Subways are for sleeping: NYC Transit survival thread

if I have kids I will take them to the suburbs once a year for trick or treating + yearly anthropology lesson

What are you talking about? It's the best day of the year! It's so cute to see kids in costumes rampaging the local businesses.

yeah but getting candy from a local business is just not the same, the candy is usually crappy and the kids also get rejected like half the time

I just find the whole thing very sad

I find it better--even though half the time the businesses say, "We're out of candy!" I dunno--I think it's so cute to see rampaging kids on the loose in Queens.

At my library, we will never say, "We're out of candy--move on." Not on my watch!

kids are always rampaging on the loose in queens

are your lights flickering?

Off and on. After I finish off this bottle of wine I will be texting you desperately with candy corn requests.

http://secondavenuesagas.com/2012/10/29/sandy-updates-water-entering-lower-manhattan-subways/

Updated (10:56 p.m.): According to reports from the MTA, water entered the under-river tubes connecting Manhattan to Brooklyn as the Sandy storm surge overtook the city.

MTA
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@MTAInsider
We can confirm that there has been water infiltration into the New York City Subway tunnels under the East River. We cannot confirm a depth.
29 Oct 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite
Earlier in the day, the MTA offered up some information on salt water interacting with the subway system. Even after removal, salt remains on sufaces, and the salte can accelerate corrosion. Any surface impacted by flooding has to be cleaned or replaced. It’s difficult to estimate the time required to clear a flooded tunnel and bring equipment and stations back into service. The timeline depends upon the height of the storm sturge, its speed and the extent of flooding. Generally, the longer a tunnel is flooded, the longer it will take to return to service.

According to the MTA, up to four feet of water entered a Lower Manhattan station as well earlier on Monday. Kevin Ortiz, Transit spokesman speaking on CBS 2, stressed that it could take anywhere from 14 hours to more than four days to restore service if the tunnels are flooded. Once salt water hits switches and signals, all bets are off for any quick service restoration until the system can be inspected and repaired.

Speaking with The Wall Street Journal, MTA Chairman Joe Lhota said the extent of flooding is “quite serious.” Despite earlier rumors that suggested we could go a week without subway service, Lhota cautioned against such a set timeline. “We’re trying to get an estimate of what if anything we’re dealing with here,” he said.

Still, one MTA source told Ted Mann that “it could be a long time” until full service is restored. No official estimates will be released until the extent of the flooding and damage can be determined, and the MTA repeatedly downplayed early rumors of a week-long service outage:

MTA
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@MTAInsider
Rumors are wrong. The MTA cannot assess damage until Tuesday. It is way too early for a subway reopening timetable.
29 Oct 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite
Here’s what Adam Lisberg, the authority’s head spokesman, said via Twitter:

Adam Lisberg@adamlisberg
Entire Hudson River is flowing into Ground Zero, Carey Tunnel and subways. It sounds like Niagara Falls. Too dark for pic.
29 Oct 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite
Meanwhile, speaking on WNYC, transit reporter Andrea Bernstein said that Bowling Green is the station under water. Pumps are operating on generators and are independent of the power outages currently plaguing Manhattan south of 39th Street. It’s unclear how the rest of the system is impacted right now. I’ll keep updating this post as more information comes in (and, with the lights flickering, as long as I have power).

@jdavidgoodman: MTA: Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel is "flooded from end to end" from #Sandy

Takeaway MTA quote via Naked Capitalism: “We have to examine the entire 600 miles of subway track before we consider even turning it back on.”

I'm writing off going to the office (Soho, so no power right now anyway) for the week, but worried that the staff of my chemotherapy center in Brooklyn won't be able to get there THURSDAY for my next session.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/10/some-hidden-casualties-of-hurricane-sandy.html#l23AdYSeJ3Z00GQl.99

Lhota early today:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/10/28/nyregion/hurricane-sandy.html#sha=b994d74eb

I can p much guarantee that my boss will expect me to walk to an elevated train, find an express bus, or ride my bike to work by...Thursday? I would bet on it.

http://i.imgur.com/3DtTl.jpg no details on where this is

christie sez path could be out 7-10 days

xp it has to be Harlem or the very southern tip of the Bronx, but I don't know those stations well enough to say which one....

yeah there aren't really any tells beyond that

My commute is on the elevated 7--does that mean I'll have to go back to work some day? Our closures are usually tied to those of the NYC schools.

the 7 can (and as we know too well) run just from qbp to flushing, so regardless of what happened to the steinway tunnel, I can almost guarantee you that you will be able to take the 7 in queens tomorrow. people commuting to manhattan, who knows...

