Subways are for sleeping: NYC Transit survival thread

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 My union, DC 37, is waiting to hear if our promised 8% raise (over the next 2 years) is going to be rescinded.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"