1. pick a language (there would be just buttons saying "English", "Espanol", etc.

2. select destination, and touch button if where you're going from isn't Penn Station (then select station you're coming from if it's not Penn Station)

3. it displays your round-trip fare (and if your stop is "express", "local", or "really local"), and there are buttons for "one-way" and "other options", and you put in the money

Then, make more ticket machines. This would probably involve finding some way to make them cheaper. Maybe use Linux.

Then, make the displays for the next train say if it's "express", "local", or "very local". "Express" is always stopping there (e.g. Jamaica). "Local" is usually stopping there (e.g. Flushing). "Very local" is EVERY stop (e.g. Long Island City). Those flashing "*"s probably meant it was express, in retrospect, but how are you supposed to guess that before the train ends up not go to your stop?

Also, if the ticket collectors actually did their job, the MTA might be making enough money to pay for this. I had a round-trip ticket from Penn Station to Woodside that is half-used, but it was not used at all if you asked the MTA, because nobody collected it on the way from Woodside to Penn Station.

Also, why not make signs that show the next trains just on specific branches, so you'll know how long you'll have to wait for the next Port Washington train before it appears on the main next train list.

It's because the trains aren't scheduled as frequently on the Port Washington branch that these problems especially show there. On an average day, I can see two trains scheduled for some other place and zero trains scheduled for Port Washington, until Port Washington finally appears on the next train list. If they removed the "West Side Yard" destination, then more actual trains could be shown, including those to Port Washington.

http://maps.google.com/maps?z=17&ll=40.763983,-73.755169&spn=0.003917,0.013561&t=h

My main point is that feasible as this may be, a park-and-ride would only encourage people to drive to and from the station. Maybe this would take some cars off the streets of Manhattan, but it wouldn't be worth taking the wetlands.

When the LIRR East Side Access project is finished, I think there will be the possibility of increasing peak frequency on the Port Washington line. Off-peak frequency increases would help as well. And of course, pedestrian improvements along the streets in the area.

Also, yeah: Bergen County. Double-tracking the Pascack Valley line and returning passenger service to the Northern Branch and/or Suzie-Q would be a big improvement. Here's a statement about Northern Branch dickerings that's unfortunately still true even though it's two years old:

http://www.nj-arp.org/pr040308.html

I think something like metropark might workhttp://static.flickr.com/140/317908466_34ca37eed6_o.jpg

There are actually some fairly large parking areas along the Port Washington line, but not enough for demand. Rather than park-and-ride, I think increased bus service is the way to go, as well as easy bus-train transfers. For example, just getting from the Bayside, Douglaston and Little Neck stations to the buses along Northern Boulevard is a significant walk.

Also pedestrian improvements; I walked near the Plandome station this summer, and it was not pleasant.

Finally, density: it's no coincidence that the areas out in Eastern Queens near the Port Washington line are ground zero for Tony Avella and his campaign against "overdevelopment," which has been reported almost completely uncritically in the press. The campaign comes down to one thing: preserving car-oriented sprawl.

I'm no pro, but this is pretty close:

http://www.panix.com/~steveo/nyc_car_commuters_and_rail/

The Secaucus Junction station has given rail commuters on the Bergen County and Main Lines a transfer directly into Penn Station, whereas before they had no choice but to go to Hoboken and transfer to the PATH if they wanted to go to Manhattan.

It's still a two-seat ride, but it's a more comfortable two seats, and from what I understand it is having an impact at reducing the share of auto commuters from there.

NJT
-THE Tunnel http://www.accesstotheregionscore.com/ *Double the number of trains entering Manhattan
*New 34th St. Station
*Seacaucus loop will allow Begen County, Main and Passiac Valley Lines to Enter NYC Directly
-BRT
http://www.route1brt.com/
-TOD
http://policy.rutgers.edu/vtc/tod/newsletter/vol2-num1/
-New Rail Lines to growing suburban areas
http://www.njtransit.com/an_cp_mom.shtml
-Bike Program
http://www.njtransit.com/rg/rg_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=BikeProgramTo

The MTA has the following projects underway
-7 Train Extension
-2nd Avenue Subway
-Fulton St. Junction
-South Ferry Terminal
-East Side Access

While all of these are good the only project that seems likely to really take cars of the streets is East Side access, furthermore it seems the MTA has arcane rules regarding bikes
http://mta.info/mnr/html/getaways/bikerule.htm which actually require you to get a permit!

Secondly if I understand correctly the Passic Valley line has TERRIBLE service with just 8 trains running each weekday and none at all on weekends. The line I take to my parents house in Monmouth County has 30 trains on a weekday.
It looks like an increase in service is planned
http://www.njtransit.com/an_cp_project003.shtml

The "Hudson-Bergen Light Rail" as far as I can tell never enters Bergen County.

There are tens of thousands of people on the UES who would switch to bicycle or mass transit, if only the infrastructure/services were better (I can see them now, bicyling to Williamsburg and the LES and overcome their hipness deficit). The West Side Greenway has gotten hundreds or perhaps thousands from the UWS onto their bikes, but the East Side Greenway is a joke. Here's just one of the several obstacles on the East Side Greenway that force many riders to dismount, and which certainly rule out the possibility of two-way traffic (http://nyc.mybikelane.com/post/index/127).

Plus, the East Side Greenways ends with a long walk up a narrow wooden ramp where pedestrians will cuss you if you don't dismount, and then you find yourself at the foot of the Queensboro Bridge, #1 kill zone for bicyclists in Manhattan ( http://www.streetsblog.org/2006/11/06/queensboro-bridge-area-safety-under-scrutiny/).

I will admit that the UES includes the wealthiest and most powerful of New Yorkers, who are ready (and expect) to buy their way out of any modal change imposed by government. Some of these folks bicycle recreationally in Central Park, but for most, the bike is permanently parked out on Long Island. I would expect to see this crew, via Carnegie Hill Neighbors or some like organization, up in arms if DOT tries to convert the 90th-91st Street Class III bike paths on the UES to Class II paths, they way they have done on the UWS. I bet DOT won't even try it.

As long as the East Side Greenway remains at its current length and state of disrepair, and there are no Class II lanes south of Harlem connecting it with the rest of the city's bike lane network, there is a huge obstacle to increasing bike ridership on the UES. Even going through Central Park to access the West Side bike path is burdensome, because (as has been discussed on this site before) the lanes on the transverse roads are extremely narrow and full of alternatively speeding or bumper-to-bumper motorists, making it both dangerous to "ride big" and easy to get completely stuck in traffic. As for the pedestrian paths, you stand a much greater chance as a bicyclist on a pedestrian pathway in Central Park of being ordered off by a pedestrian than you do as a motorist parking or traveling in a bike lane of being ordered off by a bicylist (a lesson for bicyclists here about speaking up!).

And based on census data, we have one of the greenest transportation profiles in the city. 63% of folks take mass transit to work. Almost 20% WALK to work and another 6% work from home (talk about green!). Less than 10% drive solo and only a few percent carpool.