A new European-style train hit the Big Apple subway system Thursday — but some straphangers were ready to close the door on the experimental cars’ “open gangway” design.
The first passengers were enamored with the shiny C-line cars’ bright lights and digital screens, but divided over the cutting-edge accordion layout as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority unveiled the biggest change to the transit system in a generation.
“It’s really smart to have it open like this,” straphanger Keisha Rodriguez said Thursday of the setup, laid out with the first five and last five trains cars linked together like accordion buses.
Rodriguez was one of about half of the riders on the new trains that told The Post the layout made them feel safer — they could see the entire train and quickly switch cars if there was a problem.
But the other half said it made them feel more vulnerable. The metal doors were like a barrier that kept the homeless and mentally ill from the car in which they rode, they said.