Subways are for sleeping: NYC Transit survival thread

yes there's a 1-800 number to call.

thx stenc

just have the credit card you purchased it with handy.

Sorta-related question: Can one buy a seven-day MetroCard at La Guardia Airport? I'm visiting soon and would like to take care of that when I arrive.

i don't know, but i can't imagine doing so wouldn't be more complicated than taking a cab from the airport and buying the metrocard in the subway station nearest your destination

taking a cab from the airport

or the bus (which takes forever)

i would suggest just getting a $10 metrocard (6 rides) instead of the weekly pass. it's a better value in most cases.

just FYI, i do not recommend fallign asleep on the subway unless you like being woken up by cops in Jamaica at 5am.

Sorta-related question: Can one buy a seven-day MetroCard at La Guardia Airport? I'm visiting soon and would like to take care of that when I arrive.

-- mike a, Friday, August 3, 2007 6:31 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

yes you can buy them at lga.

but you can't take the subway directly from there :(

btw, in answer to the original question, I am Shit Outta Luck.

Under the TransitChek® Program a lost or stolen MetroCard® cannot be replaced.

How much do you save with TransitChek?

i think transit check is pre-tax dollars -- so you're paying for the metrocard with, well, pre-tax dollars (and your tax bill goes down). you may want to check with your HR people, though.

i think it's somewhere in the neighborhood of a 40% savings? something like that?

Fortunately, my card 'lagged' behind the expiration of the last one (ie, unused during vacations etc) I only have to pay for about 8 days. Why it isn't where I always store it I can't figger.

i have a similar problem, this is going to sound ridiculous.. but at my old job i started getting those transitchek credit cards, all exactly for $78 or whatever a monthly costs these days. i was out of work for a while so i started intermittently using them for single rides and daily passes. i have three in my wallet that have like $4-$8 on them. is there anyway i can get the money back or move the credits into one purchase?

somebody bump this thread when the trains are running.
apparently it's a mess. so not leaving for work until it's fixed.

I went to the station, and then another station, before learning that ALL trains are fucked. Home now, think I'll make a big breakfast instead.

exactly!

yes!

(had a dentist appt, cancelled!)

http://www.livescience.com/images/050114_subway_flood_03.jpg

12 noon BK FAP?

Sadly I'll prob be at the office by noon. :(((

But first I'm making bastard jambalaya w andouille. Sadly, out of shrimps.

http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/twentieth_century_fox/the_day_after_tomorrow/jake_gyllenhaal/day.jpg

i need to get in by 1 for a meeting. i'm going to give it another hour or so before i try....

1st floor of my condo (neighbor's section) flooded and I am meant to not flush until they know that the sewers haven't routed into their house.
Meanwhile no ac at work means I work from home again.
End of the world.

okay scary: i woke up at 4 or whenever it really came down and my fucking cat

was outside

on our windowsill (three flights up!) in the storm

this is Brooklyn, mind you. she's never supposed to get out - she must have climbed past me while i was in the office (that window doesn't have a screen).

it was incredibly surreal. the sky looked absolutely gorgeous and amazing but my fucking cat was tiptoeing around for her life! to top it off, she's SUPER SCARED of storms and always runs under the stove when it rains.

I made it in via bus and 3 trains, wimps.

Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA Fuck the MTA

L = fail
G = fail
B48 -> JMZ -> walk ~1 mile = win

B67 + M + D + F as E

But first I'm making bastard jambalaya w andouille. Sadly, out of shrimps.

-- Laurel, Wednesday, August 8, 2007 1:14 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

girl, we know you got a bike, GET PEDALING.

4-5-6 still not running, so i dont know if it's even worth bothering to try to get up to the UES yet?

i had no problem with L. F was really backed up but still got me to work. now i am angry because i'd much rather be home getting ready for 6 am departure to buffalo tomorrow.

between this morning and B*adrum, WORST NEW YORK SUMMER SINCE '77

8-8-07, never forget!

it's a damn-you-hadda-be-there urban legend.

No bklyn bound ACE.

God damn the L for being the one running fine, I could be at home right now with the dogs.

i don't know if i bother trying - it sounds like the L is running but i imagine i will be fucked at union square.

Yeah I think you're right.

We failed to give enough props yesterday on Sea Serpent Day so now they're running amok in the tunnels.

Number 7 to Times Square then Number 1 one stop to 34 Street and then I walked downtown.

have fun in your 100-degree afternoon, new yorkers

Where are you now in your travels, Tracer?

white city!

Lisboa?

MTA > viceland > blogger's sense of entitlement

Wait, you live on the 7 line?

I usually take the E or F at Roosevelt Avenue.

eeww it's supposed to be that hot here today? i rly don't know how much longer i can do this. it's gotten to the point where i can't SIT DOWN IN MY OFFICE with HEADPHONES on. i'm actually afraid the humidity will ruin my headphones. it's driving me crazy. where the fuck did the days of central air go? HUH?

I went back to Queens last December, Chris, remember? Or maybe I didn't tell you.

I'll be taking the 7 to Shea for tonight's game (if anyone wants a drink in Jax Heights around 11, talk me into it)...

No, welcome back!

I am not leaving the goddamned air conditioning today.

morbs, after arriving at the office

http://images.worldcupblog.org/ira/P_Rodney_Dangerfield_1.jpg

this summer has not been bad at all, people, stop being so dramatic

i know it hasn't been that bad but listen i'm on the top floor and it's ALWAYS RIDICULOUS humd inside, much more hot and humid than it is OUTSIDE! i HATE that!

i think it's worse than last summer tho

The Fourth Avenue / 9th Street N/R/W platform was a FUCKING TREAT. The air was raising bruises on people.

this is why you never live on the top floor, surmounter

(i live on the 2nd-to-top :D)

GABBNEBD HOW DO I GET TO UES

ARE 4-5-6 TRAINS RUNNING

this is why you never live on the top floor, surmounter

This is why you never live in New York, even.

I am working from home with liv rm AC on -- it is puny but keeps the room totally livable if I wear shorts & don't move too fast. It's kind of a treat, actually, and will give me time to run out my dry cleaning, errands, etc today!

im gonna try to go in now :/

there must be a few buses to choose from if the 456 is down linds

Bell-- no 456 as of 11:45

http://gothamist.com/attachments/jen/2007_08_ihaz2.jpg

I just walked into work with such a massive messenger-bag sweat-sash across my shirt that people awwwwwed at me like an infant.

We should all be praying that terrorists don't ever discover the secret to making it rain FOUR inches.

this summer is more humid but last was by far hotter. it hasn't been that bad. i still wish i'd not been able to get to work, though. instead i'm cranky and i yelled at the new girl.

Hour of rain brings city to halt, C'MON BIN LADEN

i was actually wondering if the rain wasn't a good cover for them to shut everything down because of some supposed terror plot.

I dunno -- they seem to have been pretty consistent over the past years about, you know, any kind of rain, simultaneous air-conditioner leakage, excessive urination, or unpredicted dog-drool shutting the whole thing down.

i was only half an hour late; took bus. amazingly angry crowd.

of course our phones are fucked up at work again, like they are after any major storm.

i dunno man i didn't think last summer was that bad. there was that hot 10 days or something. i erally don't know i get my heat and humidity confuse.d

yes, top floors -i went to a friend's on the first floor the other day and it was so friggin cool. ugh

i took the L to the R, which was stopping at 57th & 7th ave, walked over to madison, took a local bus up 20 blocks. not too bad and i probaaably should have done that a few hours ago. shrug

i hope they fix it by tonight though.

I hope I don't have to take a ferry to Shea Stadium.

Amid the commuter havoc, M.T.A.’s website, mta.info, shut down. It was the second time in several weeks that the website was not able to function during a transit crisis. The last one was during a minor blackout on the east side of Manhattan several weeks ago.

Haha I am working from home!

this summer is a notch warmer on average than last year, despite the absence of sustained ridiculous heat, but it's nothing like '05 (or '02 (or, especially, '99))

(so I guess next summer's gonna be ridiculous?)

(especially if we transition to la nina)

my nyc summer experience would be 40% more tolerable if they would put fans or some kind of ventilation in the subway stations, ugh.

