Author: subwayblogger

Catchy clarinet

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So a guy got on my train to play us a little tune on his clarinet in hopes of scoring some pocket change.  First off, the clarinet is a nice change.  You don’t see many clarinet players in the subway.  It seems to mostly be keyboards and guitars with the occasional trumpet thrown in.

I especially liked his little sales pitch, although the jury is still out on whether I believed it or not.  He said:

Good morning ladies and gentlemen.  I’m trying to make a little money and finish paying for school.  Any help you can give me would be great.

He then proceeded to play his song.

A little more info…He didn’t seem like a college type.  He was older, and looked like he may have been homeless.  He had that sort of vibe about him. However, he did have a little mp3 player that he had on that must have had a beat or tune for him to listen to as he played.  So that says that he at least had the money to buy the mp3 player and must have access to a computer.

Anyway, I say all this because not a single person gave him any money when he was done.   I think it was because he looked homeless!  I think no one bought his story of trying to pay his way though school.  However, the fact that he had and instrument, mp3 player, and access to a computer for the mp3 player points to him perhaps not being a bum.

All I had on me was a $20.  So I couldn’t help him out. 

No Booze on LIRR for St. Patrick’s Day

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beer.jpg

In other railed news (completely non-subway related)…

TheLIRR is banning alcohol just for St. Patrick’s Day.  It’s not the first time they’ve done it.  Actually, they tend do ban drinks on all major city event days such as New Years, etc. 

The LIRR actually runs a little “adult beverage” business. They sell drinks at many stations, Penn Station, and aboard many of their trains.  All of which will come to a temporary stop this weekend. 

It must grind their gear a little that they have to stop selling alcohol on the biggest drinking day of the year.  Then again, it will lower (at least a little bit) the chances of drunk idiots causing trouble on the trains. 

No Booze on LIRR for St. Patrick’s Day

subwaybloggerLeave a comment

beer.jpg

In other railed news (completely non-subway related)…

TheLIRR is banning alcohol just for St. Patrick’s Day.  It’s not the first time they’ve done it.  Actually, they tend do ban drinks on all major city event days such as New Years, etc. 

The LIRR actually runs a little “adult beverage” business. They sell drinks at many stations, Penn Station, and aboard many of their trains.  All of which will come to a temporary stop this weekend. 

It must grind their gear a little that they have to stop selling alcohol on the biggest drinking day of the year.  Then again, it will lower (at least a little bit) the chances of drunk idiots causing trouble on the trains. 

Here comes the Second Avenue Line.

subwayblogger4 Comments

“T” Time? AMNY has clearly been itching to use that headline, and this morning they finally did.

Anyway, the plans for the Second Ave subway line were released. Here’s some of the drawings.

Second Ave Line Map

They also had some artist renderings of what it will look like inside.

Mezzanine Level of T Line

Is that not the cleanest looking subway mezzanine you’ve ever seen? Are they launching a new technology that allows the subway to clean itself?

T Line

And a typical platform. It was a nice touch to add someone waiting for the elevator. Notice that they didn’t show him getting on the elevator. That’s because they want to show that there are elevators, but let’s be honest, they’ll rarely ever work. 🙂 Also, for the guy in the front with the suit case…”Backpacks and other large containers are subject to random search by the police.” Just a heads up.

Elliot “Lee” Sander, the MTA’s new executive director, and Chairman Peter Kalikow will approve the $333 million contract for the first phase of the project that critics thought would never happen.

“All of the sudden it turned from doubtful to inevitable and nobody quite knows when it happened,” Kalikow said at the last MTA board meeting.

Almost immediately after the contract is signed, construction trailers will start to line parts of Second Avenue in the East 90s, MTA officials said. –AMNY

So from this spring until 2013, hold your breath upper-east-siders. It’s going to be a noisey couple years. I was hoping Second Avenue Sagas would have something to say on the matter, but nothing as of yet. I’m sure he will have something up soon. In the mean time, I’ll stick with Chuck.

UPDATE:

As expected, Second Avenue Sagas came through with a post on this story. I knew it would only be a matter of minutes!

Sharing headphones is stupid

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I hate to do another headphone related story, but it was in my face this morning.  Last time I wrote about it, there was some controversy. 

Anyway, some people have really crappy headphones that leak.  By that I mean that they are not very well made, so the sound it puts out is almost louder outside the headphone than the part that faces your ear.

This morning, it was to the point where it was almost painful.  It made me flinch just thinking about how loud the sound was.  I could not believe that someone was going to put that screaming earbud in their ear.

