Category: This just in

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

subwayblogger11 Comments

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.

subwaybloggerLeave a comment

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. 

NYC Counter Terrorism Chief Wants Better Subway Security

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 police2.jpg

What’s Richard Falkenrath’s, NYC Chief Counter Terrorism Chief, biggest fear?  Simultaneous detonation of backpack bombs in the subway system.

Falkenrath says he “wakes up every morning braced for another terrorist attack…”  Falkenrath warned House lawmakers in Washington about the lack of subway security.

Despite those threatsand a spate of deadly train bombings in London, Madrid and Mumbai, India, Falkenrath, a former White House homeland security official, said the federal government has done little to protect the nation’s subway and rail systems.

Lovely.  It gets better.

“Given the severity of the terrorist threat to the U.S. mass transit system … the disparity between the federal investment in aviation security and … mass transit security is a national embarrassment,” he said.

Quick side note about Falkenrath.  He’s a former Bush White House staffer.  Officially, he was Director for Proliferation Strategy on the National Security Council staff.  The fact that he worked for Bush is a bit scary.  But then again, he left to come work for the city, so maybe that means he’s actually smart.  Anyway…

At the hearing, Falkenrath was testifying before the Homeland Security Committee about a $4 billion bill proposed to provide security funding for the subway.  However, even if it is approved, there’s tons of problems.

One of the biggest problems is that the money pays for equipment, but not for the people!  So even if they get the money, they can’t use it to pay for more staffing.  Wonderful. 

That’s how screwed up our government actually is. 

(photo by blue rubicon)

It’s official, 7 train riders can come get drunk with the rest of us!

subwayblogger3 Comments

Yes, that’s right.  Stranded weekend 7 train riders in the outer boroughs can come celebrate St. Patrick’s Daywith the rest of us in Manhattan.  The MTA has decided to officially resume weekend 7 train service just for the holiday weekend.

See the MTA’s 7 Train Service Page.  It’s tiny, but it says that service will be normal March 17-19. 

And in completely unrelated news, this might be the grossest thing I’ve ever seen.  Thanks to AMNY Tracker for this…

It’s official, 7 train riders can come get drunk with the rest of us!

subwaybloggerLeave a comment

Yes, that’s right.  Stranded weekend 7 train riders in the outer boroughs can come celebrate St. Patrick’s Daywith the rest of us in Manhattan.  The MTA has decided to officially resume weekend 7 train service just for the holiday weekend.

See the MTA’s 7 Train Service Page.  It’s tiny, but it says that service will be normal March 17-19. 

And in completely unrelated news, this might be the grossest thing I’ve ever seen.  Thanks to AMNY Tracker for this…

Schizo Subway Bomber Gets 5 Years

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A schizophrenic Staten Island man, James Elshafay, has been sentenced to five years in prison for conspiring to blow up the Herald Square subway station.  Elshafay plead guilty and also testified agains Shahawar Matin Siraj, the mastermind of the plot.

Siraj was sentenced last year to 30 years in prison.

More Details.

Schizophrenic or not, neither one of them should ever be allowed out of prison again.  I think many straphangers would back me up on that.

7 Train Riders Can Get Drunk After All!!

subwayblogger1 Comment

Elliot “Lee” Sander, the MTA executive director and chief executive, said Wednesday that weekend service on the No. 7 train could be restored for the March 17 holiday, which falls on a Saturday.

Green Beer

That’s right ladies and gents, lads and lassies, you too are invited to come into Manhattan for St. Patrick’s Day.  But let’s not speak too soon.  It is not confirmed that service will be restored for the holiday weekend. 

However, if it is, 7 train riders won’t be stranded in the outter boroughs while the rest of us party it up and drown in our green beer.

Top 10 Reasons You’ll Be Late

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SUBWAYblogger reader Lee tipped us to this article by the Daily News about the top 10 reasons trains are thrown off schedule.  What are the reasons?

  1. Track work
  2. Signal Trouble
  3. Guard-light trouble (huh?)
  4. Sick Customers
  5. Customers holding doors
  6. Emergency Brakes triggered; no cause found (that’s not comforting)
  7. Broken rail (lovely)
  8. Unruly riders
  9. System Maintenance (isn’t that the same as #1?)
  10. Emergency brakes triggered by signal

4,270 trains were thrown off schedule in 2006.  Somehow, that number seems low, no?  Or maybe I was unlucky enough to be stuck on 4,000 of those trains.  Either way, it seems a bit low.

Overall, the MTA has about 100 categories for transit delays.  In other words, they have over 100 excuses to use when you complain about train service.  Ahhh, the sweet work of a government job. 

L Train Stabbing Leaves One Dead

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seats2.jpg 

If you were at the New Lots Ave stop of the L train at around 3am this morning, you probably saw a pretty ugly thing.  Five people were arrested in connection with the stabbing and subsequent death of 20-year old Gerlin Collando. 

Collando was stabbed multiple times in the chest.  Allegedly, the argument that lead to the stabbing was the result of Collando dancing with someone else’s girlfriend at a party.

The suspects jumped onto a departing train, however, police held the train and caught up to the suspects at the next stop.

Now that the “hard” news is out of the way, let’s discuss…

How freaking scary would it be to find yourself stuck in a train car with the “suspects?”  One thing that idiot criminals forget is that they can’t out run a radio.  So, when police were called to the scene, they were able to radio for the train to be held.  Thus, the train stopped, doors closed, with the suspects trapped inside.

Not a crew that SUBWAYblogger would like to be locked in with.  There had to have come a point where the suspects knew that something was going on.  They had to know that the train was stopped because of them.

Anyway, stopping the train gives police plenty of time to get set up at the next stop.  At that point, there’s really no where else to run.

Just imagine sitting on that train.  Out the window, you see this group of guys stab another guy.  Then they run into the car that you are already sitting in.  What do you do?  Probably you just act like any other New Yorker, and act like nothing is out of the ordinary.