The M.T.A. issued this update on subway service at 12:44 p.m.:

1 trains are suspended in both directions between the South Ferry Station and the 34th Street Station.
2 trains are suspended in both directions between the 34th Street-Penn Station and the Atlantic Avenue Station.
3 trains are suspended in both directions between the New Lots Avenue Station and the Harlem-148th Street Station.

4 trains are suspended in both directions between the 86th Street Station and the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall Station.
5 trains are running shuttle train service in both directions between the East 180th Street Station and the Dyre Avenue Station.
6 trains are suspended in both directions between the 86th Street Station and the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall Station.

7 trains are running with delays.

A trains are running local.
B trains are suspended in both directions between the Brighton Beach Station and the Bedford Park Boulevard Station.
C trains are suspended in both directions between the Euclid Avenue Station and the 168th Street Station.
D trains are suspended in both directions between the 145th Street Station and the Norwood-205th Street Station.
E trains are suspended in both directions between the 23rd Street-Ely Avenue Station and the Forest Hills-71st Avenue Station.

F trains are suspended in both directions between the Queens Plaza Station and the Jamaica-179th Street Station.
G trains are suspended in both directions between the Long Island City-Court Square Station and the 4th Avenue-9th Street Station.
V trains are suspended in both directions between the 2nd Avenue Station and the Forest Hills-71st Avenue Station.

S Franklin Avenue Shuttle trains are suspended in both directions between the Prospect Park Station and the Franklin Avenue Station.
S 42nd Street Shuttle trains are suspended in both directions between the Times Square-42nd Street Station and the Grand Central-42nd Street Station.
J trains are running with residual delays.
L trains are running with residual delays.
N trains are running with residual delays.
M trains are suspended in both directions between the Broad Street Station and the Bay Parkway Station.
Q trains are suspended in both directions between the Kings Highway Station and the 57th Street-7th Avenue Station.
R trains are suspended in both directions between the 57th Street-7th Avenue Station and the Forest Hills-71st Avenue Station.
W trains are suspended in both directions between the Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard Station and the Whitehall Street Station.

"Just pretend we're on strike, okay?"

Officials said they are hopeful that service will be back to normal by the afternoon rush. They plan to issue a service plan by 3 or 4 p.m.

PELHAM 123 WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON DOWN THERE??

ah-CHOO!

Gesundheit

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/350000/images/_351512_pelham.jpg

wow, that worked well.

i just had a mini heart palpitation when the ligthts flickered off at my work a minute ago. turned out it was just the electrician changing the light bulbs on the floor. NO BLACKOUT TODAY PLEASSSSE

I was going to complain about Summer of '99 (a.k.a. the last summer I spent in NYC before this one) but I deleted it.

my nyc summer experience would be 40% more tolerable if they would put fans or some kind of ventilation in the subway stations, ugh.

Many of those stations actually do have ventilation in them. You don't want to think about what it would be like without them!

the cats knew this would happen. they tried to tell me last night, but couldn't speak english.

Waht we have here is a failure to communicate.

mind meld.

yes summer of '05 sucked BIG TIME

i was shocked when last summer was so tolerable

our power just went out like 5 min ago and the heat is already getting pretty terrible :x

Oh no!!! Fuuuuuck.

geez i'm so sorry

I forget the summers as soon as they are over. Except the one where I worked nights and slept on a sizzling bed w/ no AC. VERY NOISE!

sleep

IN

The Day New York Caught Fire

NY TIMEZ: LOOKOUT, MEL TORME ON LOOSE

"It looked like tornado activity, a very dense black wall, almost like a heavy velvet fog,” said J. R. Thomason, a fundraiser for the New York Philharmonic, who watched the storm from an attic room in a three-story house in the Kensington district of Brooklyn between 6 and 7 a.m. "

I was trying to sleep through Hurricane Torme in a basement in a three-story house in the Kensington district of Brooklyn between 6 and 7 a.m.

my least favorite summer memory involves being stuck IN the battery tunnel for 45 minutes in traffic that was closed down to one lane, in a 1984 toyota tercel. the car was on the verge of overheating so we had to turn the HEAT on. at one point i poured a bottle of water on myself for relief but it turned out that it was SCALDING HOT from sitting in the car all day in the sun.

I woke up to the realization that oh fuck, I'd left the window open in the other room

Posted on:8/8/2007 3:11:05 PM

Due to severe flooding throughout the subway system earlier today, there are still extensive delays on some subway lines. We are working to restore full service to all the affected subway lines. Customers are advised when at all possible to use bus service. This is the current status of subway operations:

1 train service has resumed with residual delays.

2 and 3 train service has resumed service but with residual delays.

4 and 5 train service has resumed with residual delays.

6 train service has resumed with residual delays..

7 trains are running.

a trains are running local.

b train service has resumed with residual delays.

c trains are suspended in both directions between the Euclid Avenue Station and the 168th Street Station.

d train service has resumed with residual delays.

e trains are suspended in both directions between the Queens Plaza Station and the Forest Hills-71st Avenue Station.

f trains are suspended in both directions between the 21st Street-Queensbridge Station and the Jamaica-179th Street Station.

g trains are suspended in both directions between the Long Island City-Court Square Station and the 4th Avenue-9th Street Station.

v trains are suspended in both directions between the 2nd Avenue Station and the Forest Hills-71st Avenue Station.

s Franklin Avenue Shuttle has resumed with residual delays.

s 42nd Street Shuttle service has resumed with residual delays.

j trains are running.

l trains are running.

n trains are running.

m trains are running.

q train service has resumed with residual delays.

r trains are suspended in both directions between the 57th Street-7th Avenue Station and the Forest Hills-71st Avenue Station.

w trains are suspended in both directions between the Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard Station and the Whitehall Street Station.

Getting to JFK this morning was a real treat.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer ordered the Metropolitan Transportation Authority today to conduct a review of how torrential rains paralyzed New York City’s transit system this morning, disabling or delaying every one of the city’s subway lines.

“The cause of the cascading outages across the mass transportation system this morning was the inability of our drainage system to handle what was, we believe, three inches of rain within a one-hour period,” Mr. Spitzer said. The drainage system was designed to handle only about an inch and a half of rain over an hour, he said.

Governor Spitzer said it was the third time in seven months that a sudden downpour of rain had led to “a total outage of our mass transportation system,” although the two previous failures were not nearly as severe and dramatic as today’s.

“What that certainly suggests to me is that we have a design issue that we need to think about,” Mr. Spitzer, noting that the transit system suffered a similar, near-complete shutdown, in September 2004, when torrential rains associated with Hurricane Frances inundated New York City.

NEED TIME MACHINE FOR IMPORTING IMMIGRANT SLAVE LABOR TO REBUILD 1904 TUNNELS

harsh words, those immigrants got paid.

Looking like we may get a slight replay tomorrow morning (1 to 1.5 inches predicted for tonight).

- Can I get a single ride?
- You have to use the machine.
- Yeah, they're not doing single rides.
- I can give you $4 if you have a card.
- I don't have a card.
- I can't give you a single ride.
- So I have $2, but I can't ride the train?
- DON'T GIVE ME ATTITUDE.
- I'm not giving you attitude!
- DON'T GIVE ME ATTITUDE.
- I'M JUST TRYING TO RIDE THE TRAIN FOR TWO DOLLARS.
- There's another machine around the corner, you can try that one.
- .....

Add to list of reasons to hate people.

The best part was 60 seconds later, walking across the street, when my brain went "wait wait, SHE was giving YOU attitude! SHE had the attitude!"

So have you graded your line yet?

http://enterprise.mtanyct.info/survey/start.asp

I just did the F for Fuck! train, and am disappointed there was no esssay page, which besides complaints about overcrowding (well past 9pm weeknights) and wait times, would've let me say GET THE GODDAMN FREE-NEWSPAPER VENDOR OUT OF THE ALREADY CLUSTERFUCKING EXIT AT 23RD STREET!!!

I love the F; it's such a cute little line. I am getting to know the N/W. Very nice views from Queens. One thing a little weird about being on the end of the line is that the train arrives at the station but just sits there for about 5 minutes sometimes.

the Q train has been getting on my nerves lately. the running-in-two-sections thing is such a pain on weeknights (weekends too, but worse when you've got work in the morning)

The F is decidedly NOT cute in Brooklyn. Keep your f**ing stroller out of my AM rush.

