Subways are for sleeping: NYC Transit survival thread

I have to start work on Monday (just for a couple of months while in town) and I couldn't sleep last night because of anxiety about having to take the train again during rush hours.

Lol day 3 of a new job for me and I guess one non-hellish commute out of three is not bad these days?

Hi @MTA last night I was on an A train stalled under the river for 90 mins (eventually we all had to walk to the front car to hop onto the high st platform) and now I’ve spent 50 mins on a C train that became an F train and is now a D train.

But congrats on the new app pic.twitter.com/bpCcvujrHq

— Kengo Tsutusmi (@kengos) August 8, 2018

Add this to the list of NYC infrastructure failures getting worse with climate change:

The down 4/5/6 platform at Union Square hit 104° F, making it the hottest temperature recorded in the subway. Other similarly busy stations were close behind.https://t.co/ODh21Grffo pic.twitter.com/1EegUkBLy7

— Alexander Kaufman (@AlexCKaufman) August 13, 2018

when I was in Chicago the other day they had an enormous fuck-off industrial fan on the O'Hare platform, and while all these platforms are so crowded I don't know where the MTA would put one, it sure seemed like an amazing idea

meanwhile

nyc subway about to risk it all pic.twitter.com/eBeUOp5pPQ

— angy mobley (@andymoney69) August 13, 2018

Southbound N trains are running on the D line from 36 St to Coney Island Stillwell Av while the NYPD safely retrieve goats from the tracks. pic.twitter.com/oDy0KVk6PL

— NYCT Subway (@NYCTSubway) August 20, 2018

nice Monday

http://gothamist.com/2018/08/27/b_q_n_r_j_z_trains_bad_sad.php

my commute involves three trains and improbably ALL THREE OF THEM lacked air-conditioning

vote Nixon

http://gothamist.com/2018/09/07/subway_mta_forget_it.php

Moving trains a full avenue block away from most of the subway lines while keeping MSG in its current place so that we can have a nice headhouse is NYC's approach to transit in the 21st Century in a nutshell. https://t.co/4YgTKMBPak

— Second Ave. Sagas (@2AvSagas) September 6, 2018

xp -- regardless of one's thoughts on nixon vs. cuomo the air conditioning issue is something neither of them can fix, because it's an issue with cars specific to the 1 and 6 lines, and those cars don't get replaced for about six years (it presumably takes a while to get a replacement of train cars, and they can't pull from lines that run different kinds of cars)

wait, i thought all A-division stock was interchangeable... what would be specific about the 1 and 6? versus the 2, 3, 4, and 5?

but anyway though, cuomo has been governor for eight years - he could have said day one "i am going to build on the recent turnaround in the subway system and prioritize catching up on maintenance and replacing old rolling stock." he didn't. or more recently he could have looked at byford's report-back and said "yup, this is the visionary thinking we need to kick the system into the twenty-first century - we need to fund this urgently, top priority" - he didn't. so at least nixon, by virtue of not being cuomo, hasn't already demonstrated that she doesn't give a shit about teeing up medium- and long-term investments which would include replacement cars.

the cars with the frequently broken air conditioning are R62A cars, almost all of which run on the 1 and the 6 lines (64 cars out of 69 total)

(I haven't been able to find anything that says *why* they only run on the 1 and 6 lines, but I assume there's a reason given that they're the local trains.)

aha, got it, thanks!

wonder if they're just like really old and rickety and consequently no one wants to test them at express speeds...

according to signal problems not really, which is counter-intuitively the problem (since that means they're not a priority to be replaced):

Unfortunately, this means the problem isn’t going away any time soon. Although hot cars are a nuisance—or during heat waves like this week’s, actually dangerous—R62As are still serviceable foot soldiers with a mean distance between failure of 100,475 miles. That’s below the system average of 119,908, but well above the ancient R32s (31,114), R42s (34,217), and R46s (71,357). Those will have to be replaced first.

man, sounds like a lot of cars have needed replacing for a while. if only new york state had had a governor during the past!

but again, i do appreciate you doing my homework for me on the cars!

