World Trade Center (Oculus/Transit Hub) → Day 3 of 12 Days of Transit Vlogmas 2023

It's the third day of 12 Days of Transit Vlogmas for 2023. We're taking a look at the diverse ways people get around in New York City. For today we are at the World Trade Center Transportation Hub, also known as the Oculus. We're going to see its amazing architecture and enjoy the holiday season hustle and bustle of this New York Subway and PATH station.
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[@MTAFan585]

I wanted to share that my dad was called down to the 9/11 site 3 days after the event. He actually worked for the NYPD for 26 years and survived the attacks. The Oculus is a very unique place to be and including all of the tourists who enjoy contemporary art, dining and shopping in the mall. My favorite is the PATH once you get off the train and take the escalator up to the concourse. This hub would rate the top 5 busiest transportation destinations in the city. There are like few entrances to the (1) train in the mall, the 2/3/4/5/A/C/J/Z/R and W at the nearby station. It’s nice for commuters who travel to/from Jersey City or Hoboken or to like Journal Square.

[@annasims4308]

The first time I saw the Oculus was May 2021, just as people were starting to travel again. It had a post apocalyptic feel. It was so empty that it was eerie, especially since we were headed to the 9/11 Memorial. I’ve been back and it was nice to see it with shops open and plenty of people!

[@mirjamforster5432]

Thanks for all parts of vlogmas! 2001/2002 was my last year of school and my whole form was on a schooltrip in the week of 9/11. Some of us were abroad to Paris, London or Vienna, but I stayed in Germany to go to Weimar / Thuringia. We went at a museum at a former concentration camp that particular day, I was really shaken by that experience. When we got back to the youth hostel in the afternoon, everyone was shocked, scared and confused about the news, crowding the tiny TV room of the accomodation. Even with thousands of miles distance it felt so close and like anything could happen now. There was a threatening, disturbing atmosphere. Take care 😊

[@stevenroshni1228]

I remember getting off the train in between the towers and just seeing how tall they were.

[@ChasMusic]

I was to the World Trade Center before 9/11, doing a transfer from the subway to PATH to get to Newark airport. ¡Thanks for this fun series!

[@lyndsymikaela3386]

It’s always interesting to hear other perspectives from 9/11, this is a great prompt. I was in 7th grade and grew up ‘upstate’ and like many ppl in my area my dad worked in the city. He saw the second plane hit from his office a few blocks away on John Street and luckily stayed inside until after the towers fell. Because he worked in construction he has access to respirators and he and several colleagues spent hours helping rescue ppl. Cell phones were a lot less common and we didn’t know for hours if he was okay. When he finally got home he was covered in ashes/soot/prob asbestos. At school the teachers weren’t supposed to tell us what was going on but by lunch word had gotten out and everyone was really scared and worried because so many of us had family and friends in the city. I got picked up pretty early on in the day and the pa was going off constantly calling kids to the office to go home. I now live in Colorado and the impact this day had on those who weren’t physically close to it is really different and ppl are astounded that I knew someone there. But it was completely the norm for my area. In my graduating class alone there were multiple people who lost immediate relatives that day.

[@jcnot9712]

I’m realizing you look more than a decade younger than you actually are if you were in architecture school almost 23 years ago.

[@Happy_Abe]

Yeah I had the same thought. I thought we were close-ish in age but I was a baby during 9/11 Also cool to know she used to study architecture!

[@traydamus]

Yeah that means she’s older than me and I thought it was the other way around. I was in 11th grade during 9/11

[@Vanilla.Avenaya]

​@@traydamuscoincidentally, I was also in 11th grade during 9/11 and had the same thought about her. I thought she was like late 20s at most.

[@CaradhrasAiguo49]

I was in class at elementary school that morning, nothing out of the ordinary about that. As a non-resident, I __do__ remember passing thru the WTC PATH less than a year before the Oculus opened. 4:36 you could pass for 25~30, I had no clue you were late 30's / 40+

[@idkGBT]

The PATH tap or (OMNY-NJ) is rolling out tomorrow December 5th 🙌

[@lupislune]

I visited the twin towers in 1992 and viewed a trading floor in tower 1. It was a site to see. Several years later, I was sitting at a drafting desk in Architecture school and we heard that a plane had crashed into Tower 1. By the end of class, the tower had fallen. Seeing the aftermath on television after I got home...(It was way before cell phones had video capability). It was a surreal experience. I still think about it from time to time. I've been to NYC several times since that date, but I have not made it to the WTC memorial. I need to make a point to visit next time I am there.