^^^cosign

Yea, I loved the F when Second Avenue was my stop and I could hop on and off within Manhattan. For travel into BK, it wasn't so great, even pre-stroller days. Also, I just read the F won't be stopping at that stop between Carroll Gardens and Red Hook for the next year. Come to Queens. Astoria is definitely in the pre-stroller stage of gentrication.

what stop is that? Bergen?

fair warning: i will be on the F train with a stroller early afternoon on monday. kid needs a flu shot. we will not be coming to brooklyn, however.

early afternoon is OK!

this fall I started escorting my (post-stroller) tween to school during 8am rush on the 1 train -- ugh.

actually mid-afternoon return trip is even worse w/all the other school kids raising heck

i have still not figured out a way to get from here to school/work in less than an hour using combos of the l, g, 4, 5, n, q, 2. there is no hope. the best is when i have to work on weekends and service changes make it even longer! anyway, screw the 2nd avenue line, mta please give a way to get from north to south brooklyn without going through manhattan!! (the g does not count; it is useless)

So did you notice they announced there'll be no base fare increase, but they're still planning one for unlimited MetroCards!?

Sign here:

http://www.haltthehike.org/

I signed!

Also my new train is the G. We'll see how that goes, but for now it's a novelty.

i fall asleep almost every morning on the way to work now that my commute is just one train for 40 minutes.

but the G to what, Laurel? You have to get to Manhattan weekdaily, yes?

Being shoved into car by some old man on a packed Saturday night train at Union Square reminded me why I FUCKING HATE DECEMBER/CHRISTMAS IDIOT HORDES.

great that they're exanding the G further into brooklyn so all the Park Slope yuppies can move to kensington.

NOT GREAT is that service into queens still runs on bizarre schedules. It should run all the way to Jackson Heights EVERY TIME. That would open up a huge area of queens along Northern Blvd.

some asshat with an ipod called my friend a "fucking fatass" after he squeezeed onto a crowded L car

i find that people are pretty inconsiderate year-round

tho i guess it's a little harder when everyone's wearing bulky jackets

G to the 7, Morbs. Which so far has been fine, so much easier than the 4/5 in the AM.

It should run all the way to Jackson Heights EVERY TIME
Are you sure about this, Dan? I have never, ever seen a G train at Roosevelt, I think it is only supposed to be there at some weird hour.

regular G service through Queens would be nice - you could live cheap up there and still see your friends in now -shockingly expensive Greenpoint.

expanding the G further into brooklyn WHEN? All I saw was some vague promise. It would make my life easier, esp on weekends.

so all the Park Slope yuppies can move to kensington.

They won't be happy when they get there, not for awhile.

don't worry, they are all coming to live in crown heights with me, off the 4 express

Those people are all flooding into Sunset Park, and soon Boro Park of all places. You could drop a brownstone into floating shit barge and someone would pay 2mil for it. Will anything stop the swarm?

a Depression!

the suburbs becoming fashionable again

LET US ALL MOVE TO A HOUSE ON STATEN ISLAND.

also, lol at that petition "what is your favorite thing about NYC transit?"
anyone writing in with something other than "24 hr service" is a fule.

how about that mariachi band that usta play on the F train

or the mariachi band that i see ALMOST every morning on the L? no, fuck them. dude whacked me in the knee once with his upright bass and my tolerance for subway performers has been diminished ever since.

i enjoy it when gentrifying whites complain about other gentrifying whites.

LET US ALL MOVE TO A HOUSE ON STATEN ISLAND.

noise board wu mansion

Shut up, Park Slope-Skrit.

god, do any of you ever read the prospect heights board on brooklynian? so much barely-concealed racism and classism. not helped by the fact that several regular posters are cops (who, in one particularly upsetting moment, made a joke about a rape victim but then freaked out at being called a pig [separate threads])

xpp
i think dave reads this board.

i took the boy to sunset park sunday for tacos matamoros and a snowy walk through the park. at one point i looked him in the eye and said ONE DAY THIS WILL ALL BE OURS.

lololol CLASSIC.

so much barely-concealed racism and classism

otm but I don't read them much for that reason

I pretty much stick only to the WHEN IS THAT RESTAURANT ON VANDERBILT OPENING threads

THE THAI PLACE ON WASHINGTON AMIRITE

I keep meaning to go to Sunset Park to eat.

y'know, i was a little underwhelmed by tacos matamoros. got to find something better down there, i'm sure it exists.

there is one classic thread on the P Heights board called something like "Strange Beeping Sound??!?!?!"

over the course of weeks all these people are like "I hear it too what is it?" "a beep that sounds every 30 seconds" "I can't tell where it's coming from"

someone figures out that all the smoke detectors in some massive residential bldg are out of batteries and beeping in unison on every floor

sanskrit, it's not quite in sunset park but the place on 5th ave & 21st street that is a 24 hour mexican bakery has excellent chicken tacos, tinga stylee.

you know, the foodies don't have to take over EVERY thread.

it IS close to lunch time though!

noise board wu mansion

noize board killah hill projects

ian, do you know the place on 6th and 13th/14thish with excellent pernil?

CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE EATING OF FOOD ON THE TRAINS?
I ALWAYS SHOVELY FOOD INTO MY MOUTH ON THE PLATFORM BECAUSE I THINK EATING ON THE TRAIN IS TACKY.

p.s. Dr Morbius hates eating.

mike, i think so. the spanish american restaurant place? i used to live around the corner from there (14th between 6th & 7th) but only ate there once or twice, did not have pernil.

(speaking of pernil, sucelt on 14th st and 7th ave in the city is closing on xmas eve. go now to experience their cubano while you still can!)

i don't have an opinion on train eating. i've done it. not like, full meals but cookies and snacks.

i got reallly dirty looks from a bunch of people on the j train once for having a take-out container of pies n thighs fried chicken. it made the whole car stink! i wasn't eating it tho.

that stuff smells with the stink of 1000 kfc's

i think you are confusing dirty looks with jealous looks.

fried chicken odor was probably a huge improvement over normal j train odor.

eating on train is 'gainst rules (tho not nec as annoying as open stroller or bike at rush hour)

stroller i can understand, but people with bikes piss me the fuck off. it's like, what, you can't just ride across a bridge? you lazy fuck with your spandex and your helmet.

New York City is becoming Ayn Rand's dream metropolis - a city where the power of wealth is wiping the scum from the streets (poor people, middle class people, writers, designers, public interest workers) and replacing them with mailboxes, coffee carts, and Thai Fusion restaurants. let us all hail our banker masters. So many people I know are starting to get priced straight out of the entire city ;[

Also whats the deal with people eating on the trains?

I agree; if you don't have time to eat elsewhere, stay home.

hunger, mostly

seriously why do you care?

cleanliness issues.
so many mcdonalds bags littering the train.

not to mention soda bottles, potato chip bags and candy bar wrappers.

yes, it's an intrusion on my personal space, which I realize is a quaint notion that will be buried by the enabled phone yakkers underground in another 2 years.

also, if you SPILL food on me on train, I shoot.

my favorite is seeing people (mostly teenagers) spilling a soda/coffee/whatever and promptly moving on to the next car.

so the issue isn't with the eating, it is with the slobs. i get it.

for me, yes.
i personally don't eat on the trains, as i stated above, because i feel like it attracts attention and i don't like people lookin at me.

no the issue is intrusion into personal space. the proper response to food smells on public transit is to ask if you can have some too.

that's just obnoxious.

i also am not sure how the train qualifies as "personal space" but whatever.

i saw this amazing guy in the morning sitting passed out on the crowded subway car with his head propped on a starbucks cup on his knee. it kept leaking coffee with each lurch, until the inevtiable fall came which woke him up and pissed everyone around him off. it was fascinating to watch.

It's SHARED public space, ian. If you enter my nostrils (or some other orifice)....

