Jared Aisenberg // Associate Staff Analyst / BMT & IND Service Forecaster at MTA New York City Transit
Growing up and riding the subway with my father, I always believed it was a world that held so many cool secrets and even some of life’s answers.
Jared is a rail operations planner for construction-related service changes on the New York City Subway. He is responsible for forecasting and deciding how the lettered line trains will operate to allow for major upgrades to the subway system. This includes—but is not limited to—signal modernization, track replacement, and elevator installments. A proud two-time Rutgers alumnus, Jared majored–then mastered–in City and Regional Planning. A fifth generation born and partly raised New Yorker, Jared finds no other place in the world more home than right here in the Five Boroughs. However, this does not stop him from traveling the world with his boyfriend to experience other global cities (and sometimes vlogging it along the way). With social media, Jared has garnered a following of over 70,000 on TikTok and Instagram as TransitTalks discussing history and fun facts about transit and its infrastructure primarily in the New York metro area. When above ground, Jared enjoys going out on the weekends to support local drag, taking a bike ride to a neighborhood to indulge in local ethnic foods, and in the summer relaxing by the seaside right off the Rockaway Line.
Why transportation?
I’ve always been fascinated by the movement of people, especially on rapid transit. Growing up and riding the subway with my father, I always believed it was a world that held so many cool secrets and even some of life’s answers. As I grew up, I knew that my love for the urban realm was embedded in public transit, too. As a result, I found urban planning in college and went forward with the dream to work in transportation.
What’s your favorite way to get around the YPT-NYC region?
The New York City Subway, no doubt about it!
If you could snap your fingers and make one change to regional transportation, what would it be?
I think I would make all two track trunk lines on the subway four tracks. Canarsie and Crosstown my heart is with you.
Who inspires you?
It might sound backwards or even cliche, but Robert Moses inspires me everyday. We are surrounded by his projects, big and small, and it is my daily reminder as a transportation planner in this city that the chaos he has caused for generations can be, and will continue to be, fixed.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
I know all the knowledge you hold in your head seems bizarre, or something to keep a secret because no one around you understands, but hold yourself high and keep soaking in the knowledge. Soon people are going to listen to you ramble on about it as friends, in romance, with fellow professionals, and even as social media fans.
What are you working on currently that you’re most excited about?
Currently at work I am excited to be near the end of the second phase of the Queens Blvd CBTC signal modernization and that Broadway Jct is on its way to get elevators. With social media, I just did a collab with the 60 Second Subway Station Score duo where we just ranked 86 St station on the R in Bay Ridge. Go check it out!
Do you have a favorite transportation book, blog, newsletter, podcast, or YouTube channel?
“The City Beneath Us: Building the New York City Subway” [published by the New York City Transit Museum]
What is your favorite transportation-related fun fact or joke?
Fun fact: any subway station in The Bronx that includes the “East” suffix (East 180 St on the 2/5, East 149 St on the 6, etc.) were so named because it was / still is physically east of another station with the same street name, even though all numbered streets east of Jerome Av include the “East” suffix. To my point, East 180 St on the 2/5 is east of the former 180 St-Bronx Park terminal, and East 149 St on the 6 is east of the 149 St-Grand Concourse 2/4/5 station.
YPT-NYC 