Month: August 2008

College Students Are Back

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The freshmen are in town.  I’ve seen a lot of tour groups riding the subway.  I know they are tour groups because one kid has a t-shirt on that says “orientation leader.”

I guess part of the orientation process is learning how to get around the city.  If so, that’s pretty cool that they take the out of town kids around to get them acclimated to city life.

I overheard some in depth discussions about uptown vs downtown and express vs local…haha.

Honestly, the orientation leaders should just talk about the subway and stops in terms of bars.  Instead of calling the stop West 4th Street, call it Off the Wagon, Down the Hatch, and 124 Rabbit Club…etc.

Over Energetic Train Conductor

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Have you ever been riding to subway and heard an over energetic subway conductor that looooves to use the PA system?

There’s one guy on my line that gets into his little announcements way too much.  On the one hand, it’s awesome because you can always hear him loud and clear.  On the other hand, it gets a bit overwhelming.

He gets everyone psyched up to make the transfer to the train across the platform.

“Ok passengers.  There’s an express train right across the platform that just opened it’s doors.  Let’s do this…here we go.”

“C’mon everybody.  Be nice.  Make some room…I know you’re thinner than that.”

He can be kinda funny and nerdy at the same time.

Some are just a**holes with it.  They scream at you the whole time about blocking the doors.  As if that’s actually going to make people move faster.

Escalator Service at 59th Street Subway 50% Restored

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Well, I guess that’s at least half way cool.  It seems that the up escalator at the 59th Street/Columbus Circle station has been restored.  After what’s been about 4 months or more (?), that thing is finally getting back up and running.

Unfortunately, I can’t get on the MTA’s case for this because it is not controlled by them.  The escalators are actually run by the Time Warner Center itself.

What’s funny is that they can fix the mall escalator in a matter of hours.  Hell, it only took a week to install them new in the first place.  However, when it comes to the subway, it takes forever.

Anyone have some Double Mint gum?

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A funny improv mob hit the 6 train to create the human mirror.

Fifteen sets of twins, dressed identically, boarded a train and sat directly across from each other.  They mimicked each other’s every move.  They then waited for people on the train to notice the real life human mirror, then taped their reactions.

Pretty funny.  That would be pretty freaky to see in person.  I would probably have stood there for five minutes or more before realizing it.  The whole time though knowing that “something is strange here…but I can’t quite put my finger in it.”

Well, that’s comforting

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Just when you finally managed to stop pondering all of the things that could go wrong when riding the NYC Subway, it turns out that the computer system that controls the trains crashed for a few minutes yesterday.

It was only “down” for a few moments.  However, when it came back online, the system was unable to find many of the trains in the system.

The system that crashed only controls the numbered lines.  While the system went down and recovered, many trains were forced remain in stations or mid-tunnels while dispatchers manually radioed individual trains to determine their location.  Yikes.

Perhaps some of the MTA employees that read SUBWAYblogger could enlighten us on why the computer can’t locate trains after a reboot.  I assume the trains have to pass some sort of sensor on the track.  So if the trains weren’t moving, they hadn’t passed over a sensor since the reboot.

MIT Kids: Turns Out We Have Our Own Hackers

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Thanks though!

Wouldn’t you know it.  Just as the MTBA up north digs into their own issues with computer geeks hacking the CharlieCard, it turns out we have our own homegrown hackers right here in NYC.

I had written a post wishing the MIT students would come down here and beat up on the Metrocard system, but it turns out there was a few guys that already hit the jackpot…a $800,000 jackpot as a matter of fact.

Apparently, three guys discovered a vulnerable Metrocard machine at Penn Station that they somehow got to spit out cards.  They would then sell the rides.

However, it looks like they started the scam back in 2005, and it’s taken this long for them to arrest the guys.  An audit revealed the discrepancy, but who knows how long that took to uncover.

BREAKING: Station at 53rd Street & 7th Ave Evacuated

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Apparently there is a strange odor at the 53rd and 7th station that has caused it to be evacuated.

B, D, and E trains are bypassing the station at this time, and last we heard, passengers are not being allowed to enter the station.  However, the MTA says the V train is running with residual delays.  So I guess it’s at least partially open?

The strange odor is allegedly coming from a faulty elevator motor.  Of course, that is no shock.

Sweet Child O’ Mine, Subway Style

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In other musical news today, have you ever seen this guy?  He’s awesome.

He has a synthesiser on his violin or something that makes it sound sort of like an electric guitar.  So it’s like a hard rock hairband with a fiddle.

Axl would be so proud.

Ok, we promise no more subway music for a while.