"Excuse me, young fellow, but your amateurish, lame rapping is not up to my standards of entertainment."

that's just obnoxious.

so's bringing your smelly food on the train/bus

xpost - haha, i almost dropped my unused JAM awards tix in lame-neuron-invading-rapper's hat last night, but that probably would have been a disproportionate response

morbius, do you also hate street corner kebab sellers?
how about people eating popcorn at the movies?

and gabbneb, i feel there's a big different between passively violating someone's idea of personal space and actively harassing them.

you're from somewhere else

and you're a douchebag, if we're going to be stating the obvious.

the subway is not outdoors - you're forced into a compartment with other people and limited ability to move

my douchebaggery has well-defined and -defended contours, tho

forced is a bit of an extreme word choice. you can select any car you choose, and if you're unhappy with it, then you can move.

you guys are such nazis about the food on the train thing.

oh no godwins law bell labs loses ;_;

And how else are you supposed to get your dinner home? Jesus Christ, shut the fuck up. There are lots of people taking take-out on the train even in CLOSED containers and you can still smell it. Depending on how I feel, greasy McDonald's or whatever may not be my idea of a good time but it's the TRAIN, it's EVERYONE'S transpo.

outdoors, if you want to yell at me, i can walk away from you. in a subway, i am forced to listen to what you say after the train leaves unless i want to take life in hand by walking between cars, where you'll probably follow me shortly.

you get your dinner at home

unless i want to take life in hand by walking between cars,

^^^ i doubt you have ever done this. it is in fact quit easy if you have four working limbs.

i understand that travel time is some peoples' only time to eat - i don't wanna lock people up for the shit - but i'm not gonna pretend that that's everyone who brings food on the train or that it isn't fucking annoying

who is forcing you to take the subway? take a car haughty-pants

xxxp You suck.

haha

i used to ride the bus next to l.a.'s famous thai elvis. he always smelled, somewhat incongruously, of kimchee.

once i was tripping really hard and couldn't get him to stop vibrating

i probably car-hopped before you'd ever been to ny, if you want to get personal about it

it's smelly & obnoxious, but sometimes people can only eat on the run. so the way that i see it, it's just as obnoxious for me to make a stink (no pun intended) as it is for them to eat on public transportation.

u old

subway food is always preferable to subway farting

yes, you're old.
yes, you've lived in new york a long time.
no, moving between cars is not "taking your life into your hands" any more than crossing a street against a light is. stop being a baby. xppp

you guys take me too seriously :D

also, i don't take cars

you'd be happier if you did. private, cozy, no odd smells...

yes, i'm more than familiar with cars but i take them only in extremis. fyi.

how bout you...MOVE TO THE SUBURBS

extremis like what, you gonna get out a station early and switch to a car cuz you don't like the dude eating fried chicken? or extremis like, you're only a downtown brooklyn tourist and are scared of walking from train to destination...?

xpxpxpxppxpxpx

i want fried chicken now

I'm not pro-eating on the subways, but what I said earlier since everyone has glossed right over it is that plenty of unpleasant food smells result from people just carrying prepared food, not nec eating it IN THE SUBWAY. Gabbneb are you SERIOUSLY saying that people should only get take-out from within walking distance of their apartments? Because you know god forbid I misjudge you but that would be some asshole pronouncement.

i have always wanted to get a really greasy fried chicken meal and stroll around the santa monica promenade eating it as messily as possible out of a giant bucket

It should run all the way to Jackson Heights EVERY TIME
Are you sure about this, Dan? I have never, ever seen a G train at Roosevelt, I think it is only supposed to be there at some weird hour.

On nights and weekends (I think), the G is supposed to run all the way to 71st/Continental. It hasn't done so regularly for a long time (though it was last weekend), they just post a new service advisory at the begining of every month.

i used to ride the bus next to l.a.'s famous thai elvis. he always smelled, somewhat incongruously, of kimchee.

once i was tripping really hard and couldn't get him to stop vibrating

-- remy bean, Tuesday, December 4, 2007 2:02 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

excuse me, but THIS IS FUCKING HILARIOUS

in london they had signs on the train saying "please do not eat stinky food on the train, it is rude!" or something. and i ate burger king on the train just because it seemed stuck up and i am a rude american.

ian: I'm walking past kebab sellers, plus kebabs smell OK.

I don't think people should eat ANYTHING at a movie less than 2-1/2 hrs long (I miss the old Film Forum -- it sold no food), and I often want to put the popcorn-crunchers and plastic-bag rustlers in a headlock.

Don't think the 'Neb was suggesting you can't carry food.

And how else are you supposed to get your dinner home? ...

-- Laurel

you get your dinner at home

-- gabbneb

OK, I may have been trying too hard to look for downtime to his douchiness

i just hate people who live in a huge city and think only about their own needs for personal space and comfort. that is not what city living is about, move to the goddamn suburbs if those are your priorities.

LOL, I am thinking about the needs of everyone on the fucking train!

maybe you would get it if you didn't grow up in the burbs!

do you also hate homeless people on the train in the winter? sometimes they smell funky, so do you stop thinking about their needs?

i am going to sneak into your apartment building and hide fried chicken in the vents.

don't get any on your shirt! :D

lay a deuce in his oven

priorities plz

eating on train >>>>>>>>>>>>>> dumping your gum on the platform

All I like on a train is a minimum of personal space and comfort. And the other passengers occasionally don't reach this benchmark.

YOU ARE NOT ANSWERING THE QUESTION YOU ARROGANT FUCKING YUPPIE.
DO YOU HATE THE HOMELESS?
DO YOU HATE FAT PEOPLE?
DO YOU HATE SCREAMING BABIES?
ALL OF THESE AND MORE MAY INCONVENIENCE YOU WHILE YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT THE NEEDS OF "EVERYONE ON THE FUCKING TRAIN."

xpppxpxpxpxppx

eating on the train is rude. hands down. If you were raised in a crowded urban area you'd see how annoying it can be. Who cares if people are from the suburbs, but eating on the train has its closest equivalent to guzzling down Big Macs in your SVU

http://www.tvsquad.com/images/2005/12/SVU.jpg
"fuckin' yuppies!"

As far as I can tell all people in Crown Heights who were RAISED in an URBAN AREA are the first people to bring fried chicken on the C train. Keep trying, though.

xp haha

LOOK let's just agree to fight the real enemy, dudes that open their legs really wide and take up two seats

or alternately, dudes who press their junk against you just because the train is a teeny bit crowded

I will fight that guy for you, labs.

i will knife him.
with MY dick.
it's razor sharp.

the thing is, the train is so crowded that if you say "get your dick off me, creep!" he'll just be like, "whoa, it's a crowded train, it wasn't intentional!" and you'll be the one that looks like a jerk.

you know, so many people these days just don't measure up to my standards of what is presentable appearance when it comes to public transportation. i mean, i'm FORCED to see these people. it's just so wrong.

the thing is, the train is so crowded that if you say "get your dick off me, creep!" he'll just be like, "whoa, it's a crowded train, it wasn't intentional!" and you'll be the one that looks like a jerk.

"hey, i don't know how it wound up on your shoulder, honest!"

wear a rat-trap on your ass (xp)

Laurel, just because you saw some black people from Crown Heights eat chicken on a train doesn't give you a free pass to eat god knows what on the train, too( also, "urban" does not always mean "black"). It's the same principle behind people who stand in front of the door in the subway - it's rude, and p yuppies from the suburbs are the people who not only do it, but defend it.

hey BURT, you're the one to bring skin color into this.

Not really - Crown Heights is where that huge riot took place between the black dudes and Chasids (remember that?). When people say Crown Heights they usually mean the black folk. That is, if you're actually from here

t-minus 10

me and laurel both live on the cusp of crown heights. actually, she just moved, so perhaps you ought to settle down mr. i know all about urban living. xp

Moving there in 2007 and living around here in 1991 are completely different things.

so which racist troll is "burt_stanton" again?

burt tell us what it's like to be from here. i guess you're a pretty hard guy huh

ITT privileged upper middle class kids invading NYC play the "you racist scum!" card whenever you mention skin color or neighborhoods known for certain ethnicities.

hahaha privileged upper middle class kids YEAH RIGHT.

born in Midwood, then moved to some shithole in NJ (the place where Lean on Me t was set)

watch it with the ad hominems, bud

you sound like a motherfucker with some dark secrets

xp

I moved to Crown Heights in 2002 but don't let that stop you!

xp wow, he's on a roll.

i didn't call you racist scum, just a racist troll. meaning that you come to this website under different names and try to rile everyone up by taking unpopular opinions.

Loosen up, baby [unwanted shoulder rub]

Moving there in 2007 and living around here in 1991 are completely different things.