[@FameyFamous]

About a year before 9/11, I was visiting a customer who worked at WTC Building 7. He took me out to dinner in Chinatown and the up to the south tower observation deck. His memories of the 1993 WTC bombing were clear. He showed me some of the safety measures that were implemented after that event. These days when I hear the word ‘debris’, I think of the papers that were in his office that he lost when the building collapsed. He called me after 911 because he needed a new copy of our documentation.

[@EPMTUNES]

I've had to deal with the oculus when going to new jersey. Its still very confusing to have two systems but both accept metro-card (but only one takes omny). It is definitely a welcome change to be in such a bright and clean building when traveling. It also acts as a great landmark for navigation while in the financial district

[@stepheneson4107]

Nice overview of the center, but I do feel there are a few... peculiarities... of the complex as a transit hub. The many directional signs in the Oculus direct people to the PATH, 1, 2, 3, A, C, E, R, W, 4, 5, J, and Z lines, but (unlike Times Square) don't make clear that these various subway stops are neither interconnected or even called the same thing-- World Trade Center, Cortlandt, and Fulton stops all ultimately get you to the same place on these lines. A little more thought could have been put into this configuration, but ultimately it's a very modern, convenient, and useful hub. Thank you Thea; looking forward to the remainder of your Twelve Days of Videos!

[@michaelsherrell6389]

A little more thought could have been put into the idea that ALL of these subway lines and the PATH station PRE-DATE the building of the World Trade Center - Twin Towers Complex, and the current iteration. What in the 1910-1960's used to be the Trans-Hudson Railroad with it's iconic office building, and what used to the radio equipment capital on the lower West-side of Manhattan - all was demolished in the 1960's and 1970's for the building of the Word Trade Center, and then Battery Park City built upon landfill off of the lower West-side of Manhattan. What I remember before the towers fell was that the place was never designed to be a "unified whole" - but was rather a collection of buildings and underground passageways that was made to work. There was no over-all style or design language - with difficult direction finding, etc. Having visited the old World Trade Center complex in the 1980's and 1990's hundreds of times - living through the destruction, and the count-less arguments over the rebuilding - the current iteration is a bold contrast. The 20+ year building period involving the new World Trade Center, the Fulton Transit Center (which originally a warren's nest of subway tunnels with only the lower A/C train platform as the connector among the various lines), and the Whitehall Street Staten Island Ferry Terminal, and the brand new South Ferry #1 subway station - so much has changed due to towers falling. What I also remember most was the friends lost when the towers fell.

[@dynasty0019]

The Oculus is proof that America can build beautiful brand new train stations in the 21st Century despite what the haters from Europe and Asia say.

[@ExploringFate]

❤Awesome It is really nice there.

[@AustinSersen]

I was in 1st Grade in Maryland at the time. I remember all the adults freaking out, and getting picked up early. There was a tiny TV in the school office that I saw glimpses of the news, but I don't remember the school telling me what was going on; just that they called everyone's parents to come pick them up early.

[@jjkazakoff-eigen4662]

That’s probably because the pentagon in DC also got hit by a plane. What part of Maryland were you in?

[@AustinSersen]

@@jjkazakoff-eigen4662 Frederick. So yeah, pretty close.

[@pw2957]

I need to revisit before both places

[@dorothysewing9997]

I was a student at Rutgers New Brunswick on the day of 9-11.

[@jetfan925]

4:35 OMG, wow I didn't know you're in your 40's.

[@mikelows1988]

She sounds like she's in her 20s

[@D...M...A...]

Thank you for the smiles , Thea ... I can not believe you were in architecture school , when you 2 years old...

[@nnadir__]

Looking forward to NJ introducing an innovative contactless payment system called OMNJ (where J is pronounced as y, like in the International Phonetic Alphabet)

[@97nelsn]

Path tweeted that starting December 5th they’re testing out their similar to OMNY but not OMNY payment system called TAPP at a few turnstiles at Journal Square and 33rd st station

[@richshort8120]

Last time I was at the WTC was the week before 911 I never been there since they rebuilt it. I have been on the observation deck a few times. I remember hearing the 911 attacks on the radio in the morning when I was reading the newspaper after working the night shift. Cool video 😎 85th liked 👍

[@jfmezei]

