Author: subwayblogger

Holy crap, FREE subway rides!

subwaybloggerLeave a comment

Mastercard and Citibank are giving away free subway rides next week.  If you ride the  you could be riding like 20 times for free.  It is quite the promotion…at least we think.

Unfortnately, there are a couple obvious catches.  You have to get into the system through the  lines, and you must have a Citibank card.  Dear people at Chase: Please get with the program!

You may have seen the little touchless sensors on the turnstiles at these stations.  The technology is what really gets SUBWAYblogger excited.  This would totally be a better way to go than the MetroCard.  If this worked for all cards, it would be awesome.  Just pass your credit/check card over the sensor and go. 

Only so much a person can take

subwaybloggerLeave a comment

This morning I wrote about how much it sucks to miss a train by only seconds. This afternoon, it happened yet again! There’s only so much a person can take.

This afternoon, it was caused by stupid people. Yes, that’s right, stupid people. Folks, don’t walk up to the turnstile and THEN start looking for your MetroCard. Ladies, I’m talking to you. The bottomless pit that is your purse needs to be searched well in advance. We all know that at the moment of truth, you are never going to be able to find the thing.

THIS JUST IN

Ok, if you’ve ever watched The Simpsons, you’ll know what I am talking about.

The guy on the intercom on this train sounds like the fastfood employees on The Simpsons. You know, that nerdy voice. When they talk, their voice cracks. I seriously thought this guy was doing it as a joke because it is so horrible. But he has been doing it every time. Everytime he says “Bronx bound” his voice cracks on Bronxs. It squeels along at other points too.

People on the train just start laughing when he talks, but I don’t think he’s trying to be funny.
Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

I hate missing the train!

subwaybloggerLeave a comment

Don’t you feel like a complete loser when you miss the train? Especially when you make a dash for it and still miss?

At my station, you can see down to the lower level where the tracks are. The token booth level goes over both the up and downtown tracks.

So I saw my train as it came to a stop at the platform. Immediately, you feel like an olympic runner. Without fail though, you will find 10 slow ass people in your way.

I sprinted to the turnstile where I found the NYC Retard club attempting to swipe their cards. Is it me or have you ever wanted to just grab someones MertoCard away from them to swipe it for them? C’mon. Put the card in the slot and swipe. It isn’t that hard.

Anyway, made it through that nightmare only to get to the stairs. Of course, there were little old ladies moving 2 feet an hour. There must be a bingo hall down here that I am unaware of because there is no reason for this many old women to be heading down the stairs at once.

Finally, I made it down to the platform. Just as my foot hit the bottom step, the doors began to close. I made a last ditch sprint hoping to get a hand in the door. No…not so much. The train pulled away.

Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

Get your Toussaint Gear!

subwaybloggerLeave a comment

Yeah, that’s right.  Roger Toussaint, Transit Workers Union President, is selling gear to raise money for his reelection campaign.  We kid you not, he is selling those stupid rubber bracelets, shirts, and even autographed photos.

It gets so much better.  He actually has a website:  RogerToussaintVictory2006.com.  Interestingly, the site won the “Holy Crap That’s A Long URL” award. 

His slogan:  “It’s about respect.” 

Not the kind of respect as in self respect…otherwise how to you justify the rubber bracelets?  No, a person deserving of respect would not be selling autographed pictures of themselves or rubber bracelets to raise money for union election. 

By the way, why would anyone want to keep doing the job that landed their ass in JAIL for any lenght of time?  “Yeah, I know, this job could get me placed in jail, but “it’s about respect.””

Renewal day

subwayblogger2 Comments

Monthly unlimited renewal day was today for SUBWAYblogger. That’s never a fun day. It’s early in the morning, clearly there has not been enough coffee in the picture, then wham! $76 right out of your pocket. That’s not a fun way to start the day.

It was funny and annoying at the same time this morning. Apparently, SUBWAYblogger’s MetroCard renewal day was shared by many.

Lots of riders went up to the turnstile only to get hit with the dreaded “Insufficient Fare” notice. The funny ones are the people who don’t pay attention as they swipe their cards.

You’ve all seen them. They swipe without even slowing down. Then they ram into the bar when it doesn’t rotate. This usually happens to iPod people because they can’t hear the beep. One woman almost did a complete flip over the bar!