-- burt_stanton, Tuesday, December 4, 2007 1:43 PM (Tuesday, December 4, 2007 1:43 PM) Bookmark Link

yeah dudes, if you were really cool you'd be living a decade and a half in the past like turd_scranton or whoever.

burt stanton: racist, chauvinist, prick.

oh god that's creepy

i meanm, i doubt you'r really a racist (at least in any active way), but it sure is fun to attack people!

born in Midwood, then moved to some shithole in NJ (the place where Lean on Me t was set)

i wouldn't admit to living in paterson, either.

burt, are you sure you don't live in astoria, queens?

i don't think it's spock....but he seems familiar

Also re "urban": I can't think of anyone more urban than someone who's grown up without the benefit of being able to escape the city whenever they wanted to via travel or other opportunities. And in Crown Heights, that means Black West Indians, really, many of whom are still living on the same blocks where they were born & grew up, and a fair number of those people have seen that neighborhood right through the '80s and '90s without going to summer camp in the country or family vacations to the Grand Canyon or much of anything, really. And since I've lived there and witnessed whole families being served dinner on the C train, that's the experience I drew on to comment.

If you paid attention to ILX much you'd know that I'm highly likely to go on screeds about public transit behavior, but do you really want to take the side of gabbneb in this thread, who thinks you shouldn't even carry CLOSED food containers from other neighborhoods on the subway, lest your seat-mate inadvertently smell it? Good thing he apparently has every kind of cuisine he might want available within walking distance of his apartment.

Nah, Williamsburg.

Truce, Laurel. Let's go to Soca Fest 2008.

i am down [unwanted shoulder rub]

xp You know, you've got really strong hands

I would like to meet Burt Stanton. Put a face with the name. Piss on his leg, tell him it's raining. Hide sausages in his pockets. Grab his nuts, unasked...

let's get bizzy in the e-sauna

fizzy in tha hot tub

If I want a soca fix, I'll work out at the Curves on Flatbush.

At least the other customers there will be awesome and no one will crepe on anyone else.

oh no you DI-INT

do you really want to take the side of gabbneb in this thread, who thinks you shouldn't even carry CLOSED food containers from other neighborhoods on the subway, lest your seat-mate inadvertently smell it?

i think you shouldn't carry food in your stomach on the subway.

i don't think it's spock....but he seems familiar

-- bell_labs, Tuesday, December 4, 2007 7:54 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

New York City is becoming Ayn Rand's dream metropolis - a city where the power of wealth is wiping the scum from the streets (poor people, middle class people, writers, designers, public interest workers) and replacing them with mailboxes, coffee carts, and Thai Fusion restaurants. let us all hail our banker masters. So many people I know are starting to get priced straight out of the entire city ;[

=

New York City ILXOR)RS - Is this city becoming 100% exclusive to the elite?
?

hate to break it to you laurel but Curves is a Royal Video now

Awwwww noooo! That is so sad for the people who owned it, Irma was awesome.

been closed for a while actually but nothing new moved in until now

ooh good call dmr

whoever wins gets an all weekend free pass into my narrow cut jeans

dudes that open their legs really wide and take up two seats

Since we've already mentioned farting, when one of these charmers is next to me I usually try to fire one up.

so when will G train be extended? cuz otherwsie I really wanna move the fuck away from Church Ave.

2008 I think, and they say it's going to be permanent. Regular service through Queens wouldn't be bad, either.

Fried chicken on the train smells okay. It's shrimp and McDonald's fries that get to me.

I have occasionally eaten Corn Nuts on the train, since they're the most inoffensively food-like item available from the platform newsstand by me (you know, late for work + killer empty stomach), but then the other day I was in a car with a woman eating some of those and the whole place freaking REEKED of Unpleasant Corn-Nut Stank. I had never EVER thought of Corn Nuts as having any kind of powerful aroma (WTF), but now I feel like all my fellow riders must have been really annoyed.

(Slight thing in my favor: I think the woman had some sort of gross nacho Corn Nuts going on, whereas I always went for the lime chile picante.)

dudes that open their legs really wide and take up two seats

i don't actually ask if i can share ppl's food, but if one of these dudes decides their space is more important than mine, they have to get more gay with me than they might like

If a woman tried that strategy with most of those men, I think they'd consider it a win/win. Hence bell's and my agitation on that topic.

http://bp1.blogger.com/_CQyU4ayBifw/R0oT7oT7vPI/AAAAAAAAAsY/wgQinZOVi4A/s1600-h/rush+hour.JPG

MTA votes on hikes Wednesday.

HOW DUZ I SHOT F TRAIN

no congestion charge and more money to ride the train

WIN WIN

F train: same shit, diff year

Morbius, take the F or whatever it takes to see "There will be blood".

..1..

my wife took the kid to school today and half-hour later the phone rings "oops school starts TOMORROW" so I run out to the subway and the 1/2/3 dwntwn is fucked up..thx MTA . ah but LOL whatre ya gonna do huh?

F train
One of the freebie handout newspapers had something about the pros and cons of the V train last week.

when the trrains start talking they could evaluate the pros and cons of the freebie newspapers

the G train fuxup the F in Brooklyn, the V does it in Manhattan.

"we have a train in front of us" NO SHIT

I read something about NYC trying out a system to make subway better by assigning line managers to each line and putting them in competition with one another. Is that correct or am I on the pipe?

Ha, I just went on the JaxHts board and accidentally found link to the V train article http://www.amny.com/news/local/transportation/am-vtrain1231,0,6068788.story

god bless the g train. the f line should be discarded and replaced completely by the g. blesssssed day

ban burt stanton

one day, my g train bretheren, you will inherit the earth

i live off the 4 now - easily the most reliable line i've ever lived off.

We're #1! We're #1!

No, you're No. 4.

Oh, right then.

Ok, is the F train normal btwn 7th Ave and Hoyt (or Jay) this weekend, or not? The signs in the stations say no, but the MTA website sez yes this weekend, no March 1-3.

http://www.mta.info/nyct/service/subsrvnweekend.htm#f

the weekend advisory email i got yesterday said no f train this weekend either.

now i don't know whether to cry or wind my watch

I'll be taking the B67 bus to Atlantic/Pacific at least a couple times, then.

I took the B61 for the first time last night! Bus trips are kind of little adventures.

somebody jumped in front of a train and died at the 7th Av Q station on Wednesday night

we got out there about an hour and a half after the incident, cops all over, medical examiner van on the street and the whole station smelled like bleach :(( ick

eeek :(

Whoah, Dave. ;_;

shannon asked one of the cops what happened (to make sure no one got shot / knifed / etc), he said "someone got hit by a train and died." "oh ... how awful." "enh, it happens."

lol, jaded motherfuckers. worse than newspaper people even! ha.

mmmm, small sample size.

"Someone" (transit worker) getting hit by a train was responsible for my worst MTA experience ever, which involved winding up stranded and wandering in an unfamiliar section of Queens in the middle of winter.

(Although the best part of that was priceless -- asking the booth attendant where the alleged nearby bus route was, and having him go "I have never been up there.")

http://artfiles.art.com/images/-/The-Mole-People-Poster-C10128638.jpeg

somebody jumped in front of a train and died at the 7th Av Q station on Wednesday night

When I was coming home that night, Q trains were being re-routed along the N line from Atlantic/Pacific on.

I've had some crummy subway rides lately.
On Tuesday, I knew the Q wasn't running past Atlantic after midnight, so I decided to just take the 4 and walk from Franklin BUT, the 4 was terminating at Brooklyn Bridge, and I had to switch to the Q at Canal anyway. Then to the 2 at Atlantic. Took me about 1 and a half hours from Union Square!

Pretty sure you could have hop-scotched home faster than that. Wau.

Yeah, one of the those nights I was really kicking myself for not getting out at canal and taking a cab across the bridge. Dumb dumb dumb.

the 4 has been sucking lately during evening rush hours, just in wait times and crowdedness.

I used to get on it at Grand Central, it sucked uniformly, morning and evening. :(

4 was running on the 2/3 track this morning

i can usually get a seat at 86th street, but it's packed by 42nd. usually now it's packed by 86th too though.

if i dont get a seat, it is a miserable ride smooshed all the way back to crown heights.

4 was running on the 2/3 track this morning

^^ this worked in my favor this morning.

"morning"

:P

4 has been fucking me over lots lately. i tried switching to n/q to atlantic, but it's not any better cause it moves SOOOO slowly!

There need to be violent protests against any/all future rate hikes.