In recent trip t NYC, the Occulus was a huge highlight. I was very impressed. (BTW it goes all the way to World Financial Centre (Brookfield Place) which was a big deal to reconnect to subway/PATH. Also impressed by how many fare gates there are for the PATH station. Seeing it in action during evening rush hour would be very interesting. Since the 1 (WTC/Cortlandt) station was rebuilt, I think there was a missed opportunity to integrate it with Occulus, but I am guessing the tracks are right under a street so can't have somethng grandiose like the PATH station. I had been to original WTC and had had meetings at 130 Liberty (Bankers Trust/Deutsche Bank). The new 1 WTC is unimpressive but the site itself is nicer with more trees. However, the original WTC plaza with the sphere in middle and towers was far more impressive. I remember being strucks by how massive/large the towers were, yet looked so slender from afar. What disappointed me at the Occulus, is that when you enter from street level, you can get to the mid level to catch the 1 subway (or the other ones on east side) , (there is even a round elevator) but to get to lowest evel, you have to walk to the middle or the "atrium" where stairs/escalators are on the side. As a transport hub, not very efficient and such forced detours are typical of shopping mall mentality to force you to walk in front of shops. Perhaps there is a way, but I didn't find it.

[@JuanNunez2023]

The nicest part of the subway system by a mile.

[@iTzDritte]

Merry vlogmas. ‘Tis the season for elevated ad revenue and we get that sweet sweet NYC urbanism content.

[@robertlunderwood]

I was in high school. A teacher ran into health class during 4th period to tell the health teacher what happened. We spent 5th period history class watching the news as they covered WTC and the Pentagon when local news broke in talking about Flight 93 that landed in Pennsylvania. Given that it was less than 70 miles from Pittsburgh, we thought we were next. Parents started showing up and taking their kids out of school. The JROTC commander said in class that those parents were idiots because our school looked like a prison (and felt like one) and the school doubled as a fallout shelter. In other words, people came TO the school in case of emergency, not run from it. My parents agreed with his sentiment when I asked them about it when I came home from school. When I first walked through the Oculus when I was "visiting" NYC in 2018, I initially thought it was a disgrace to build a shopping mall on that site. I'm still a bit mixed, but it is one of the best and most connected transit hubs in NYC, and being able to go all the way to Fulton Center and remain dry is a convenience. Plus it's clean. And it's another transit hub with an Apple Store.

[@johnhawkinson]

2:41 When your Metrocard expires, Metrocards machine will give you a new one for free if you try to add value. You never need to pay the $1 fee to buy a Metrocard after expiration. (And indeed, you never need to actually pay that fee. If you got to a newsstand or other local retailer selling Metrocards, you can buy a $5.80, $11.60, $23.20, or $70 metrocard without paying the $1 fee.)

[@AMPProf]

Bet we can Shrink that to fit into a Small town

[@SasserReturns]

NO shot you were in architecture school during 9/11. you have to tell us your secrets, my goodness! i thought you were at MOST my age. i was 9! i had no idea what was going on. and i had to walk with my brother home from school when i just got there, from hells kitchen to harlem, because trains were SCREWED ive been to the oculus several times, sometimes for work, my job takes me to 3 wtc sometimes. i remember in the train station during peak covid they had chickfila sandwiches for sale at a kiosk right next to the turnstiles. curious if anyone remembers what i'm talking about, feels like a mandela effect situation

[@ejorbe]

I have been to the Twin Towers and was on roof top with some friends 15 days before 9/11. I was in college when a friend said that a plane hit the towers. We drove to a friend’s house and got there just as the north tower fell. I thought part of it fell as I don’t think anyone fully understood what was going on.

[@jaz499]

In 1986ish, I went to the observation deck of the WTC with my mom and sister. I was about 7 or 8. Also, on 911, it was my second day in the Army.

[@UrbanCaffeine]

Oh wow. It must have been crazy being in the military during that time.

[@UNDERTAKER2621]

❤

[@jeffreysmith85]

At cnn tower attending a confrence

[@Mlogan11]

Did your class ever discuss what caused WTC 7 to collapse?

[@cicchiamichael]

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👍🙂💥💥💥💥 I havebeen only to the new WTC.

[@PhilipSalen]

The callatrava structure is interesting but it was fantastically expensive to build. Mass transit would have been much better served if all those billions had been spent on improving and facilitating the movement of people in New York's extensive mass transit system.

[@dynasty0019]

While it was expensive, the Oculus is owned by the Port Authority, so the city did not spend a single dime on the project. Form is as important as function in the world of transportation, it’s a city’s first impression to outsiders and it’s also supposed to be a landmark for locals.

[@peterthehappywaiguoren]

an excellent 3rd day of transit video!

[@pw2957]

911, 3rd semester of nursing school.

[@gabrielrussell5531]

God I hated that hub. There's no quick way to get a bike from the street to the PATH. It was clearly designed to look pretty first, be functional second. No direct paths.

[@jersonmoran8472]

Thea are you 40 something? You look so much younger! I was in 7th grade here in Long Island when 9/11 happened I still remember that awful day.