[shmerl]

What's with the weird design decision not to have more West to East lines in NYC? It can make travel very convoluted.

[chimeracoder]

With the exception of three stops on the UWS that took about a century to build[0] and one additional stop on the 7, ~all of the subway stops were built 80+ years ago, via one of three independent private train companies. Those three companies eventually went bankrupt and were taken over by the city, and then later the state.

So I wouldn't call anything a "design decision" in this case, insofar as it was never designed intentionally to be a comprehensive public transit system the way we think of it today.

[0] Not an exaggeration - Phase 1 was originally supposed to be completed before WWII.

[kevin_thibedeau]

I'd surmise that cut-and-cover construction was more politically feasible on the wider avenues where business disruption is minimized.