They've increased 7 service lately, sometimes if I just miss a train in the AM, I can stand on the sunny platform and watch the next one, already pulling into the station.

my friend blogged that the mta is canceling all weekend work due to the rain? Confirm?

yeah, i got the email.

fuck YES!!! Now I can home from Metropolitan in less than 90 mins (knockwood).

it pisses me off soooo much that they are increasing the monthly pass but not the regular one. i would be fine with them screwing over tourists/people that don't have to ride their shitty trains every fucking day.

also you should be able to by an annual pass.

I've got one :D :D

transitcheck through work

(knockwood).

You can knockwood in Williamsburg too you know ;)

xpost

bell_labs fucking otm. Fuck you MTA!!!!!!!!!!!! cocksuckers

They should rebuilt the myrtle avenue 'L' and connect it with manhattan bridge.

I walk to work.

Task Forces Take to Subways, Machine Guns in Tow

that is mad tarded

i would prefer as few machine guns as possible in my mass transit

F FOR FUCKED TRAIN

major delays & shit, F-G-A-N-7:

http://mta.info/alert/alertnyct.htm

F train is the "and what" of subway lines.

wtf was up with manhattan-bound Q this morning?

that Q train really gets moving past Atlantic, but there seems to be one every 20 mins during a.m. rush.

Stopping the NEXT fare hike:

www.haltthehike.org

OR

http://www.haltthehike.org

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/07/22/nyregion/delaygraph190.jpg

"other" = dead person

happy F and A trains fucked up morning

Dear Rider,

Let's Keep New York Moving! Unless our State and City leaders act now, we could soon face a whopping fare hike coupled with cuts to train and bus service and less maintenance of the transit system. Now more than ever, it's time for riders to take action. The Straphangers Campaign urges you to log on to

http://www.KeepNewYorkMoving.org

today and sign the petition. In these tough economic times, with millions of New Yorkers relying on affordable, reliable public transportation for their livelihoods, investing in transit is necessary for our economy, our environment and the future of New York. If you'd like to get more involved in this campaign, please email my colleague Cate Contino at

CCont✧✧✧@NYP✧✧✧.o✧✧. We will be hosting Keep New York Moving Day on November 19th and would love to see you there.

Sincerely, Gene Russianoff

^CContino at NYPIRG.org

yikes

During the Thursday meeting, The MTA is expected to: completely do away with the "W" line, which runs from Queens to Manhattan, and the "Z" line, which runs through Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan. Also on the chopping block: service will be cut in half on the "G" line, which runs from Queens to Brooklyn; and the "M" line, which runs through Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens.

because the G is serving everyone so well right now

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/mta.subway.budget.2.867290.html

so, a G train every 2 hours?

Are they suggesting a higher base fare than the $3 reported a week or two ago?

Tax the rich, Paterson, you clown.

they don't name a proposed fare amount in that article, they just quote that guy you C+P'd (Russianoff) saying the increases will be "whopping"

it's kind of Bloomberg's call and not Paterson's, no? or is it somehow a state budget thing

only rudy can save us now

MTA is in the hands of the state. From Daily News:

MTA CEO Elliot Sander has said the authority will have to raise fares and impose drastic service cuts if Gov. Paterson and the Legislature don't adopt a bailout plan.

http://www.endodovgan.com/images/MTA%20_USES.jpg

rafael furcal cannot be repaired by the mta

i think the cut in g train service means that the queens-bound service will stop at court square, permanently, as opposed to being on a sort of indefinite hiatus.

For the fuck of shit, they might as well stop it at 21st St, because there's so much construction at Ct Sq right now it takes twice as long to transfer to the 7 at rush hour.

^^^good swears

I must admit I stole that from someone else.

For the fuck of shit: NYC Transit thread 2009

new subway mural!

I don't know if y'all noted these plans:

Overnight: Scheduled gaps between all trains running between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. increased to 30 minutes from 20 minutes.

Midday: Schedules changed - less frequent trains from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. - system wide so that trains carry more passengers: 125% of the seating capacity, up from current guideline of 100%.

I can't say the W is completely necessary--but is sure is nice for me to have 2 trains to choose from (N & W). Hopefullly they are just riling everyone up to get support for service. Patterson had to cancel his voting session with the City Council because he realized they were going to refuse to approve his budget, so hopefully we can get some more money for NYC. My union, DC 37, is waiting to hear if our promised 8% raise (over the next 2 years) is going to be rescinded. I believe we are all working without a contact now. We're also waiting to see how much library service is going to be cut (NYC Saturday service is on the chopping block).

After much speculation and the local papers preparing commuters for what was to come, the MTA made their official budget proposal today and as expected, the cutbacks were dramatic. In addition to the slashing of the W and the Z lines among other cuts listed Tuesday, today's 2009 budget also included the following:

* Increasing weekend wait times by 25% on most lines
* Raising express bus fares from $5 to $7.50
* Getting rid of the X27 and X28 express-bus lines as well as 25 overnight bus routes
* Eliminating a total of 2,700 jobs
* An additional 250+ job cuts on the LIRR and Metro-North
* Slowing down the renovation of Grand Central Station and cutting back on its maintenance and cleaning
* Reducing facility security and truck weight enforcement personnel on bridge and tunnel crossings
* An even greater reliance on E-Z Pass Lanes over Cash ones
* A 23 percent fare and toll increase proposal and alternate year fare and toll increases starting in 2011

While that last point does not specify what those increases will be, it authorizes the MTA staff to begin the public hearing process for potential fare/toll increases and service cuts.

MTA heads were delivered the news with their heads hanging low. MTA Chairman Dale Hemmedinger said, "We can either cut service or we can raise fares. That’s all we can do. If we don’t balance the budget by the end of the year, we could all go to jail.” And MTA Executive Director Elliot Sander who again called the cuts "draconian" added, "They will be painful and no one at the MTA is eager to implement them...It powers our economy and we cannot allow the system to move backward at this critical moment." They both pleaded for more assistance from all levels of government.

(And to clarify the announcement from Tuesday of the "halving of the G" that was included in the cuts, the implementation of that specifically means that train will no longer run beyond Court Square in Queens.)

increasing wait times or cutting service when and where ridership is low seems like a pretty obvious way to cut costs when budgets are tight

After these messages, we'll return to CHALLOPS with GABBNEB

waiting to see how much library service is going to be cut (NYC Saturday service is on the chopping block).

I really must get a computer. :/

where ya been, Va Plain?

I've been around. I'm off today hence my daytime presence. Has anything fun been going on off-line? Let me know!

After these messages, we'll return to CHALLOPS with GABBNEB

well yeah, it wouldn't seem to be necessary to make the point

did they announce the idea of flip-up seats, so that noone can sit down during rush hour, in order to fit more people per train?

20 min between bedford and 1st ave this morning, with ~3-min standing time between other stops this morning. ugh.

I guess we'll have to rely on checking the train "schedules" for those every-30-mins overnight arrivals.

Any of you guys been on the E train lately? I was coming in from Queens over the weekend and dear lord, that shit was most disgusting I've ever seen it (and the ACE are generally pretty grungy). There was this huge shit-colored splatter all over one of the walls, half the lights were broken, the windows were totally obscured by scratchiti, there was a garbage storm at one point during the trip... homeless people sleeping on the floors, etc.

I mentioned it to dearest father and he was like, "now you know what I went through in the 80s."

i ride the E train every day. there are usually newspapers on the seats and floor.

dearest father _stanton

Was there work on EVERY. SINGLE. LINE. this weekend? Fuck trying to get to the UWS on Saturday night, it took me 1.5 hours and 4 trains. :( It was like a "musical chairs" of getting dumped off one line b/c of trackwork, going to another platform, and finding there was no 3 service, no uptown F at Essex, the 2 was local, the N was express to Times Sq and then stopped...etc etc.

Any of you guys been on the E train lately?

last time i was on the e there was period blood on one of the seats. i was just like...HOW does this happen?

do you want your answer in MSPaint or ASCII?

i rode the nostalgia train today!

o_O

http://www.forgotten-ny.com/SUBWAYS/Nostalgia%20Train/nostalgia.html

it was neat!

o awesome do they only do that once a year?

