Month: October 2008

More Train Wraps Spotted

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By now, most midtown subway riders have heard of, if not seen, the Times Square Shuttle train’s full train wrap (above) for Cities of the Underground.

However, today I saw the first external train ads on other lines.  As part of this History Channel deal, there are two foot tall long ads for the series running on the outside of 1, 3, 4, and 7 trains.  I saw it on a 3 train today, but it pulled way before I could snap a pic.

So since I couldn’t get a picture of the 3 train in question, I present to you another fascinating SUBWAYblogger illustration.

As you can see above, the trains have this 2 foot tall “frame” that runs along the side of them.  They’re perfect for these self adhesive vinyl ads.

Anyway, the History Channel will have these running on trains for quite a while.  Wonder who will be next?

I think Subway (sandwiches) should buy trains and have giant 6 foot subs running down the sides.

Railfan Porn

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I know I’m a big subway geek and all.  I mean, this is a three year old blog about the subway.  So I’d say I’m ranking up there in world of subway geekdom.

Some people are on a whole different level, though.

http://www.viddler.com/player/8ed6585e/

Kinda cool, right?  Somehow this cam was mounted on the front of a 7 train or just inside a front window.

But then notice that it’s something like 48 minutes long.  Wow.  That’s dedication.  Scary, but dedicated.

Nothing Better than Perfect Timing

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I know I’ve said it before, but it excites me I guess.  Yeah, I’m a huge dork.

Nothing is better than flawless subway timing.  You walk into the station, and just as you swipe through the turnstile, the train arrives.

You hop right on, and hell, there might even be an open seat.  You fly through all the stops to the point where you make a connection.  What do you know, right across the platform is your connecting train already waiting.

You get to your final stop so early, you can take your time getting to work.  Maybe you even have time for a more complicated order at Starbucks.  Heck, you’ve got all this extra time to kill now.

How sweet it is.

New MTA Security Ads

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Oh the “See Something, Say Something” lameness continues.  The MTA has some new security ads out.

We took the three of them and strung them together.  They show unattended bags, with no voiceover.  Then shows the tip line phone number.  That’s it.  For some reason, the sound didn’t work when I put them together.  Just imagine the sounds of the subway.

http://www.viddler.com/player/508aee76/

So yeah.  I’m hoping they had interns make these, and didn’t actually pay anyone to make them.  What a joke.

The AC Turned Off Early?

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I feel like the air conditioning on a lot of subway trains was turned off too early.

Honestly, I have no idea how the AC works on the trains.  Don’t know if there is a thermostat or what, but I feel like the AC was cut.  Seems to happen every year.

There was a bit of a cold snap a week ago, so there wasn’t much need for too much AC.  So I think it was cut off on many trains.  Then late last week, it warmed up again, but the AC wasn’t turned back on.

It really gets oppressively hot when theirs no air on the trains.  The heat is one thing, but then it feels like the oxygen in the air is getting thing.  Kind of a panic situation if you are at all claustrophobic.

Dropped like a sack of taters

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Today I witnessed probably one of the coolest things I think I’ve seen on the subway to date.

There was a small group of teenage kids standing just outside the turnstiles.  You could tell just by looking at them that they were up to no good.

Couldn’t really tell how old they were.  I’m guessing they were about 14 or 15 years old.  They were all pretty tall.  One was probably 6 feet tall.  But they looked young.  Really lanky.  Frankly, it was almost comical because they were really tall, super skinny, but had huuuuuuuuuge baggy pants and hoodies on.  Like all three of them could have fit into the same pair of pants at the same time.

Anyway, one of them made a dash for it to skip out on the fare and hop the turnstile.  They didn’t realize that leaning against the wall was a cop, just out of their view.

The cop ran over just as the second one was going over.  Both of the kid’s feet were in mid air when the cop went two hands on.  He snatched him out of mid air and in one clean motion dropped him chest first onto the ground.  It was amazing.

The kid that made it over already took off running.  The other kid who had not yet attempted the jump took off out of the station.  So two got away, but the look on their faces was priceless.

Cuffs on.  Game over.

Dear Steve Jobs, please send me an iPhone

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You know I’ve made it no secret that SUBWAYblogger wants an iPhone for the express purpose of a better moblogging experience.  Frankly, I’m getting pretty antsy, and I wish Steve Jobs (or anyone at Apple) would just send me one.

Hell, they could be an entitlement sponsor of SUBWAYblogger.  We could be the mobile blogging posterchild.

http://v.wordpress.com/GyIzZkju

I have a Blackberry World right now, and yeah, it is ok.  The blog by email thing is really lame though.  And all the WordPress bells and whistles simply aren’t there.

Plus, being able to pull pictures in right from the iPhone camera into the post would be huuuuge.  Then you could see what I see.

SUBWAYblogger is a super Apple fan too.  We have a Macbook Pro 17″, Macbook, Mac G4, iPod’s galore, iPod Touch, Airport Extreme with Timecapsule and more.

Clearly, I would have bought one myself by now.  However, SUBWAYblogger’s day job does not yet support iPhone for email.  So I did not want to have to float two cell bills, and the cost of two devices if at all possible.

Anyway, I’m having a temper tantrum.  I want one now.  If you work at Apple or AT&T, please email submit [[at]] subwayblogger.com if you would like to offer one of your fine products.  It would be greatly appreciated.