Author: subwayblogger

A & C Train Riders: Does your weekend suck yet?

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Answer:  YES.

A & C train riders are in for shitty transit weekends this weekend, plus 4 more upcoming weekends.  It earned an entire pageon the MTA site.  Luckily, service will be normal for Easter Weekend.

But, as for the other weekends, you’re not getting anywhere fast.  In Brooklyn, well hell, you’re already used to crap service after the 7 train being out for so long.  Hell, you’re probably getting ready to cut all ties with Manhattan.

So, between Jay Street/Borough Hall and Utica Ave, there’s a shuttle bus for A train riders.  Yay.

The C train…well there’s just no C train at all.  Good luck.  And the A train in Manhattan is going to run local.

The current concrete roadbed has been in place since 1936. After the work is done, customers will have a smoother, more reliable and comfortable ride over the affected track segment. We apologize for the inconvenience while this work is performed.

Well, 5 weekends of nothing to do = a smooth ride in the future.  Sounds fair?

Holy screw up

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The lines are all over the place this morning.

Was that just a 5 train I saw running on the 7th Avenue line?? Yup. Sweet.

And how ’bout this 1 train that seems to be spending 15 minutes at every stop.

They keep saying that there is (was) some sort of emergency at 42nd Street / Times Square. This is what I keep saying abou the system’s lack of flexibility. Any time something goes wrong, half the trains in the city get thrown off schedule.

In building the 2nd Avenue subway, the would be smart if they built in extra systems to allow for stalled trains, emergencies, ect. An “emergency only” track might be a bit to costly, but surely there’s an alternative.

Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

Bomb Iran

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Uuuhhhh I don’t know if I should be really freaked out right now or not. Here’s the setup…

An older gentleman gets on the train. Looks normal enough. Wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase. He has a fedora hat on and a big, white beard. Normal, right?

Well, he walks into the center of the train car and we start to pull out of the sation.

Very casually he says, “I have a question. Does anyone here think they can bomb Iran?”

Ummm what?

Everyone sort of looks around at eachother and ignores him. He didn’t just say what I though he said…did he?

Then I take another look at his briefcase. Large (like extra wide), matte back, and sorta beat up. I’m thinking, boy I hope he doesn’t think HE can bomb Iran via this train car.

A few stops go by.

“Don’t you think the US should bomb Iran? We should help,” he says.

Ugh.

He got off at the next stop.

Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

Wesley Autrey files lawsuit against lawyer

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Wesley Autrey, America’s hero who jumped on the subway tracks to save a stranger, is suing a lawyerfor fraudulently having Autrey sign away the rights of his story.

…a lawyer and a man who represented himself as an entertainment executive tricked him into signing an “unconscionable” contract allowing them to exploit his name and personality.

The duo did things to harm Autreys reputation like asking a school to pay a speaker’s fee and demanding expenses from a magazine that interviewed him.

So, our bad for earlier making it sound likeAutrey was getting suit happy.  It actually doeslook like these guys operate a shaddy business.

Yesterday was an adventure

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It would figure that during the most interesting subway day in forever, SUBWAYblogger was tied up in other business. What did we miss?

The 4, 5, 6 around East Harlem was a “no go” for much of the midday due to a building collapse. The two had little to do with eachother other that officials feared vibrations from the trains might cause further collapse.

Then, it was announced that the MTA is “investigating” the installation of cameras on all the city’s trains. But doesn’t that cost money?

Last, but not least, America’s hero, Wesley Autry, is suing his a lawyer. Why? He claims that he fraudulently had him sign some paper that gave him the rights to Autrey’s story,fame, yadda yadda. She was hired to help him out because at the time, everyone wanted to give Autry money. More on that later. Note:  Ok, most of this was rumor at the time.  There is a lawsuit, but read the next post for details.

At the moment, it appears to be a normal day. Can’t beat the weather. Everyone here on this train seems to be going about their normal daily routine. Of course, that could all go down the crapper in the blink of an eye. More soon…

Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

I Spy

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Digital video cameras coming to a subway car near you.  Or maybe not.  Or yes.  But perhaps no.  Huh?

We still don’t think the MTA knows what they want to do yet, but they are starting to dip their toes in the water with this idea.

The MTA has asked some subway car manufacturers to investigate installing digital surveillance systems on all the subway cars.  Yes, that sound you hear is in fact the ACLU growling along with every other privacy advocate group in the Tri-state.

SAS thinks that SUBWAYblogger won’t be too “enamored with the idea,” but we actually don’t think it’s a big deal.  So you might get caught picking your nose on the train.  And you might get caught on tape when you’re working on your graffiti.  Also, that dream of having sex in an empty subway car probably wouldn’t happen…unless the camera thing is a turn on. 

