Month: March 2009

Another Nail in the Fare Hike Coffin

subwayblogger9 Comments

Aaaand we inch ever closer to the $2.50 single ride and the $103 monthly unlimited. The final vote is Wednesday.

I don’t claim to be that good at math, but eventually the unlimited card is just not worth it.  I mean, the average commuter is going to take the train twice a day, 5 days a week, 4 weeks a month.  That’s 40 total rides.  At $2.50 a ride, that’s $100.

Eventually, I think I’m just going to buy a $100 regular card and get my extra 6 free rides ($15).  There’s rarely a month that goes by where I take 6 rides on the weekend.  When I head out on the weekend, I’m usually cabbing it up.

SUBWAYblogger MIA

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Sorry we’ve been missing in action the last few weeks.  We’re getting back on track ASAP (pun intended).

It’s been an insane few weeks around the office, and it has totally dominated every waking moment.  The thought of writing even more, even via Blackberry on the train, was overwhelming.

Things are finally calming down, so we’re hoping for a triumphant return.

In the mean time, the long awaited South Ferry station has finally opened.  I did, however, think the water main break yesterday was kind of funny.  Here they are launching the new South Ferry station, yet 1 trains were terminating at 14th Street because of the water around Canal Street.

Anyway, here’s what people are saying:

Snow in New York City

subwayblogger5 Comments

Snoooooooooow.

This morning’s snow really pisses me off.  I was totally getting into the thought of it becoming spring.  Even on Friday, it was really nice.  You barely needed a jacket.  Then, wham!  All this snow.

It’s total bull.

So it should make this morning’s commute a gem.  Actually, what will really be interesting is when it all starts to melt and flood the tracks.  That will be really pretty.

In the immediate sense, all we have to deal with is falling down the stairs as you enter the subway.  No biggie.

Unfortunately, the subway stairs have these metal plates on them that have diamond patters cut into them.  They also have a somewhat abrasive texture to them.

In wet conditions, they work pretty well.  It adds a little traction to what are otherwise tile (freaking stupid) stairs.  However, when it snows, the metal plates tend to cling to the snow.  Under foot traffic, snow gets tracked onto the stairs and then gets packed into the textured plates.  It builds up over time and then gets really slick.  Read More »