MTA Issues RFP For L Line Cellular Connectivity

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) issued a Request for Proposals for a real estate license to build out and operate cellular connections in the L line’s tunnel beneath the East River.

The service aims to allow straphangers to use phones and other devices between 1st Ave. and Bedford Ave. on the L line, which would make this under-river tunnel the first in the New York City Subway to receive full connectivity.

The project advances the MTA’s existing wireless connectivity initiatives, such as:

• Working with Transit Wireless, the MTA has rolled out broadband to all underground subway stations.
• Working with a consortium of AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon, the MTA has rolled out broadband connectivity for Metro-North customers in Grand Central, the Grand Central train shed and Park Avenue Tunnel that extends from Grand Central to E. 97th Street.
• Working with Boingo, the MTA is rolling out broadband connectivity in the Long Island Rail Road’s tunnels under Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, and the tunnels the LIRR will use to access Grand Central Terminal when East Side Access opens in 2022.
• The MTA maintains broadband cell connectivity in the Queens-Midtown Tunnel and the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel in conjunction with a consortium of cell carriers.

Proposals from companies that would license space to build connectivity in the L line tunnel are due on Jan. 13.

“Providing full connectivity to our millions of customers is a part of our continued push to modernize the MTA system,” said MTA Chairman and CEO Patrick J. Foye. “We’re working to deliver full connectivity across our system and allow our customers to use their commuting time to meet their needs, whether it’s texting with friends and family or communicating with co-workers.”