So crappy earbud headphones almost turn your ear into a mini-speaker.  The shape of your ear actually reflects out all the leaked sound.

On to the annoying part…These two girls were standing 2 feet from me on a not so crowded train.  No big deal, it happens.  They have just as much right to stand there as I do.  Anyway, the one girl had her iPod blasting away, when the other one reaches over and pulls out one of the earbuds and puts it in her ear.  First, that’s gross.  Second, that is probably the most retarded looking thing I have ever seen.

Take your cheap ass and get your own iPod.  On top of that, don’t stand there and attempt to sing along.  You’re not Beyonce.  Stop it. 

Not only were they singing along, but they were trying to do it as a duet.  It was horrible.  So there they are standing around me.  Now that they are sharing the earbuds, the cord has essentially roped me into the corner.  Now, there was no escape route.  Singing in my face.  Badly.

It got to the point where other people were laughing at them.  Of course, they did not notice because they couldn’t hear the laughs. 

So what’s the moral(s) of the story?  Buy your cheap ass your own iPod.  Then, if you get new headphones, pay more than $4.99 for them.  Also, don’t sing.  You suck.  If you are a good singer…well…then that’s probably ok.  But if there is any doubt in your mind about you being a good singer, don’t.  You’re friends are just being nice when they say you have a good voice. 

Yeah, let’s invest in the buses. Good idea.

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You’ve got to be kidding.  The Mayor was in Miami last week on business.  One of the reasons was to check out their Bus Rapid Transit System.

That’s a fancy ass name for adding “Bus Only” lanes so that the buses can get around quicker. 

The system is going to be piloted in NYC soon.  The city will convert one bus route in each borough.

Ok, so what the hell does this have to do with the subway?  Well it’s all the MTA.  And if the MTA is investing in things having to do with the buses, that means those dollars aren’t being invested in the subway. 

So instead of paying to covert lanes, improving buses, etc. just spend the money on subway improvements!  If you’ve only got a short distance, the buses we have now are fine.  If you have a way to go, jump on the subway.

How about we spend that money on better security?  Now there’s a novel concept. 

Yeah, let’s invest in the buses. Good idea.

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You’ve got to be kidding.  The Mayor was in Miami last week on business.  One of the reasons was to check out their Bus Rapid Transit System.

That’s a fancy ass name for adding “Bus Only” lanes so that the buses can get around quicker. 

The system is going to be piloted in NYC soon.  The city will convert one bus route in each borough.

Ok, so what the hell does this have to do with the subway?  Well it’s all the MTA.  And if the MTA is investing in things having to do with the buses, that means those dollars aren’t being invested in the subway. 

So instead of paying to covert lanes, improving buses, etc. just spend the money on subway improvements!  If you’ve only got a short distance, the buses we have now are fine.  If you have a way to go, jump on the subway.

How about we spend that money on better security?  Now there’s a novel concept. 

Follow Up: Subway can be attacked at any time. Grrreat.

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spending.jpg

 As a follow up to yesterdays terrorism post, we noticed an interesting piece on CBS 2 this afternoon.

At the airports, the government spends an average of $7.50 per passenger.  For the subway, only $0.015 per passenger.  That’s right.  One and a half cents per rider.  WTF?

Ever take a close look at your plane ticket?  Sometimes you can actually see a “security screening fee” on there.  The airports are starting to pass some of the costs on to the passengers.

On a different note, does it piss anyone else off when you see cops in the subway just standing around talking to eachother?  SUBWAYblogger sees cops all the time, but they are rarely (if ever) actually paying attention to people passing by.  They’re just standing there shootin’ the shit.  Chatting it up. 

Someone should do a hidden camera experiment.  Just get an empty cardboard box.  In big red letters, write EXPLOSIVES on the site.  Then just stroll by a group of cops in the subway.  See if you get stopped.  I highly doubt it.  Of course, if they did notice, you would probably get swarmed on by the SWAT team, so maybe that’s not a good idea.

Cat Fight

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An older lady cat fight though.

So this older white woman decided she was going to get on a train that was already full. Meanwhile 6 people or so are already standing on the platform not able to fit in the train.

Out of no where, she goes for it and pushes her way on. The older black woman she pushes turns around.

“You better stop pushin’ before I push you back off this train! We all got someplace to go.”

The old white lady that thought she was a rebel immediately shut up. She was clearly affraid of the other woman’s reaction.

That must have been an awkward ride to the next stop with the two of them stuck face to face.

I waited for the next train, and I even snagged a seat.

Live from the subway, back to you in studio…