Author: subwayblogger

Happy hump day!

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Boy does that expression bug the crap out of me. How about, “Happy we’re half way to the weekend day.”

Anyway, SUBWAYblogger is proud to announce that we have upgraded to the brand spankin’ new WordPress 2.1. You should notice faster load times on this site as the database scripts are much cleaner.

The upgrade on the SUBWAYblogger backend means that we have even more control over how the site looks and functions for you, the reader. So we look forward to enhancing your experience here with us.

Well, that’s about it for this morning. The train’s running on time, the weather is nice, and the weekend is almost here. Now all I gotta do is get this guy’s afro out of my face (it’s 4 inches from MY head), and it will be a good day.

Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

Wesley Autrey is at the State of the Union as a guest of the President

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Oh my lord, do my eyes deceive me?  Wesley Autrey was just recognized by President Bush at the State of the Union Address!  This story has really taken off.

As you may recall, Autrey jumped onto the subway tracks to save a guy that had a seizure.  He wasn’t able to move the guy out of the way in time, so he laid down on top of him as the train rode of the two of them.  Both men made it out of there with no more than a few scratches.

First it took over the local media, then the national media took hold, now the President is recognizing him (again) at the STATE OF THE UNION.  Talk about a life changing move.  SUBWAYblogger had the story right away.  However, we saw readership of the story skyrocket days later as the story got national press attention.

This guy was just doing what he thought was right, and now he’s being recognized around the world.  Simply amazing.  Every politician wants to get their picture taken with this guy. 

Good contributions

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Late last night, SUBWAYblogger received some good contibutions from other bloggers and transit writters. Scroll down to check them out.

You can submit your subway tale by sending a note to submit (at) subwayblogger.com.

Anyway, Todd from BlogNameRemoved told us about riding the new subway trains on the N line. He was not the first one to tell SUBWAYblogger that the new trains are really nice.

Unfortunately, I have not had the chance to ride the newest of the new just yet. However, they are apparently very similar to the new trains on the 2 and 6 lines. They also have a slightly better “ride,” automated info boards, and automated voice announcements.

Hopefully, all the trains will be upgraded before the flying car is invented.

Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

Parking Garage Mashup: Completely not subway related but still cool

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From time to time, we get some very interesting reader mail.  This one was particularly interesting.  Disclaimer:  This really has nothing to do with the subway at all.  However, as pointed out below, it does have something to do with city transit, so we thought we would let this slide by. 

Anyway, this kid created this cool mashup that takes all the city’s parking garages and puts them on a google map.  It will also calculate the cost to park your car at each garage!  It puts the color coded garages/lots on a map (color coded cheap to expensive). 

Here’s what we got from the founder. 

Dear “Subway Blogger”, 

Although the following “tip” does not fall within the subway category, it has very much to do with transportation. I am an 18 year old student and just started a free service to benefit drivers in New York City. The website, http://www.NYCgarages.com, allows users to search and compare all parking garage/lot rates and locations for daily, weekly, and monthly parking. 

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New Trains: Sweet

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I rode in a new Subway train today.  I tried to look it up in the MTA website, but what do you know, most of the MTA site isn’t working!  Ha!  If that’s not classic, I don’t know what is. 

A word about the new trains: Sweet. 

They’ve got a new suspension system that uses “air-bags,” but it’s nice and smooth.  The “digital” displays are still stuck in the late 80’s, but they’re informative.  They said that they changed the placement of the doors to improve flow, but they seemed like the same old doors to me. 

Finally, the LCD screen was fun to look at for a few minutes, but I guarantee that those things are broken within months and then not fixed.  Ever.  Ah well, at least they’re new and clean.

The one I rode this morning (N from Pacific St to Union Sq) was in “test mode,” so it only went half speed.  That sucked.  Let’s get those bad boys moving full speed!

Todd writes for BlogNameRemoved.com and contributed this article.

Black is the new black

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So do they only make coats in black or dark navy these days?

Ok so I am standing on this train in a sea of black/navy. From my vantage point, there is one person not wearing black/navy. Just one.

NYC fashion my ass. Apparently, staphangers didn’t get the memo. It’s just wall to wall people in black coats.

I mean it’s mostly dark coats all the time in NYC. However, this time it really stuck out. I though I was in some sort of prank on this train surrounded by business men in long, dark coats.

This is a packed tight train, and only one light colored coat! Yikes. No wonder suicides increase in the winter. How depressing.

Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

Subway ridership IS up! Ha…we knew it.

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tokenbooth.jpgGotta love it when our random blurbs about how extra crowded the trains seem to be are validated by the legit press.  The NY Sun reports that many neighborhoods are seeing huge surges in subway ridership! 

In other words, our random (complete lack of coffee) babble about the crowds this morning wasn’t as crazy and incoherent as we first thought. Turns out, SUBWAYblogger was only semi B.S.-ing our way though this morning’s post.  Sweet.

Anyway, many “little” stations that used to only see a few hundred riders a day are now seeing thousands of people wander through their turnstiles. 

At that station, ridership has soared to 1,771 people a weekday entering the turnstiles to access trains on the J, M, and Z lines, compared to just 308 passengers who passed through the station during a weekday in 1995.

The Sun says that much of the increase has to do with parking lots disappearing on the outer rims of the city.  So, more and more riders are turning to the trains.

Good Monday Morning

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Did you know that today is “Blue Monday?” Today is the most depressing day of the year according to a team of British researchers. So hey, it can only get better from here.

On that note, wow is it crowded today. Lots of extra people on board this morning. I wonder if the colleges get back in session this week. That could explain some of the extra people.

Believe it or not, I think the system has finally returned to its normal usage level. The last two months were all out of whack due to the holidays. Now it seems more like it usually is. So I guess it really isn’t that “extra” crowded…it’s “normal” crowded.

Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

Selling your subway tokens on eBay

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SUBWAYblogger stumbled across something a little strange. People are selling their old subway tokens on eBay. Is that strange?

They are being sold as collector’s items in some cases. It hasn’t been that long since the MTA stopped using tokens.

Some of the sets are cool though. Apparently there are bigger transit geeks than SUBWAYblogger out there. Some people have entire collections of tokens starting back to the very first set released up to them most recent. There’s a set of 10 tokens with a high bid of $41.00. There’s even someone that is selling 100 bull’s-eye tokens with a bid of $202.00!! (if you go looking for this one, it only had 23 minutes left as of this posting).

You’d be surprised at all of the subway related goodies for sale on eBay. You can even buy parts of old trains!