Subways are for sleeping: NYC Transit survival thread

can you imagine the jabber? "hi honey, I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be"

"I just checked the mta website and the train is being held in the station due to a delay in service."

now what will happen to the tradition of everyone pulling out their phone when they get to the Manhattan Bridge to text "I'm on the bridge"

Overheard on Times Square 7 platform:
"A skillful conductor can manipulate those doors so that they are either in or they're out"
"I'm not that skillful yet"
"Soon you will be. You will be the master, you will be the SENSEI!"

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/10/07/2010-10-07_mta_set_to_approve_subway_bus_and_commuter_train_fare_hikes.html

$2.50 a ride

The monthly is what I care about. I need my unlimited card, not a limited monthly.

well enjoy your $104 monthly

fuck this -- let's tax cigarettes an extra $5 instead

lets execute the mta board

I shrug at the raise, but I heard they were EITHER going to offer an unlimited for $104 or a 90-trip card for less, which wd fuck ppl who like to leave home on the weekends.

lets execute the mta board

mta board sure isn't responsible for killing congestion pricing, isn't in control of how much dedicated transit $ albany decides to steal and...it's run by relatively competent people! not that MTA is blameless but this was basically inevitable.

$104 monthly card is still the best transit deal in america.

ps I steal all my arguments from benjamin kabak (secondavenuesagas.com/) but there seriously isn't a better informed dude on this subject and everyone should read that blog regularly

but yeah w/r/t 'best transit deal' - I mean, ask people in the bay area or LA if they'd be willing to pay...$3.50 a day...for an extensive 24/7 subway and bus system. one where you can go from the rockaways to the bronx for the same price as going anywhere else. I have friends in the bay area who have a $8 daily commute - and they don't have an unlimited pass to show for it.

although $104 sucks and def is gonna hit me, the fact that they're keeping it unlimited is 10x more important in the long run.

$104 monthly card is still the best transit deal in america

yeah, but, what with new york being so far and away the most public-transport-utilising city in america, isn't it self defeating to start fucking with the ridership like this? there were some pretty good discussions on ilx amid the fare increase debacle last year about the cyclical nature of keeping costs down (leading to increased ridership and revenue) versus increasing costs (lower ridership, more transport on the road, less efficient buses, etc etc). it should be ringfenced to some degree because it's so overwhelmingly and positively used by the people in the city.

i know nothing about this kinda thing so going to check out the blog link btw, i accept corrections on the above.

it's not 'fucking with the ridership' it's 'trying to pay the bills'! there's nobody at the MTA who's secretly gleeful that they get to screw the riders, and it's not like they get raises w/ every fee increase.

like the large majority of transit operations, fees only pay a fraction of the costs, so money is either gonna come from the state/new taxes or from ridership. the state underfunds the most public-transit-utilising city in america - this is a political problem.

oh sure, and i'm not laying anything on mta as i have no idea how things work; i just mean that it's unfortunate that, as something that might have the sheer volume of participants to avoid a lot of the difficulties of financing a sprawling, comprehensive network, it isn't able to do so neatly. i have no idea whose fault this is.

http://www.streetsblog.org/2010/10/07/fare-hike-2011-its-official/

anyone else get fucked by the N/Q today? was stuck on a train under the east river for 30 mins before they figured out they couldn't progress further cause of a broken track, and took the train in reverse. buses were filled so I ended up walking across the qb bridge, as did quite a few others.

I ain't never walked across SHIT, that would be a sign for me to stay the fuck home for the day.

http://www.streetsblog.org/2010/11/18/cuomo-on-mta-raids-transit-funds-are-fungible/

during the campaign it seemed possible that cuomo's MTA bashing was just posturing, but so far it seems that no, actually he's planning on being pretty horrible for NYC transit

hate the bastard

but hey, we might be able to take the #7 to Secaucus in ten years.

yeah it's a pretty stupid idea but it has to be put in the context of 'NYC just trying to get those billions of fed $ that NJ just threw away'. at this point a C+ transit project that has funding is better than an A+ one that doesn't. but anyway, it doesn't look like it's much more than a pipe dream at this time.

wait what fed $ did we just throw away?

Gov Chrischrischristie pulled the plug on a new NY-NJ rail tunnel

omg I can't even begin deal with what a fucking douchebag he is

http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/11/12/quotes-chris-christies-wife-told-him-to-axe-hudson-tunnel/

that stupid woman earned her place in history

ed koch bridge

I never knew the 59th Street was a racist, closet-case reactionary bridge.

but no trains run over it surely?

grisly F/G delays this morning

http://gothamist.com/2010/12/13/police_investigating_another_train.php

I was at Union Station the other night when this happened:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/train_suffering_39bd6X65KyYQ50xtFobNGJ

I didn't actually see it, but friends of mine who had been at the same event and left minutes later than us were there -- one of my friends tried to pull the guy up when he fell but he was completely stuck and pulling only would make it worse.

I always wonder how much it would cost to set up a plexiglass wall w/ automatic doors. they have it on one line in paris, but that's the futuristic computer-driven line...so it's easy for the train to line up perfectly w/ the doors.

obv it would be unfeasible system-wide, esp w/ the elevated trains, but maybe someone could think up a way to do it for cheap. it's just walls and doors ffs. but then again, nyc subway is getting countdown clocks 20 years after the rest of the world, so this would be 2120 technology regardless.

so wot's running? the 2/3 and...?

NY1:

...Service has been restored on one A train that was stalled in Queens since 1 a.m.

New York City Transit spokesman Charles Seaton says that snow drifts and
ice on the third rail stalled trains at the Broad Channel and Aqueduct stops in Queens, north and south of JFK Airport.

NY1 art director Christopher Mullen was among those stranded and said a rescue train arrived shortly after 8 a.m. and got the train moving. He, and about a dozen others were without food, water or heat throughout the night.

:O

hence, fare increase on Thursday.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/large/215666555.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=0ZRYP5X5F6FSMBCCSE82&Expires=1293510299&Signature=dr2MnpN74EkrDq%2FnAFOWyQ%2FD1Mw%3D

O_O

has anyone taken a ride this morning? F train listed with "delays," Q not running at all.

just took the A down to 59th and then back up to 181st. ran okay

oh, Manhattan doesn't count!

just took the A down to 59th and then back up to 181st. ran okay

Like, just for shits and giggles??

What's that one station up in the 100's that's styled like it was hit by an earthquake or something? And there are these weird black
bench seats on the platform

Like, just for shits and giggles??

Uh, no.

Oh, I read that as, like, "I just rode the subway down and back again; I love to ride the subway!"

the n was a pain in the ass for me today

Q seems to be back. Rode from Union Square to 7th Av in Brooklyn tonight with no problems.

2/3 has been solid throughout.

hence, fare increase on Thursday.

did they decide not to put in the limit on "unlimited" rides? can't find anything about that on the MTA site. if they did put that in on top of a $15 (!) hike for a monthly card that's fucked up.

no, the monthly remains unlimited.

thank jesus