Just a week ago, we got a look at how New York City's subway systems were getting a little extra touch of help from some new touchscreen-driven menu systems located throughout Grand Central Station known as the MTA On the Go kiosks. This isn't the end of augmentations for the subway line, though, as new reports suggest that the subway's getting a real shot in the arm in terms of its Wi-Fi availability.

According to reports from the “New York Post,” Transit Wireless officials note that a process has begun that's expected to be completed by June. With this process in place, Wi-Fi service will not only be had at every underground station in Queens, but several stations in Midtown will also get access to the service. At last report, 11 stations in Midtown would land the service along with the entirety of Queens, opening up the service to an estimated 250 million new riders.

That's pretty impressive, but the long-term plans for the subway system are even more staggering in scope. By 2017, according to the Post's reports, every single subway station in New York City will come equipped with a Wi-Fi connection. This is producing mixed reactions from users, including some who were concerned about matters of privacy—public Internet access isn't always the safest, though there are measures that can be taken to protect against related problems—as well as matters of comfort, particularly from those who've come to view the train ride home as an oasis of quiet in the day.

We've seen expansions happen in subway Wi-Fi before going back as far as 2012, and similar augmentations brought phone service to the underground system as well, a bit more recently in July of last year. It's hard not to see, and appreciate, the logic that goes into such a choice. After all, people have a lot of options when it comes to transportation in New York City, from private vehicles to taxi services, from buses to ferries and of course the subway line. Getting users interested in the subway service is going to be crucial to its continued operation, and the more extra features that the service can offer, the better.

While there's something to be said for issues of safety and privacy, there are also means to protect a user while using public Internet access. Limiting the use of same can be helpful, so too avoiding anything that requires a user to log in. It's impossible, after all, to steal what isn't there, so if a user were to devote a particular device to public Internet use and use it on publicly accessible sites, the risk falls through the floor.

Still, for many users, it's likely to be a valuable way to watch a video or two on the ride home, read some articles, enjoy some comics, or even potentially some music. It's a valuable addition to the overall roster of services, and should keep the subway's value high for potential users for some time to come.