched
❖M.A.C. Cosmetics
❖New York Transit Museum
❖Oliver & Co.
❖Origins
❖Papyrus
❖Pink Slip
❖Posman Books

8. Grand Central
dining
❖The Campbell Apartment
❖Cipriani Dolci
❖Michael Jordan’s Steak House
❖Oyster Bar & Restaurant
❖Cafe Spice
❖Cafe Pepe Rosso
❖Chirping Chicken
❖Ciao Bella Gelateria
❖Dishes
❖Eata Pita
❖Feng Shui
❖Frankies Dogs on the Go
❖Golden Krust Patties
❖Hale and Hearty Soups
❖Junior’s Restaurant
❖Magnolia Bakery
❖Manhattan Chili Co.
❖Masato
❖Mendy’s Kosher
❖Paninoteca Italiana
❖Shake Shack (coming soon)
❖Thai Toon
❖Tri Tip Grill
❖Two Boots Pizza

10. Themes
❖ Sensation: the smell of different foods, seeing the food in displays or as it is purchased,
hear people making their orders, taste food as you eat it, feel the food as you eat it: the
general experience of eating.
❖ Scale: there are sit down restaurants & fast food joints (one being larger than the other).
Sit downs make you feel a part of the restaurant where fast food joints make you feel a
part of the station.
❖ Technology: most menus can be viewed online as well as their letter grade and yelp
rating.
❖ Social Reproduction: most people use utensils at Grand versus Penn where there are
more finger food options. People wait in line to make their purchases. At Grand people
usually take a seat to eat, whereas at Penn you see some people eating as they walk.
❖ Nature: pets here and there.
❖ Representation: “One entered the city like a God; one scuttles in now like a rat.” Yale
Architectural Historian Vincent Scully

11. Sources
• http://www.grandcentralterminal.com/index.cfm
• http://www.thirteen.org/metrofocus/2011/07/penn-station-v-grand-central-writing-the-rails/
• http://newyork.nearsay.com/nyc/hells-kitchen-midtown/restaurants-penn-station-food-options-
• http://blogs.villagevoice.com/forkintheroad/2011/02/our_10_best_and.php
• http://blogs.villagevoice.com/forkintheroad/2011/02/our_10_best_and.php

12. 1962
Pennsylvania Station
Featuring an interview
with an LIRR commuter
2012

13. Penn Station
Pennsylvania Station, aka Penn Station, is the transportation hub for three rail systems;
Amtrak, NJ Transit and the Long Island Railroad. You can also access two different
subway lines; IRT and IND found at opposite ends of Penn Station. Each station has its
own look and feel which varies from the others.
Amtrak runs along the Northeast Corridor from Washington
to Boston, mirroring Interstate 95
How do you get to work in the morning?
‘’I take the LIRR and I take the Path train. “
How do you see traveling the LIRR?
“It’s very convenient and fast, it’s more comfortable than the subway. “

14. Sensation
The graceful Choreography of Penn Station, in particular the Long
Island railroad was fascinating. During a 20 minute recorded
observation, not one person collided with anyone. There were
people with bags, people with children, people with bags and
children, people sans bags, a guy bouncing a basketball and a guy
with a tuba and all managed to avoid a collision. This was a true
wonder given that many of them were either running to a train or
being passed by someone running, one guy accomplished his
running in a hop, jump, shift, jump again kind of way.
What a sight to see!
What senses get stimulated on your commute?
“I would say my sense of hearing; somehow your ears become a little more acute to all the different noises
going on, so what people are talking about, what they’re doing, you know, who’s on the phone, the
conversations going on even though you’re not trying to listen to it, you kind of focus a lot on what people are
doing. “
If there were a sudden change in the sound, would you be more alert?
“Yes, you get used to the sound of the trains themselves and sometimes when something doesn’t sound the
same; either the hum of the air conditioner or the sound of the wheels, or the little screeches and stuff like
that, sometimes something doesn’t sound right because it’s louder or it’s an odd rhythm. You kind of notice
and wonder ‘what’s wrong with this train?’”

15. Scale
Scale in Penn Station can be looked at on several different levels; the size of the station
(originally 8 acres) number of rails systems under one roof (3), number of tracks (21), number
of people that come through the station daily (600,000), and even how much space someone
takes on the train.
How does it feel spatially?
“Over the years, I’m finding the railroad to be a lot more crowded and therefore it’s lost a little bit of its coziness,
almost what people used to think of as a little exclusivity, being on the railroad versus being on the train. Now it’s
almost as crowded as the subway, sometimes you have to stand the whole way which is pretty annoying
considering the price you pay.”
Can you estimate how many people?
“I don’t take the early early trains because they are more crowded, but I would say hundreds. Generally the train
is full, you gotta make sure you put yourself in a spot where you’re gonna be near the door when it opens so you
can get a seat.”

16. Technology
There are many self service kiosks
all over Penn Station, this is a very
convenient way to purchase your
ticket without waiting on long lines.
Free iPhone App called ‘ontime’ for the LIRR
How has your trip changed with Technology
advancements?
“It gives you more distractions, more things to do, it
makes the trip feel quicker, so if I can get on my iPad,
let’s say, and I start reading the news , or I can read
work email, respond to emails, next thing you know I’m
at Penn Station so the time goes by quicker.”
There is even a company, Coo Coo, that you can text your to
and from locations and you will receive a response with
departure and arrival times.

17. Social Reproduction
Clever passengers who supplement their sleep while they commute, are able to do so by
exposing their ticket for the conductor and not be disturbed. This is usually socially
reproduced by nearby passengers who, in order to avoid an unpleasant encounter with the
sleeping passenger, begin to do the same, ah the bliss.
How long have you been taking the LIRR?
“It’s about 15 years, 15/16 years.”
Have you seen any major changes in the way its structured?
“Actually no, considering that the cost of the railroad has gotten higher just about every year, I don’t really
see what I’m getting for the extra money.”
Do you ever happen to go by the NJ Transit area, have you seen how that looks?
“Actually no, I don’t really go by there. I don’t really venture that much.”
Another social reproduction, as commuters focus on
going from point A to point B, is forgetting to ‘stop and
smell the roses’ or in the case of NJ Transit, take in
the sun beams that bathe the beautiful mosaics at the
7th avenue and 31st Street exit.

18. Nature
Do you encounter nature on your commute?
“Yeah, actually, the station where I am has a lot of trees and a lot of stuff nearby there, you can see all the birds
and sometimes you’re standing at the station waiting and you’re kind of just…let’s call it, bird watching because
you’re kind of watching them picking up stuff to build nests, or flying back and forth chasing each other, the little
mating dances, and little rituals.”

19. Representation
What do you think the proper etiquette should be
on the train, what are your pet peeves?
“People talking on the phone pretty loud, we don’t need to
hear your personal conversations. Also, some people get
on the train and feel they own the space and they’ll sit on
one seat, put their bag on another and put their feet on a
third. I guess they don’t want people next to them, they do
it on purpose. If someone is standing, they may not ask to
sit depending on their personality, other people just say
excuse me.
Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Station_(New_York_City)
http://transportationnation.org/2012/08/07/video-how-to-survive-and-occasionally-thrive-in-new-york-penn-
station-the-continents-busiest-train-hub/
Interview with Addison Augustin of AXA Equitable