Oh no! Bloomberg just said bus service restored by tomorrow.

Oh yes! Schools closed tomorrow.

if buses are running lots of people can 'get to work' but it might be a total clusterfuck capacity-wise

I wonder if trains like the M (the nearest elevated train to me) will get to running just across the river and back? I suppose even doing that would require it to descend into Delancey-Essex stn, so probably no...

Bloombutt also said trains out 4-5 days.

no fares for buses today or tomorrow
jfk gonna open tomorrow, lga has extensive damage
subway system will go up piece by piece. presumably lotsa overgrounds will be running but the tunnels seem bad.

I'm off Wednesday, but they're going to try and make us go back to work Thursday, by bus if necessary. Not a problem for me, as I live relatively near, but thats not the case for many of my colleagues. Some of the libraries in the Rockaways are likely damaged and will be closed.

Apparently there are express buses from FH to midtown, and my office is open tomorrow, but I'm a little concerned about the kind of crowds we're going to get -- I mean a bus is like what, one or two subway cars worth of people, and all the . Alternatively, I have a car but I don't know if the office will reimburse me for parking. I was thinking maybe I'd try to find free or cheap parking in LIC and then walk over the bridge, but that might be crazy.

hmm sentence got cut off

yeah if my office is open tomorrow I'm going to try to take the q32, which runs along the 7 and then to penn station in manhattan - very close to my job. but even if it's running at full capacity I'm worried about how many people might attempt this.

I also might just walk, which I do sometimes anyway.

I think walking for me would take like 2 hours. Sort of wish I had a bike and was more of a biker - could be fun to ride to work.

eh I am obv pro-biking in theory but I would not personally enjoy biking from forest hills to manhattan, off the top of my head I cannot think of a particularly pleasant way to do that. the safest route would also be v indirect and biking down queens blvd is for crazies.

that's true. I guess I was thinking maybe there's some side route, but perhaps there just isn't.

no, the best way to do it would prob be 108th to jackson heights, then 34th avenue all the way to sunnyside. it's an easy/nice ride after that, but that's a very big right angle.

another thing you could consider is just getting a black cab to manhattan or the bridge and not having to worry bout parking

tho I suppose they will also be scarce

True. I have relatives near work and I can park in their building at a deep discount, which may work out to the same as a black cab (which could also be hard to get tomorrow).

what's the deal with the express buses normally - are they available on unlimited cards or do you have to pay the fare?

nope can't use unlimiteds on them

don't bike, the aptmt I am staying at now, the immediate previous tenant was a biker who was killed

ah. Man, weird, so people pay $5.50 to take a bus that goes straight from here to midtown when there's an E train that gets there in three stops and probably less time for half price.

yeah I don't get it either when it comes to those kinda trips, also you can take the lirr

people who fear being underground maybe? or perhaps there was a time when buses were legitimately safer than subways

yeah but who's gonna mug you on the lirr!

Bus easier to get onto if your old or disabled?

that's true but the $5.50 buses are mostly for professionals and old/disabled people take the regular bus

it is, as they say, a mystery

queens blvd looked like the 405 and the closest bus stop had a 60 person line. walked.

http://twitpic.com/b9229c

The New York City subway system will begin running limited service tomorrow, and limited Metro-North and LIRR service will start today at 2 p.m., Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced. There will be no subway service south of 34th St. in Manhattan as there is no power south of 34th St., and the MTA will supplement subway service with a bus bridge from Brooklyn to Manhattan as crews continue to pump out the East River subway tubes. Full service is expected to be restored slowly.

According to earlier reports, the MTA may still have to conduct riderless testing of the subway system tonight to judge the safety and status of the infrastructure. If everything passes, the plan Cuomo announced will be put into place. As of now, the MTA has not yet anounced which part of what lines will run, and the authority hasn’t determined what to do with the time that has ticked off of unlimited ride MetroCards. But it seems that some subway service will come back on Thursday.

Details to follow.

and the authority hasn’t determined what to do with the time that has ticked off of unlimited ride MetroCards

obv give everybody an extra week