Month: September 2007

MTA Discriminates Against Dimes

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What an outrage. Where’s Al Sharpton when you need him. Oh yeah…he’s busy trying to get himself on TV with the Jena 6. Anyway, we’ve recently learned that the MTA hates dimes.

Yup…you heard it right here. The MTA Metrocard machines do not take dimes. They can handle dimes, quarters, and those retarded dollar coins, but not so much with the dimes.

Turns out the proposed fare hike should only be 10 cents, but since the MetroCard machines can’t dispense change with dimes, they decided to round up to a quarter.

It’s enough of a pain in the ass when you get a bunch of those dollar coins back. If the fare were $2.10, you’d get 45 pounds of nickels back. I say let them make it $2.10. We’ll then take all the nickels, put them in a sock, and get to swinging!

Seriously, what were they thinking when they got these machines?

Page Six Ads Just Plain Stupid

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six.jpg

Ok, I just have to get this off my chest. The New York Post has these f*cking stupid ads up on the subway for “Page Six.” They are taking their already lame section and turning it into a Sunday magazine.

“It’s Free in the Sunday New York Post.” Which means it’s not free at all because you have to buy a copy of the post. Yes, I want to wake up Sunday morning and enjoy a fresh cup of coffee while browsing the latest shots of Britney Spears’ cooch.

Besides just being a lame marketing ploy in the first place, the ads themselves drive me nuts because they are trying way to hard to be funny.

“Feeling Six-y”

“Six on the brain”

“Put more Six in your Sunday”

For those that don’t know, Page Six is the gossip section of the post. Historically, the paper always put the dirty laundry on that page. Eventually, people started saying, “Did you see the story about _________ on page six?”

The lameness was born, and now it has been turned into a sub-brand.

It should be called, “Page Keep this Shit Out of the Newspaper Because There’s More Important Things Happening in the World.”

Now, we have to stare at these things all the way to work. Is that fair?

MTA Kicking the Idea of Peak/Off Peak Pricing for Subways

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The MTA released a proposal today to increase fares on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North by 6.5%, and 25 cents for the subway.

Part of the proposal calls for a peak and off peak system to be implemented for MetroCard users.   Peak rides would cost $2.25.  Off peak rides would only cost $1.50.  These rates only apply to the pay-per-ride system.

Unfortunately, unlimited MetroCard rates would go up to $82.00, an increase of 8%.

Any proposed fare hike could take effect as early as next year.

At this point, I say bring it on.  I mean really, I am just tired of the whole debate. The fare hike is just a reality that is going to happen.  I mean sure, there are probably a dozen or more alternative ways to make up the missing revenue, but we simply don’t have the leadership to get any of them done.

There’s probably a way to not only avoid a hike, but to get a fare cut.  Unfortunately, the entire system is too highly politicized.  There are too many people involved in the process, so it makes any nontraditional method a complete nightmare implement.

Keeping the Water Out Prevents Flooding. Brought to You By the MTA Office of Obvious Information

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Ok, first of all, the MTA recently released a report about the August 8th flooding incident.  It was 88 pages long.  I shit you not.

There are 88 whole pages explaining that water and electric trains don’t mix.

There, in one sentence, I summed up what took the MTA 88 pages to explain.

At the six most flood-prone stations, the MTA and city Department of Transportation will design raised sidewalk gratings and perhaps add a step to entrances to keep water out. [NY Post]

Yes folks, adding a little step outside the subway entrances will actually significantly improve the situation should there be a sneak rain storm again.  Sometimes the simplicity of these solutions are so obvious that it makes my head hurt.

I mean seriously, when rain is cascading down the subway stairs like a waterfall, then yeah, a little lip at the top of the stairs sure would help!

The MTA also says it is going to invest in weather prediction systems like Doppler radar so that a storm can’t sneak up when no one is looking any more.  They are also going to work on alerting the media sooner when there is a major problem.  Oh, and making sure mta.info is up even on emergency days will be important too.

Subway Stations Getting Wired for Cellphones and WiFi

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cellphone.jpg 

That sounds strange doesn’t it:  “Stations getting wired for wireless.”

Anyway, after two long years of debate and negotiation, it seems that the MTA is finally moving forward with wiring stations for wireless access. 

Currently, cellphone reception is extreemly limited in the subway because your essentially burried under 50 of dirt and concrete…not so good for wireless communication.  So, the powers that be are looking to install access points in the subways so that our wireless devices will work.

Newsday reports that the a consortium called Transit Wireless has come to an agreement that simply needs to pass MTA board approval next week.  The plans call for 6 stations to be wired over the next 2 years. 

The remaining 270+ stops would be wired over the following 4 years. 

Just as a side note, if they are planning to move forward with this, wouldn’t it make sense to wire the 2nd Avenue Line during the constuction process?  I would think it would be easier to do it as it was being built versus doing it after the fact.  I digress.