Anyway, lots of people were denied at that gate, and needed to head for the machines.

My stop has a lot of machines, but people still act like it is a test or something. As if they will be trapped if they answer a question wrong. C’mon people, it isn’t that hard.

Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

Dodged disaster

subwaybloggerLeave a comment

Turns out, we subway riders really got away lucky this morning.

There were major power outages on the New Jersey Transit lines and Amtrak. Trains just stopped dead iin their tracks (no pun intended…on maybe a little).

Usually, that means subway issues because people flood over on the PATH or other areas. The bottom line is that many train riders don’t end up at Penn Station because they found alternate ways to get in the city. So, they head to the subways once they get in town. Typically, big backups occur at the stations near PATH stations and major bus stops.

This morning though, there didn’t seem to be much of a subway crisis. Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

Comment spam is a biatch

subwayblogger1 Comment

When I arrived at the platform this morning, I pulled out the Blackberry as usual. I was shocked to find 68 new messages waiting for me…all of them comment approvals.

Luckily, SUBWAYblogger is designed to send us notification of suspicious comments before publishing them. For our regular readers, you can post a comment and it will publish right away as long as there are no links in it. If you do post a link, it will get kicked back to us to take a quick look at.

Anyway, wading through those emails took up tha majority of the ride this morning. Personally, SUBWAYblogger believes that spam programmers should be beaten in public. Maybe that’s just us. Of course, it is by no means our first encounter with comment spam, but it doesn’t ever get any less annoying.

There will be another post this morning to make up for our little bitch and moan session here.

Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

The French Invasion

subwayblogger1 Comment

I just got into a subway car filled with French people. I’m talking wall-to-wall French people.

I’m not even kidding, there must be a 40 French speaking people on here all at once. It is a little strange. Just a lot of nasal sounding words being thrown about.

Ha…I just thought of something else. This is probably the only train car in the city with no republicans on board! Any red blooded republican would have immediately gotten off at the next stop. There’s no way they would sit through this. No, instead they jump into a different car to enjoy their “freedom fries” for the ride.

Upon closer inspection, it appears to be a group of students. Unfortunately, not a terribly attractive group of French students. Is this the French “goth” club? Most of thema are all blacked out and have funky hair.

Tell you what though, boy/girl teasing is annoying in every language. Especially the loud giggles.

Does anyone know how to say “cut the crap” in French? Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

Welcome October

subwaybloggerLeave a comment

Another month rolls into the show full of crazy that is the NYC subway system.

I’m currently enjoying a lecture from a man named Harry. His thesis is on why he has AIDS and is homeless all at the same time.

Harry sounds like a Jewish guy that just woke up. Really tired, slow, and under enthusiastic sounding with a thick Jewish accent. Harry didn’t seem to get much action on this train, so he’s off to the next one.

He did have an interesting pitch though. He started off with the traditional “good morning ladies and gentlemen.”. He then moved right into the AIDS bit.

“FORTUNATELY, I have AIDS,” started Harry, “I say forunately because God used this disease to get my life turned around.”

What I gather is that begging on the subway is actually a step UP from where he has been. How crappy must you life be when AIDS and begging on the subway is a good day?

Better luck next time amigo. Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

Weekend “L” train back in bizznass

subwaybloggerLeave a comment

Ok folks, this weekend, I got nothin’.  There was no subway related news that I could come up with.  For that matter, we were not in the system much that weekend.  Kind of a sit around on your ass kinda weekend.

But there is good news!  This weekend was the first weekend that the “L” train was back in business on the weekends.  So now we have a weekend route back between Manhattan and Brooklyn. 

Unfortunately, some weeknight service will still be hit or miss, and there will be one more weekend scheduled where service will be out. 

However, we will be able to see a definate benefit from this recent hassel.  The new systems on the L trains will allow for more trains to run on the line AND a new system that tells you where the trains are in real time.  Finally, those new electronic information boards will be available. 

L train riders will be able to look at the monitors and tell exactly when the next train will be arriving.  The boards will also tell you if there are problems or delays. 

Anyway, that’s the most exciting news we could come up with for the weekend.  Let us know if we missed something!