Dear Subway Blogger,
Last night around 11:30 a man jumped in front of the 23 uptown at 96th street. I was in the first car and it was really awful. The train conductor confirmed that it was a jumper; she said “he was facing the other direction; he just whirled around and jumped.” It was such a horrible experience, and they let us off the train before the medics even arrived, and I did not stick around to see any more.
Well, I did find some details. Read More »
And you thought that ditch between the rails was there to collect water and muck (pictured here). Well, you should also know it is there to save your life.
An unidentified man fell onto the tracks today at Delancey Street while waiting for the F train. Luckily he fell in a way which allowed his body to fall into the cutout ditch between the rails. Lucky? Definitely, because an F train was just seconds away and ran over his body.
He was not injured from the train itself even though 3 cars rolled over him. He fit into that space in the tracks.
He was taken to Bellevue condition unknown but apparently alive.
An escalator can never break. It can only become stairs. You would never see an “Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order” sign, just “Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience.” – Comedian Mitch Hedberg
The late Mitch Hedberg had it right.
I wanted to write a post about the ridiculous state of the subway auxiliary services. Unfortunately, it seems that WCBS beat me to it today. Escalators and elevators are breaking down at a down right retarded rate. Read More »
In West Coast subway news, the LA subway is adding these LED ad strips to their tunnels to generate revenue.
The LED strip ads light up as the train passes by, and creates an animated 15 second ad. Play this video to see them in action.
You may have seen ads like these on the PATH train. There’s one set up there too.Read More »
Can we all agree that the quality of subway advertisments has gone downhill the past few months?
SUBWAYblogger especially hates the Downtown Podiatry ads. You know these?
They are the ads with photos of feet including hammertoes, blisters, bunions, etc. And the graphics look like they were done in 1983.
Yeah. GROSS.
The last thing I want to see on my way to work is gross bare feet with before and after shots.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
So I have a new favorite spot to ride the train, but it is a tough spot to get.
I like to stand right on the very end of the train by the door that leads from one train car to another. I find that you can get lean on the door a little and the door to the little conductor cab. You know?
It’s a nice area because rarely (if ever) is there any passenger traffic to contend with. You can lean there in relative peace and quite without having to constantly shuffle while people get in and out.
Of course, I rarely bother getting a seat because when I do I get the hairy eyeball from the old ladies. So I always stand unless the train is very empty. So good standing space is hard to come by.
Unfortunately, this spot is often taken, and it can be hard to reach on a crowded train. Also, this is not a spot to stand if you only have a few stops to go. You don’t want to be that a-hole that has to climb over everyone to get off the train. So it is best for longer rides.
You should also be a little careful if you choose to try it. Sharp turns and jolts in the track are magnified on the ends. The ends of the trains have the most left to right movement for the riders, so you could get slammed into the wall you are leaning on if you aren’t careful.
What’s your favorite ride spot on the train?
I must say, I had excellent subway timing today. It has been a really, really long time since I got to the platform and walked right onto the train both times today.
There was no waiting whatsoever for me today. I got to work early, and got home ahead of schedule.
I’m always a little afraid when that happens because it usually means that the rest of the week there will be no trains at all.
As if we don’t have enough things to dodge in the subway, like homeless bums. Now we have to watch out for bed bugs.
“…reported seeing the bugs on wooden benches at the Union Square and Fordham Road stations in Manhattan and The Bronx, respectively.”
I generally avoid sitting on those gross wooden benches on the platform, but now I definitely will. Bedbugs are being found on the benches.
In case you don’t know, all it takes is one of these little buggers riding home with you for your entire home to become infested. You might as well say good bye to every bit of fabric and furniture you own!
And they bite like crazy while you sleep.
I’d imagine that the bed bugs will easily spread via homeless people sleeping on he benches. They move around from place to place and spread the bugs. The fact that the benches are wood probably doesnt help the situation either.
Eeeww…now I’m all itchy.
The $1 billion deal for the Hudson Rail Yards development project is all of a sudden DEAD.
The deal fell through at some point late Thursday. Apparently…
“…an “impasse” over zoning and the timing of payments, the rail yards’ owner said Thursday.” [Newsday]
So a big failing grade for the rail yard, as Gothamist puts it. See their pictures of the development plans.
In case you’ve missed it, the Hudson Rail Yards were supposed to be developed into massive apartment buildings, a park, and more. Bloomberg was also a big supporter.
Well, there goes that money too. Lovely.
The MTA is recruiting websites for their new (?) affiliate marketing system.
If you are a webmaster, they would looooove to pay you 5% for all the sales traffic you send to transitmuseumstore.com. That’s right, cash money for selling transit schwag.
Well, we weren’t especially impressed with the program, so you won’t be seeing ads for subway gear here any time soon. A 5% share for low end items and transactions is a bit weak.
Think about the transaction volume. Let’s say someone gets a nifty subway map necktie for the low low price of $38.00. That’s $1.90 for you. Yeah…not that thrilling. And how huge is the market for subway stuff?
It was nice to be be asked though. Apparently they have to pay off the actual transit museum because the stuff is under licence. So that’s the reason for the low commission rate.
Maybe if they had kicked me some snazzy subway cuff links or something, I would have joined. Maybe.
SUBWAYblogger 