Still no word about which stations will be wired first or who the wireless carrier will be.  Also, there will continue to be no service in the tunnels. 

The consortium will pay all of the $46 million cost, which means it will cost the MTA (and ulimately the riders) nothing.  Finally business decisions that make sense!

The entire concept of cellular service in the subway opens up a new weath of communication opportunities.  This could mean that the MTA will set up a text messaging service for train delays.  For example, if a line gets diverted because of a stalled train, riders could get a text message alerting them to the situtation.  It would now make sense because we would actually be able to get the text message while standing on the platforms. 

There’s also the more obvious advantages like being able to call someone to tell them you are going to be late because your train is inexplicably not running.  Maybe there will be more people that actually say something when they see something?!

Too Close for Comfort

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Really?  I mean REALLY?  With all the problems this year associated with track worker safety, does this really seem safe?  You tell me.Granted, this tape was shot in January 2007, but still.  I bet it still happens today.

Track workers squeeze into safety space to avoid approaching train.

Subway Nearly Mows Down Multiple Track Workers in Astoria

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 Subway Tripper

Well it’s official now. If you are a subway track worker, it’s time to take out a little extra life insurance. By the look of things, it is a complete miracle every time you guys make it out of there alive.

You’ve basically got 4 different fault points at any given time where you could die on the tracks. They are: You’re own mistakes, Your supervisor not doing their job, the train drivers not obeying signals, or a technology failure.

Two workers in Queens were nearly mowed down by a train that failed to stop at red signal on September 6th. The Daily News just found out about this open investigation.

Apparently, the men were working as per usual. The supervisor was working along side them, which seems like a nice thing to do, but he should have been SUPERVISING. Why? Because a train decided to blow through a red signal just down the tracks from where they were working.

You’ve probably seen a tripper before and didn’t even know it. It looks like a little arm that lifts up just after a train leaves the station (pictured above).  It’s usually covered in black soot except for the top which is painted yellow. Then after the train gets far enough down the tracks, it lowers. If there were to be a runaway train, the tripper would hit the emergency brakes of the train as it rolls by.

That’s what saved the supervisor’s life. The other track workers said he completely froze as the train approached. He just stood there. The tripper hit the emergency brakes, and the train stopped 75 feet away!

“The supervisor was not supervising. He was working and not in tune with keeping us safe,” the second worker wrote in his report of the incident. [Daily News]

So really, what chance could you really stand?

[Photo via Flickr]

NY1 Does Poll to Determine the Obvious

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I think there’s a fundamental truth to subway riding that we can all agree upon:  The trains are cleaner than they were in the 80’s, but in general, the commute has not changed in 30 years.

Well, NY1 took the time to make it official…exclusively.

“The trains are cleaner, there’s no more graffiti on them,” said a straphanger at Brooklyn’s Dekalb Avenue station. “But I think the basic commute is not really any significant change.”

Sorry Bobby if you’re reading, but I just don’t get it.

Also, many (if not most) believe that things have actually gotten worse.  I guess there are just about as many trains, but they are clearly over crowded.  So yay for fancy polling.

Central Park South Horse Carriage Crash

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I seem to be walking right into breaking news lately.

This afternoon I was walking across Central Park South towards Columbus Circle. In front of Mickey Mantle’s, there was quite a scene.  Two horses went bizerk and caused a car accident.

By the time I got there, it had already happened, and they were removing one of the horses.  Here’s the story I heard from a guy who witnessed the whole thing.

There was a guy walking down the sidewalk banging on a drum.  He ended up spooking a stopped horse.  If you’ve ever walked along CPS, you know that is where the horses stop to rest and eat.  The hansoms usually “park” them on a 45 degree angle.  So the drum spooked the horse.  As a result, the horse reared up and bolted up on to the sidewalk.

However, it didn’t get far at all because it’s harness got stuck on a light-post.  So the horse stepped back and got its foot stuck in the carriage wheel, and broke it’s leg.

All that insanity spooked the horse in front of it.  The second horse just bolted straight across the street 90 degrees into traffic.  It ended up on the hood of a small Mercedes.  It really crunched it up pretty bad.  The light, bumper, and hood were all bent up.

Meanwhile, there was some guy sitting across the street eating in Mickey Mantle’s.  He just so happened to be some sort of horse expert.  He ran across the street and took the second horse off the hood of the car, unhooked it from its carriage, walked it over to a light pole, and tied it up.  He then worked on calming the horse down, which he did.  He then went to attend to the first, injured horse.

The first horse ended up being put down right there on the scene.  However, it took over 40 minutes for emergency officials to respond!  Other than some mounted police, no one with animal control showed in time to save the animal.  Some cops told passers by that the horse was just tranquilized.  However, others told reporters that it had in fact been euthanized.

All of this on the way to the subway.  Quite the afternoon!