The only blog written from the NYC Subway system

Mayor Bloomberg went on a little trip to London this week.  He liked what he saw in their public transporation system.  All of their busses and subways have 2 to 3 cameras in each car.

I think it is a great idea.  It will hopefully make us safer…that’s obvious.  But what I’m really hoping it will do is cut down on the graffiti and defacement of the subways. 

Bloomberg also enjoyed their community bike program.

I hate all that etched crap that those asshole wannabe artists/gangsters tag on the windows.  This would catch them on tape.  Of course, this all assumes that there would be some sort of enforcement associated with the taping.  It will not do any good if the police don’t follow up on what they see.  So I guess that’s just another challenge. 

Unfortunately, Bloomberg said something that I know is going to come back to haunt him almost immediately: 

“We just have to do something here to make the city safer. Sadly, it is a little bit of an infringement on your rights,” Bloomberg told a news conference. [Reuters]

Some NYC busses have cameras mounted in them.  However, you don’t often hear of many bus related crimes for some reason.

Anway, our subway survelance security is pretty pathetic.  There’s entire stops that have one or no cameras at all.

There’s a reason that there’s cameras every 8 feet in casinos, banks, federal buildings, shopping malls, etc.  They help protect the people and the property. 

Protecting the people has its obvious benefits.  Protecting the property protects what Americans value most…their money.  Lowering vandalism will actually save tax payer/fare payer money in the long run.

Well, I felt inspired by a friend’s first subway ride this past weekend. I started poking around the blogosphere, and I found that a lot of people write about a their crazy subway experiences. So, I went to the blog search engines and typed in “crazy subway ride.” Here’s some of the highlights.

Bamboo Soldiers: (link)

We took a loud and crazy subway ride to 42nd street (after getting lost during a transfer when I led all 30 kids on a wrong train back to Brooklyn and didn’t realize it till they told me “Ms. Momii-Roberts I think we’re going back to school?”).

Kevin and the City: (link)

This whole trip was accompanied by a crazy subway ride complete with homeless crazy men, and Jackie and I belting out showtunes. So we smoke and drink and watch Jackie shave her armpits in front of us and I realize this girl is FIERCE with a mother-fucking capital F.

Karen in Connecticut: (link)

If the subway was like this all of the time, I don’t think anyone would ever use it. I’ll give you a little rundown (if I can remember it all).

1. We exited the park on 72nd St and took the B (orange) train.
2. At 59th St. (Columbus Circle), we switched to the 2 (red) train, which should’ve brought us to South Ferry (right in Battery Park). But there was construction going on. So the furthest downtown it went was 14th St.
3. At 14th St. we walked a few blocks (underground) to the L train, which took us to Union Square (14th St.).
4. At Union Square we boarded the 6 (green) train, which should’ve taken us to Bowling Green (basically Battery Park). But because of construction, it stopped at the Brooklyn Bridge. Continue Reading >>

Apparently, people have been trying to post comments, but have not been able to.  This is because SUBWAYblogger recently upgraded to WordPress 2.3, and the anti-comment spam utility is not compatible.  So, we’ve taken that down. 

You may resume commenting!

Honestly, how long should a subway platform renovation really take? Entire 10 story buildings have been built in the time it has taken for them to set up partitions at the 59th Street/Columbus Circle station.

Ok, I can understand that the physical platforms where the trains arrive can be a little tricky. Clearly, you have to be very careful, precise, and safe. Otherwise, someone could get hurt, or service could be interrupted.

But what’s the excuse for the rest of the station?

The areas not near the platform are a f*cking wreck. Since last winter, they’ve managed to set up lots of blue, plywood walls, and rip down facades. Congrats gentlemen.

Every week there’s a new sign about asbestos and lead removal. They even kicked out that goofy little barbershop and convenience store. It’s like they have 20 different projects all going at once that never get finished.

They’ve been tiling random sections of floor for months. It does NOT take that long to lay some damn tile. Continue Reading >>

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?

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?

Just further proof that black guys can make even the whitest songs sound better.

(I know this isn’t the NYC Subway, but it was too good not to post!)

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.