Sundays on v line thru December

maybe ill go next week, that shit looks super dope

it is basically just luck of the draw when you are taking the f/v.or i guess you can go to the transit museum and make sure you get on one @ last stop.

o i thought it was like a "thing"

all aboard the Pakistinky Express

http://www.mta.info/nyct/service/events/nostalgia.htm

hey, the kaleidoscope is back at Grand Central

noxious gas experience on the 2 train the other night. not my gas! it was crowded so the source was untraceable, but there was a sort of hilarious and furtive sudden covering of noses with scarves, gloves, newspapers, whatever was handy. it was foul, and it lingered all the way to the next stop (which was a ways). couldn't help wondering if the culprit was mortified, quietly proud or utterly indifferent.

(or filming us all for some hilarious youtube video.)

how did I know the F wd suck this morning? MTA can no longer deal w/ cold, rain.

i feel as though every train sucks lately.

cept the nostalgia train, of course.

There has been SO MUCH trackwork lately, on pretty much every single line. Is that normal before the holidays? I don't remember it being this crazy in previous years.

i really feel like the L had improved 10-fold and now they are reverting back to their old ways. grr.

they're running so many trains on the l line now. during morning rush hour, they're going once every minute or so, which seems to be leading to congestion.

and i have to admit, i've been pretty lucky in terms of delays. nothing worse than waiting for 3 or 4 minutes between stations, which is no big deal.

I never saw all that gross stuff on the E train mentioned above. Maybe people were riding on the Jacob's Ladder undertunnel ghost train version?

The ACE is nasty as hell man. The A train always smells like someone put a bunch of hobo rags in front of a fan and the whole time it's blowing in your face.

youre fucking crazy dude i take that train all the time and it doesnt smell like anything

like not even "its not that bad burt" literally that train has no smell except normal train and subway smells

The best part about the A, I think, is that it goes CRAZY FAST between Manhattan and Bk. Way faster than any other train I can remember being on. I definitely feel like the cars are hurtling through the tunnel like a Chinese dragon in a bad cartoon, and I always enjoy that.

I love the announcners on that thing. NEXT STOP, CROOKLYN! Sure beats the L train's "please stand away from the closing doors. boom boom"

the A is my favorite train cause it goes everywhere that i go

based on my daily commuting experience, A > C >>>>>>>>> F

though the one C conductor who wishes us a happy day and hopes we enjoyed riding the C, "the best subway line in the system," is pretty rad

i love both the A and the C but i gotta say whenever i ride the 4 5 6 it makes me feel like im in a different city

I hate the 4/5. 6 is admissible only because no one wants to take the local so it's not too crowded.

Laurel otm about the 6.

Re: Conductor announcements. Best things I ever heard them say were
"Attention passengers: we are being held in the station due to a delay in service"
and
"Thank you for your inconvenience"

i dont know about the crowding i just mean that the 4/5/6 feel like future trains to those of used to taking the a/c

also, from brooklyn bridge/city hall to grand central in two stops (on the 4/5) is a kind of magic

There's an uptick in track repair? always feels like the same enormous fuxup 52 weeks a year to me.

omfg last year the L-4/5-2 combo nearly killed me.

waiting for the L in manhattan to take me to the G at 4am every night this week has been a TREASURE

Catching the G at Court Square isn't bad because they're basically always there. Anywhere else after 10:00 pm and you might as well sleep in a cardboard box somewhere until the morning.

Court Sq is almost intolerable now during the morning rush because there's only one small stairway for EVERYONE, thanks to the construction. The crowding leaving the G station is infuriating.

VERY NICE:

The MTA has proposed doubling the fare for Access-a-Ride, the para-transit system it runs. Access-a-Ride customers – including many disabled and elderly people – are among the most vulnerable. A doubling of their fare will make it much harder for them to visit relatives, get medical care and be out in the world. If, like us, you are outraged by the MTA proposal, please sign a petition at this link, operated by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer:

http://www.petitiononline.com/mbpo/petition.html

the a train entrance i use at 14th street is kind of a little side one with only one gate. last night a crazy homeless guy was purposefully blocking it by hugging the metrocard reader. as people lined up behind me i was like 'cmon dude' and was considering physically shoving him aside. he looked up at me with bright insane eyes and remnants of something unpleasant in his beard and blurted out, 'you're a big fucker!' and stepped away.

after i went through he leaned back on the card reader. i could hear the next guy arguing with him but i don't know what happened because my train was coming.

The ACE is nasty as hell man. The A train always smells like someone put a bunch of hobo rags in front of a fan and the whole time it's blowing in your face.

The best part of the ACE is then getting off at West 4 and going down to the BDFV platform in the middle of summer. OMG... nasty doesn't even cover it. :P

I usually just get out at W4 and walk the rest of my way when it's a really hot and humid day rather than face that lower platform. AND they opened a dunkin donuts on W3rd near Sullivan a few months ago. Hooray.

BTW.. NYC Transit survival skills: learn to use your elbows and you'll be fine.

Lyra I join you in celebrating the Dunkin Donuts over by Thompson, not just for easy access to bad donuts, but because the DD ground coffee in the stores is somehow better than the DD ground coffee sold in supermarkets.

getting off at West 4 and going down to the BDFV platform

Lyra I join you in celebrating the Dunkin Donuts over by Thompson, not just for easy access to bad donuts, but because the DD ground coffee in the stores is somehow better than the DD ground coffee sold in supermarkets.

I thought I was the only one who could taste the difference! My guess is the stuff in the stores is just fresher or something. I've been in love with DD coffee since college, we used to drink it originally because it was closeby and better than dining hall sludge coffee and I kind of got hooked. Playing with my wall E toy and DD from Thompson at my desk this summer:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3256/2661673635_eb1a517d73_m.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3212/2662587240_afce8b3495_m.jpg

and with a Pearl River chopstick ;-)

wddll

that lower platform at W4 is like my second home. That which does not kill me...

wddll

WTF is wddll?

Also I had no idea that W4 was such a secret ILX nexus. crazy.

Dear D train: You suck. Thanks for stalling out this evening, messing up my carefully timed commute to my train home.

On the bright side, fuck going to the gym for a few days, I ran like crazy and made it from the uptown CE platform in Penn to my train with like 30 seconds to spare. Weaving through that crowd is like playing hockey.

I thought this revive was gonna be about this article

Hahaha Lyra I think the joke was "What Dunkin Donuts Looks Like."

W4 seems like a secret nexus of all things, really. I am going to be a jerk and start referring to it as "downtown's own Columbus Circle."

P.S. It's true, there is no place that "beer-flavored Doritos" sounds like a worse idea than on the freaking subway

Hahaha Lyra I think the joke was "What Dunkin Donuts Looks Like."
I'm starting to hear an Afghan Whigs song with these lyrics. Although I can't reallly hear exactly what they would be, maybe nabisco will write them, like he did for "BLT" on The logic of the setlist

With that title, I mean.

i'll warn you
if hungry
i'll eat the weight of ten strong men

tell you a secret
they shared a donut once or twice
she loved him
he loved food
went back for seconds a couple of times

f train breaks down every night
this must be what dunkin donuts looks like

Thr F was monstrous yesterday morning

Took nearly 2 hours to get from Greenpoint to Union Square. If I were driving I'd be near Albany by now. and this is -before- the service cuts?

it is lol to me that when waiting @ the 3rd ave. L you can smell dunkin donuts wafting down to the platform.

third ave L is a travesty and sure sign of the laziness of the american. fuckers can't walk to either union square or first ave? get real.

right? most useless stop ever.

literally 1 block from the easternmost exit @ union square!

need Ave B stop

:(

xp

or shift 1st ave to a and then put a line that goes all the way down to essex/delancey f/jmz

lol, you don't think we're getting any new stops in our lifetimes w/ this alleged state budget crisis? I'll be amazed if we see that 2nd Ave subway before 2030.

i don't think tza had any notion that was actually possible morbz don't worry.

lol!

or let's just all meet on 14th St after work, w/ shovels.

wait til spring when the ground has thawed.
</contractor>

or a time machine! we could supervise the original construction.

Do you know when the G was called the GG, it REGULARLY ran from Coney thru Wburg to Queens?!

Was that back when the R was called the RR?

right? most useless stop ever.

― tehresa, Friday, January 23, 2009 10:08 AM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^ that would be the 28th st. 1/9

And the RR went to Astoria, while the N went the other wayinto Queens? There were some other double letters too- the C or the A maybe.

actually, I'm wrong. But the GG was extended to Church Ave for rush hours (still wd be helpful).