Dude the R32s were built in 64/65!!

I love em but it’s so insane that they still run them.

sounds like they need to be sunk in the sea like the old 'redbird' cars

i think that's illegal now. but pile them all up in fresh kills park and you have endless opportunities for annual instagrammable artistic installations!

or wait, i've got it - chain them all together, stick pontoons on them, and claim it's a new combination ferry/subway line across the east river. wait for it to fill up with selfie-taking williamsburg condo dwellers on opening day, then sink the whole works.

They were still ‘reefing’ old cars up until a few years ago I think? Not actually sure why they stopped.

last night's D train adventures

http://gothamist.com/2018/09/07/d_train_trap_beware.php

Dude the R32s were built in 64/65!!

Wonder if they were showcased at the World's Fair as "The Subway Car of the 21st Century"

https://media.giphy.com/media/antEdpKLTJ7fq/200.gif

^ This is why I carry a headlamp in my bag.

I think R32s were just a bit too late for the worlds fair. Though the worlds fair train was the r33, confusingly built earlier (the numbers just represent contract order).

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-beautiful-symbols-of-the-new-york-subways-sad-decline

I missed the whole rattan-wicker seat era. Wonder what that was like.

i dimly do... i def remember the fans near the car ceilings.

Cuomo's advisers have urged him "to ride the subway on more than one occasion, according to two knowledgeable sources. The governor has demurred. One explanation has it that the image of a “passive straphanger” doesn't align with the governor’s can-do persona." https://t.co/Nei3BInA01

— Laura Nahmias (@nahmias) September 10, 2018

important question: has any delay in the history of the MTA ever been caused by people failing to USE ALL AVAILABLE DOORS? because it seems to me like people are always using all available doors, just every door is bullshit

yes, we need to run 30 yards and find the more available door

they need to change that to "hey idiot, if you are standing inside the car and blocking an available door, move out of the goddamn way so people can occupy the massive wedge of open space you are bottlenecking"

no way man, gabbneb *earned* that space by the door

Multiple lols

they need to change that to "hey idiot, if you are standing inside the car and blocking an available door, move out of the goddamn way so people can occupy the massive wedge of open space you are bottlenecking"

This would be a good idea for an annoying subway ad!

they need to change that to "hey idiot, if you are standing inside the car and blocking an available door, move out of the goddamn way so people can occupy the massive wedge of open space you are bottlenecking"

― got the scuba tube blowin' like a snork (Doctor Casino), Monday, September 10, 2018 10:37 AM (forty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

what is this "massive wedge of open space" on the subway

massive wedge of gathered humanity maybe

Andrew Cuomo, the man we are supposed to hold our noses and vote for because he's "tough" enough to manage our rough and tumble state government, is scared to ride the subway because he knows a normal New Yorker would heckle him https://t.co/4NG0m8q5II

— Italian Alex Pareene (@pareene) September 10, 2018

varies by line, but on the 1/2/3 I regularly find spacious open cars transformed into cramped misery by a formation of headphone-wearing oblivious columbia undergrads, luggage-toting tourists, et cetera, acting like the random bits of flotsam that turn a cool mountain stream into a mighty, sweaty reservoir

maybe in brooklyn or after 9 pm

Good morning. A cord was pulled on a train at 14 St-Union Sq causing delays and changes in service. We know this is frustrating. Please know we are working on fixing things within the next 5-10 years with our Fast Forward Plan. ^CB

— NYCT Subway (@NYCTSubway) September 13, 2018

lol?

i see u Cuomo

this isn't the subway's fault so much as subway ridership, but if someone has headphones in and is typing furiously on a laptop, on the subway, DURING RUSH HOUR, while visibly stressed to the point of panic, this is not a time to strike up a conversation with them!

icymi

http://gothamist.com/2018/09/17/monday_subway_ughway.php

so...

http://gothamist.com/2018/09/17/cuomo_subway_third_term.php

Yet Another Worrisome Subway Statistic: More People Are Going on the Tracks

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/17/nyregion/nyc-subway-tracks-delays.html

die for yer phone