Was anyone on the 2 train Thursday morning when it started terminating “because of a sick passenger”?
I truly hate that bullshit. Get the damn sick passenger off the train and let’s get moving. I don’t understand why an entire line has to come to a screatching halt because someone pukes on a train. Even if the person had a heart attack, wouldn’t you want to get them off the train and upstairs as quick as possible?
That morning, my 2 train terminated at 42nd Street Time Square. Are you kidding me? That’s the biggest stop in the system and that’s where you are going to terminate? The kicker was the sick passenger was all the way down at Chambers Street.
There has to be a better way to deal with this crap.
SUBWAYblogger 
I was on the 3 just before 42nd when the announcement came. They told us it was someone in Brooklyn, and then when I got to Chambers (my stop), the 3 was going on the 1 line to South Ferry. Nothing seemed amiss at Chambers. So I wonder what really happened.
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You are one miserly New Yorker. I’ve lived here my whole life, and it’s tough to find someone as self-centered, mean and vindictive as you are about riding the subways.
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@VLM: Why thank you for the compliment.
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Sometimes “sick passenger” is a euphemism for someone who jumped or fell on the tracks and was hit by a train. For obvious reasons, that track is taken out of service for a little while, and It takes longer to get trains rerouted and resume normal service.
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The happened to me at the 96th Street Station (on the Number 6 Line) about 2 weeks ago.
From what I observed, the train (that I had just boarded) was terminated because the conductor had to remain with the injured/sick passenger until medical attention arrived — and the train would not have been able to remain in service without a conductor.
Ben
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There is always the question of what precipitated the illness. If it was related to a criminal act and the person was left at a platform while the train took off again, it could make apprehending the offender problematic. Or even dangerous if there was some desire to get rid of a witness.
You can be sure that if something like that happened, the heat the MTA and others would take would make getting someone late to work something they would rather life with a hundred times over. And so would the riders, I would think.
So I guess it’s one of those things like better to err on the side of caution. I don’t like it either but the idea that the person who caused the initial illness might have followed them off the train at the next stop is unpleasant to think about.
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As someone who rides the subway a lot and cares enough about it to have a blog, you can’t be stupid enough to not figure this one out. Trains are lined up a certain distance apart, especially at prime hours. When one train runs late, it’s passed down the line. Sick passenger, jumper, derailing, something caught in the doors, etc. All the same result.
I had a teacher die once on a school trip while we were on the subway. Part of the reason why it took so long to get the N going again (about 45 minutes) was because it took that long to get him off the train (safely), get emergency crews on to the train, etc. It’s not always as simple as “Sweet, the guy is dead…roll him off the train so we can get to work!”
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Hmm. As I understand the frustration, I can’t understand where the self-ishness comes from. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty sure most of us on here are True, Subway riding New Yorkers, but as you know, this is New York, and things happen here due to the high population and people being packed in a tin can like sardines. Someone’s bound to spit up, but we need to be human-like and have some sympathy, if nothing else.
Friendly Brooklynite.
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Aw, be a little more empathetic. I’m sure the sick passenger thought the exact same thing about better methods.
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Along the same lines: why does the rush hour have to grind to a halt when some klutz falls under a train? I say they should leave them there until after the rush. They ain’t gonna get any more deader!
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Add my vote for “Get the damn sick passenger off the train and let’s get moving.” In the years I’ve ridden the E, V/R, and F trains daily, these posts are the first comments I’ve heard calling the old “sick passenger delay” acceptable. I always hear cries of “roll him off the train so we can get to work!” and I have no shame in agreeing.
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