Tribeca Film Festival: Subway Ads

Tribeca Film Festival 

The Budweiser Select subway ads are back promoting the Tribeca Film Festival again.   They always make me laugh because you don’t think of beer and movies.  You especially never think of the sophisticated film arts crowd and Bud Select.  But there they are, all over the subway.

Clearly, Bud pays for the ads as part of their association with the Film Festival.  So, the Film Festival is just happy go get whatever free advertising they can.  Completely understandable.

So here’s an idea.  I think they should promote that you get a free beer with your ticket when you come to see the films.  Granted, I don’t think that they have much problem selling tickets.  It tends to be a celebrity hotspot.  Even celebs not involved in a specific film show up to “support the art.” 

Last year’s ads are the exact same ones they used this year.  Instead, they should have on there that you get a Bud or two for free during the movie.  I’d probably go…even though it’s cheap beer. 

Who drinks Bud Select anyway?  And what ever happened to Zima?   I digress. 

Here’s why strollers shouldn’t be on the subway

Finally, someone makes my case for me without even knowing it.  This happens more than most people notice, but it’s exactly what is getting in the way of the rest of us.

Example:
The 6 train has been my subway for over 10 years, so it’s quite embarrassing that it took the station manager’s voice finally announcing the next train to make me realize that we were waiting for the wrong one. THU-THUD–the stroller caught on the turnstile on our way out. “God-dammnit” I grunted as I wrenched it over. “Yes, gentleman who is shooting me a look. I did just swear two inches from my child’s face. She doesn’t speak English yet, so get over it.”

However, I will give this mother credit because she was taking this little adventure in the middle of the day around 1pm.  That’s the appropriate time to be out and about with all your baby gear.  8am and 5:30pm are NOT the right times to be out.

Here’s why strollers shouldn’t be on the subway

Finally, someone makes my case for me without even knowing it.  This happens more than most people notice, but it’s exactly what is getting in the way of the rest of us.

Example:
The 6 train has been my subway for over 10 years, so it’s quite embarrassing that it took the station manager’s voice finally announcing the next train to make me realize that we were waiting for the wrong one. THU-THUD–the stroller caught on the turnstile on our way out. “God-dammnit” I grunted as I wrenched it over. “Yes, gentleman who is shooting me a look. I did just swear two inches from my child’s face. She doesn’t speak English yet, so get over it.”

However, I will give this mother credit because she was taking this little adventure in the middle of the day around 1pm.  That’s the appropriate time to be out and about with all your baby gear.  8am and 5:30pm are NOT the right times to be out.

Congestion Pricing: Friend of Foe of the Subway

Good or bad?  Let’s hope good!

Let’s backup.  What is congestion pricing?  Good question.  Congestion pricing is the theory of charging a fee to drive in congested areas of NYC during peak traffic times.

In this case,  rumour has it that Mayor Bloomberg is looking to have everywhere below 86th Street fall in the “fee” zone.  Right now, the proposal may be $8 to get down there.  How the fee would be collected is still up in the air.  Boy would toll booths suck!

Anyway, the idea is to 1) relieve traffic, and 2) improve the environmental quality of the city.  It is forecasted that by 2030, an additional million people will be in the city.

But, people still need to get places, right?  So that means people will be more likely to take public transportation.  That’s the goal anyway.  And everyone’s favorite public transportation method is the subway.

So is this a good thing or a bad thing?

On the bad side:

-More people means more crowds
-More wear and tear
-Slower commute

On the plus side:

-More subway revenue
-More an implied need for more service
-Perhaps delay a fare hike
-More focus on upgrading/maintaining the system

So yeah, it could suck that there would be a ton more people riding the subway.  But it could be a good thing because maybe that would draw more attention to repairing and fixing the subway.  Also, it might require more frequent service.

Ohh, and there’s the plus side of cleaner air and less horns on the road to honk.  So that’s good too, but the straphanger in me is a little scared!

BlackBerry Crash: SUBWAYblogger down for the count today

Blackberry

For once, it was not a MTA failure that caused drama in SUBWAYblogger’s morning commute. This time, it was BlackBerry!

As you may or may not be aware at this point, SUBWAYblogger writes most posts from the subway while actually riding the trains. Then, the posts are published remotely via BlackBerry.

Not today though!

BlackBerry had some major issues today. Most New Yorkers were without their hip-mounted friends for most of the day. Actually, the problem started around 8pm yesterday!

But I guess there’s worse things than a lack of subway related postings. The Canadian Parliament almost came to a screeching halt today. Politicians were throwing their handhelds against the wall.

Can you imagine Wall Street? People were probably wandering around like zombies, not knowing what to do with their lives!