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/caption.pl?/img/maps/system_1972.jpg

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/caption.pl?/img/maps/system_1972.jpg

Thanks, that brought me back, way back.

^^^ that would be the 28th st. 1/9
Yeah, pretty much. I also love the automated sign over the police desk in Penn Station that points people to the 1,2,3,9. It's a digital sign and they can't update in a few years?

I'm glad it's finally thawing a bit outside. The sign at Houston and Lafayette with the temperature on it has been taunting me in the morning all week with like 12F on it.

I use that 28th St stop for work.

hahaha the "9"

mourn you til I join you, 9paws

Oh wow, look at that. I used to visit my brother in Brooklyn yeaaaaaaaaaaars ago and I always wondered what the hell that was.

http://masstransiscope.wordpress.com/

Yeah, that's when I used to go out to Boro Park all the time. What a weird neighborhood

hahaha the "9"

― nabisco, Friday, January 23, 2009 3:18 PM (13 minutes ago)

mourn you til I join you, 9paws

― nabisco, Friday, January 23, 2009 3:18 PM (13 minutes ago)

I had forgotten about the "K" until I started investigating the AA and CC (not to mention the EE).

G is running to my house on f line again this weekend, wonder what I'll do...

NYC Subway twitter:
http://twitter.com/nyc_mta

Not sure where the get the info from, although it might be from official MTA alerts originally.

At least they finally got the robot announcers to stop announcing the 9 train. That took them a while.

More love for the W4th subway station- there was someone playing a huge upright bass on the uptown ACE platform this evening. I was listening waiting for my train, he was actually pretty good. And just to make this New York, about three firefighters in full gear (oxyen tanks, carrying axes, everything) came up from the lower level platform & stood near the stairs and listened for a bit as well. And then my train came. The end.

Friend has a theory that busking has improved dramatically because all the musicians from the closed Broadway shows are doing it.

so F was running every 20 mins all morning?

i got a snowcaked D, so i can vouch for the absence of an F for like five minutes.

How are the buses if anyone knows?

terrorist-proof

I waited about 2 minutes for a Queens bound F train, so I guess I got lucky.

MTA claims "minor" bus delays.

wtf is this shuttle btw jay and utica bs

Dear Rider –

On March 25th, the MTA will be forced to enact a "doomsday budget" calling for 23% higher fares and existing tolls, as well as devastating service cuts!

We're asking for your help. Please call the key legislators listed below and tell them:

* You rely on transit and cannot afford a 23% fare hike – or 23% higher tolls at existing facilities;
* You are counting on them to stand up for riders; and
* The fairest way to fund transit is with all sectors of the economy fairly contributing to the solution, including riders, drivers and businesses.

Please call these key state legislators. Please be sure to leave your name and tell them what borough you live in.

If you live in the Bronx please call Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. at (718) 991-3161
If you live in Brooklyn please call Senator Carl Kruger at (718) 743-8610.
If you live in Queens please call Senator Frank Padavan at (718) 343-0255.
If you live in Staten Island please call Senator Andrew Lanza at (718) 984-4073.
If you live in Manhattan, please call any of the above.

NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign
One Click to a Better Commute - http://www.straphangers.org

it's so dumb. subways are the maybe most palpable way in which people interact with services provided by the city; if they run on time through the recession there'll be a sense of normalcy. if they cut them it will be like abandoned post-apocalyptic future new york, with street gangs and ripped denim and shivs.

http://gothamist.com/attachments/arts_jen/0309keepitgoing.jpg

so today my train actually pulled in to the 6th ave stop and then stopped like 3/4 of the way into the station, where we sat, 'delayed due to train traffic ahead of us' and 'being held momentarily by the train's dispatcher' for 15 minutes. why not just pull all the way in, open the doors, and let me transfer so i can get to work!??!!??!!??!?

more from Straphangers:

If you're among the 109,000 southern Brooklyn subway riders, be warned: your state senator, Carl Kruger, is engineering drastic fare hikes and service cuts for you.

If you're among the 123,000 southern Bronx subway riders, be warned: your senator, Ruben Diaz, is pushing you toward the same awful fate.

The same is true if you're among 111,400 subway riders in Sen. Pedro Espada's central Bronx district; 78,000 in Sen. Kevin Parker's central Brooklyn district, and 56,000 in Ruth Hassell-Thompson's northern Bronx district.

Kruger, Diaz, Espada, Parker and Hassell-Thompson have emerged as the leading opponents of rescuing the MTA from collapse by imposing a tax on payrolls and tolls on the East River and Harlem River bridges.

This is the only viable plan for averting a 23% fare hike, elimination of subway and bus lines and deep subway-maintenance cuts. Gov. Paterson and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver back it because there is no choice.

Kruger, Diaz, Espada, Parker and Hassell-Thompson balk at tolls, placing the interests of a minority of drivers over the quality of life and pocketbooks of far more constituents. And none has offered a sane alternative.

They are living in a fantasyland, especially Kruger. Yesterday, he proposed a scheme that would be laughable were he not Finance Committee chairman. He'd have the state borrow billions, give the MTA a slice and put the rest in the stock market in hopes of hitting a jackpot to repay the loan. Is that how he manages his affairs?

These people need to come back to Earth.

Kruger's district, including Brighton Beach, Sheepshead Bay and Mill Basin, has 20 subway stops. He is on track to hammer 109,737 commuters.

Diaz's (Soundview, Hunts Point, Morrisania) has 20 stations, 123,651 riders; Parker's (Flatbush, East Flatbush) 11 stations, 77,920 riders; Espada's (Tremont, Kingsbridge, Bedford Park) 15 stations, 111,403 riders; Hassell-Thompson's (Wakefield, Baychester, Crotona Park), 12 stations, 56,389 riders.

That doesn't count constituents who use nearby stations in other districts, or tens of thousands of bus riders.

Far fewer residents use untolled bridges. In Espada's district, more than 70% don't even own cars.

Unless they change course, Kruger, Diaz, Espada, Parker and HassellThompson will inflict huge costs and inconveniences on almost a half-million subway riders in their districts. Plus hundreds of thousands of bus riders. Plus millions more citywide.

They need to see the light.

ILX must pitch in to buy dr. morbius a bike.

I have a feeling part of the problem with the tolls on bridges and etc is that a lot of city employees, including people who WORK FOR the MTA, all drive. You think many cops take the subway to work? I've been walking past the precinct house on Washington & Park Pl, and I'm guessing none of them do.

i dunno laurel i feel like i commute with cops every day

Oh hmm I dunno, then. I just have this general impression that a lot of city employees live farther out in the boroughs where it's almost suburban (or outside of the city entirely) and drive to work. I don't know where that came from, exactly.

i know what you mean, laurel. i do see a decent number of mta employees commuting via train, but never cops.

the 1 has been awful lately!!!!

ya i think most of the cops i see are coming from the far outer reaches of the A--which is almost where i am--which is probably hwy i see them

Maybe because a lot of city jobs are basically blue-collar and the people who hold them are from blue-collar families that used to live in immigrant neighborhoods closer to (or in) Manhattan but are able to make above working-class wages by being police/firemen/etc? So when they can afford to, they move their families as far from the city conditions as possible; it's like a big dream to own a house with a lawn.

I may have just read too many memoirs, though.

M.T.A. Increases Fares and Cuts Services

The board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted Wednesday morning to enact a series of fare hikes and service cutbacks needed to keep the transit system from going broke.

The fare hikes on the subway and buses, including an increase in the base subway and bus fare to $2.50, from $2, will take effect May 31.

Commuter rail fares will increase June 1. Tolls on the authority’s bridges and tunnels will also go up, with the increase taking effect in mid-July.

The service cuts are far reaching. They include the elimination of 35 bus routes and two subway lines, the W and Z. Off-peak and weekend subway, bus and commuter rail service will also be cut back.

the mta board is really deserving of assassination

Off-peak and weekend subway, bus and commuter rail service will also be cut back.

Fuck the bastards

service cutbacks needed to keep the transit system from going broke.

Fuck the City Room blog

we should probably riot like the french

im into rioting and looting

Surely the NY state senate, who have blocked any attempt to raise funds by other means (tolls on east river and harlem river bridges, manhattan congestion charging etc.)