There’s some positives.  You might be self conscious about your odd behavior, but think about the criminals.  Next time you get your purse snatched, the thug might think twice if he thinks he could get caught on tape. 

So I hate to sound like “the man,” but if you aren’t doing anything illegal, what do you have to worry about? Washington, DC is already doing it (see picture above).

Anyway, the whole idea will cost a shat load of money, so don’t hold your breath. 

Annoying Subway People (Part 2)

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Editor’s note:  Todd is a guest blogger from Blog Name Removed. 

On Wednesday March 14th, I posted my list of Annoying Subway people. I got a lot of fun responses to the list, so I planned on doing a follow-up. But then I thought about it. I thought, “Am I mocking other people because I don’t like myself?” and “Maybe I’m being way too hard on other people.” and “Maybe I should try to be more patient.” and finally “Am I too angry?” I decided not to post any more Annoying Subway People articles.

But then I saw this quote:

“Whenever I dwell for any length of time on my own shortcomings, they gradually begin to seem mild, harmless, rather engaging little things, not at all like the staring defects in other people’s characters.” (Margaret Halsey)

I thought to myself, “Hell, Margaret’s right! I’m well behaved and these people are like animals! I should write about it again!”

And so here we are. I’ve come up with a few more on my own, but I’ve also seen quite a few articles on this from other websites. Apparently other people think just like I do! Sit back and relax while I bring you:

Annoying Subway People (Part 2):

In case you forgot, here’s numbers one through six:

1. Zig-Zaggers.
2. Doddlers
3. Fingers in Ear People.
4. People Who Don’t Bathe
5. Door-Holders
6. Candy Selling Kids

Number 7: Window Scratchers: Whoever it is that scratches up the subway windows with graffiti. That must take a long while to do, so obviously this person has way too much time on their hands. I’ve said it before: Vandalism should be cause for immediate Tasering. Not just once, but 10 minutes of shock after shock from a police Taser. Maybe that’ll cut down on the ruined windows.

8: Stoppers/Stair Stoppers: The inbred breeding of half-minded Doddlers and Zig-Zaggers will lead to the dreaded Stopper. This person may look like he’s going to walk straight and true, but then out of nowhere, BAM! He stops and causes a chain reaction of chaos behind him. Even worse are the Stair Stoppers! This may sound trivial, but it is proven to lead to back-ups. (It’s called the shock-wave effect.) Please don’t be a stopper. Keep moving and veer off to the side if you need to pause a moment. The rest of us have places to be. We’re not impatient, we’re just really really motivated.

9: Earbud Guy: Ah yes. This guy just loves his music. He loves it so much that he’s going to crank up his mp3 player higher then his earbuds can handle. Now the whole train gets to love his music. It’s especially nice when Earbud Guy shares his music at 7am. I love Reggaeton at 7am. It warms my heart. (Almost as much as the thought of Earbud guy going deaf in a couple years.)

10: Stop and Go Conductors: Speed up, slow down, speed up, slow down, speed up, and… vomit. Nothing makes my morning commute more pleasant that an overpaid ass playing at the controls of the subway train. Seriously, it’s not that hard to do. Ready for it? Here it is: Go until you need to stop. There aren’t surprises on the track and if there are, well, speed up and run them over. Just don’t slow down until we get to the station. And when we do, slide in gently, don’t jerk it in awkwardly like you did with your prom date.

11: No Speaka English-ites: Just a quick Xenophobic pet peeve. If you’re going to have a full conversation in an America, speak English. If you suck at English, try anyway. It’s good practice. I’ll make an exception for tourists, but if you live here, speak the damn language when you’re out in public.

12: Mimes: Mimes should be barely tolerated, regardless of the circumstance, if only because they remind me of French people (of whom I am also not a fan). When they are ‘performing’ in a subway station? They should be sprayed with a fire hose. The big painful, knock-you-on-your-ass kind. I bet they’d scream…

13: Shorties: Noun. Definition: Short people who hang onto me and/or my clothing instead of the designated handles of The Subway. See also: China Town Residents. (Why? Why do they do this? You try to shake them off and they don’t let go!)

and the last one (for today),

14: The Leaning Sleepers: Subways are gross because there are gross people in them. When those gross people are sitting next to you fall asleep, then decide to lean onto you, you become gross. Unless you’re going to buy me dinner and tease me with suggestive eye glances over candlelight, don’t you dare lean on me! I hate being touched, and being touched by random (usually People Who Don’t Bathe) people on The Subway is the absolute worst. Imagine the lice and other infestations that are probably hopping onto your jacket. Sick dude.

That’s it for now. Don’t worry, there’s more to come! I’ve been keeping a list, and we’re nowhere near the end…