“Please, help keep the subway clean.” I must be missing something

You know what always makes me laugh? The announcements that say, “Ladies and gentlemen, please help keep the subway clean and litter free. Dispose of trash…”

Keep the subway clean? That implies that the subway is clean in the first place, and that all we need to do is help maintain it. Clearly, that’s no where near the case.

How about, “Please help keep the sewer system clean…” Yeah, doesn’t make much sense either.

Maybe if the subway stations and trains were cleaned on a more regular basis, more people would feel obligated to chip in by cleaning up after themselves.

You have to figure that more regular cleanings would help make the system last longer. Parts of the system start falling apart because years of corrosive grime start to pile up. The trains themselves would probably suffer less wear and tear if they were cleaned top to bottom.

In the mean time, the announcement should be changed to something like, “Please help keep the subway from getting worse…”

Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

“Please, help keep the subway clean.” I must be missing something

You know what always makes me laugh? The announcements that say, “Ladies and gentlemen, please help keep the subway clean and litter free. Dispose of trash…”

Keep the subway clean? That implies that the subway is clean in the first place, and that all we need to do is help maintain it. Clearly, that’s no where near the case.

How about, “Please help keep the sewer system clean…” Yeah, doesn’t make much sense either.

Maybe if the subway stations and trains were cleaned on a more regular basis, more people would feel obligated to chip in by cleaning up after themselves.

You have to figure that more regular cleanings would help make the system last longer. Parts of the system start falling apart because years of corrosive grime start to pile up. The trains themselves would probably suffer less wear and tear if they were cleaned top to bottom.

In the mean time, the announcement should be changed to something like, “Please help keep the subway from getting worse…”

Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

Wet enough for you?

 Subway walkway under water

(that’s what she said!)

Don’t you just hate when people say that?  Hot enough for you?  Cold enough for you?

No, thank you.  I prefer much wetter.  I enjoy sitting at my desk all day with wet shoes and pants.  The squishing sound when you walk is my favorite!

So yeah, as we all saw today (and the photo illustrates), the rain was bananas.  Where did you see the most flooding?

Today, I was at the 59th Street/Columbus Circle station today, and it was looking pretty rough.  The entire station is undergoing the most ridiculous looking renovations you’ve ever seen.  The street above the station was tore up all winter long.  Actually, it started back in the fall.  Anyway, there’s many areas where the street is ripped up exposing the subway platform/tracks below.  Naturally, the rain just pours in.

Then there’s tons of other construction going on there.  They are removing tons of asbestos. Yummy.  They also have these stupid “shacks” set up everywhere.  They spend weeks building these temporary rooms in the open areas of the station.  The walls are plywood painted blue, and lord knows what the are storing in there.  All I know is that every time I’ve been there in bad weather, everything is soaking wet.

Then there’s the under water tracks.  With all this track replacement work going on every weekend, how come more drainage isnt being installed?  You would think that since they have the entire trackbed pulled up, it would be pretty easy to add some drains.

Bring your swim fins

Trade your power suit for a wetsuit. Leave your loafers at home, and take your fins. You’ll be much better off.

There’s water on the tracks all over. I just heard an announcement that there’s water on the tracks in the Bronx, so uptown 3 trains will terminate at 96th Street. Glad I’m not on that line.

My train seems to be running at half speed. It pulls in and out of the stations very slowly. At one point there were people walking faster on the platform than the train.

Walking down the first flight of steps from street level, I was greeted by 4 inches of water at the bottom. Tried to jump it, but just barely missed. Squishy shoes for me today. Yay.

I’m looking around at people on the train and many don’t have umbrellas. What the hell are you thinking people? 7 or so inches of rain in Central Park yesterday wasn’t hint enough that maybe this storm requires more than a wind breaker?

Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

Bloomberg Calls for New Yorkers to Ride Mass Transit Today

Mayor Bloomberg

Late in the evening (within minutes of posting this), Mayor Bloomberg’s office released a statement urging New Yorkers to use mass transit in the morning.  He wants to keep as many cars of the road as he possibly can.

Yikes.

If you turned on the news overnight, you saw roads under water all over the place.  Hoboken is swimming, but hey, now the ferry can pull right up to your building!

The LIRR is already seeing water get too close to the tracks for comfort.  Westbound tunnels into Penn Station are also looking like they are going to flood.

And then there’s the subway.  There’s guaranteed problems all over the place.  However, you won’t know about most of them until you are already well on your way to work.  The MTA isn’t exactly speedy then it comes to publicly reporting transit delays.  It usually takes a pretty significant outage for it to make it on the MTA website.

Flooded Tracks + Potential Power Outages + More Passengers (thanks to Bloomy’s request) = a hell of a morning commute.  Oh, and it’s still going to be raining.  😦