Subway service on the 4, 5, and 6, and 7 in Manhattan has been restored. However, all subway trains are still bypassing Grand Central Terminal. The S train service is still not running.
Category: Transit Failures
BOOOOOM! That’s the power of of a steam explosion blowing up your morning commute
All I gotta say is two things. 1) I told you so and 2) good luck getting to work on the East Side tomorrow.
Ok, so earlier today, I ranted on and on about how shockingly perfect my morning commute was despite the horrible weather. At the end, I mentioned that I hoped it would continue to the ride home, but that I wasn’t going to hold my breath. Boy was I right.
The street literally exploded. Blew up. How bad was it? Bad enough to have the 4, 5, and 6 lines not make any stops in Manhattan. The trains were still running I guess, but they certainly weren’t stopping. They ran nonstop from the Brooklyn Bridge to 125th Street.
The other thing I loved was how the FDNY and MTA couldn’t get their story straight. The FDNY and OEM were advising people to stay away from the East Side around Grand Central Terminal. The MTA kept saying that the trains were running still, and that you could enter on the Madison Ave side. So which is it? Come catch your train or don’t go near the place?
Anyway, the whole event was way to reminiscent of past tragic events. While it is very sad that one person died indirectly from the blast, it is absolutely shocking that there weren’t more deaths. Folks, what was essentially a volcano opened up in the middle of 41st Street, and swallowed a tow truck. It shattered windows 16 stories up. We were lucky.
Anyway, it’s going to be dicey in the morning. Make sure you check the MTA’s transit advisory before heading out in the morning. Good luck to us all.
Photo via stuntbox
Subway Delays Galore
Rain? What Rain? The Transit Gods Smile Upon Me
As many loyal readers know, the transit gods often poop on my morning commute. Yes, that’s right…I said poop.
Today, however, they spared me from a complete nightmare. As we all are completely aware, it’s raining like hell today. When I woke up and looked out the window, it was coming down in buckets.
I did the morning routine, and headed out with my umbrella in hand. Nothing. It had completely stopped raining. So I wandered over to the subway without having to take out my umbrella.
I thought for sure that the heavy rain was going to screw up my train. I was waiting there, completely expecting there to be an announcement saying that the tracks were under water or something. Nope. The train showed up, and had no problems all the way to work.
I got off the train and started to hoof it over to the office. Just as I was starting to get close, it started to sprinkle a little. There was still no need for the umbrella though. So, I got into work completely dry. By the time I got up the elevator to my office, it was pouring again. I looked out my window and could hardly see the building across the street it was raining so hard.
Then I heard that all the highways were flooded, Metro North was all f-ed up, and subways were starting to experience extensive delays. Somehow, I had completely avoided transit hell.
Let’s hope it keeps up on the way home today. I’m not holding my breath, though.
Just a Big Pile of Suck
Ok, so can we discuss how f-ed up the past couple days of subway ridership have been?
Why is it that crappy service always comes in waves? You never just have one random day where things are messed up. It always seems like it has to come in 3 or 4 day in a row bursts. It’s like the MTA is trying to test your limits or something.
Monday: A bazillion degrees out. Subway is hot sick. The morning run was just a pain in the ass because the train took forever to get there. Like 15 minutes at least. The evening run was way worse. The trains were so late, that they decided to have my local train skip a bunch of stops. Unfortunately, one of those skipped stop a one that I had to get off. Damn. So I had to get off well in advance and wait for the infamous train “directly behind this one.”
Tuesday: Same slow ass wait in the morning. Evening…well…just shoot me. By far the worst day this week (so far). A slight drizzle as I approached the subway entrance. Unfortunately, I did not have an umbrella, but not a big deal since I made it to the train before it got bad.
Well, the trains were apparently very late again. On the plus side, I got there as the train arrived, but there were already people who had been waiting for 20 minutes. By complete miracle, I made it onto the train. Everything was going swimmingly until the dreaded “this train will be going express…” Again, my stop was getting skipped. Shit.
We all unload, only at this point there was virtually no space whatsoever to even fit on the platform! Express train after express train kept dumping more and more people on the other side, so it was getting pretty dangerous. Clearly, I was not getting anywhere near the next train, so I headed for street level thinking I could catch the bus. Read More »
Got Paint? Some stops do. Others, not so much.
Have you noticed how some subway stops are in way better shape than others? Many are litterally falling apart around you. At any moment, a 3 foot sheet of ceiling paint could fall off and hit you in the head. Look up once in a while. You’ll see entire sheets coming off.
The Kicker: The MTA has the money to repaint 200 stations!!
The $5.4 billion sale of Stuyvesant Town generated a huge windfall for the MTA in mortgage taxes…
Currently, only 12 stations a year are planned to be painted. Yup. Just 12.
Gothamist is asking what stations you think are in the worst paint shape??
This Just In: MTA Catching Up to Reality
This was in the New York Times, I kid you not:
An analysis by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority shows that some subway lines are often both crowded and late.
Well, thanks for the news captain obvious. I’m glad that the MTA saw the need for an analysis to figure that out. How about just riding a train or two.
They even put together a chart!!
BREAKING NEWS East Side Subways Shut Down
The entire East Side has been shut down due to power outages.
The 4, 5, 6, E and V lines are shut down in all directions. A reported outage on the Upper East Side and/or Bronx has brought the East Side to a halt.
The intense storm in the area will likely not help things!
Live from the subway, back to you in studio…
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UPDATE (6:40pm):
All trains on the East Side are running locally only. There is no express service.
The 4 and 5 trains terminate at 86th Street.
CLICK HERE for delay details.
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All trains running normal (for now).
Well that only took a week
Today was the first day this week that I was able to catch my morning train to work!
This line has been f-ed up all week long. Twice, I got to the platform just as a train was leaving, only to wait 15+ minutes before an announcement of service changes.
Even after walking 20 blocks to the closest express stop, I was still screwed. There was a “sick passenger” that kept me from being able to transfer back to a local service line. So I had to say on the express train and catch a local back uptown.
When getting to the station where the alleged “sick passenger” was, I saw the “victim” surrounded by police. It wasn’t a sick passenger at all. It was an old, drunk woman who was screaming and yelling. She couldn’t walk 5 steps without tipping over. Then she would scream and try to squeeze out a slurred demand or racist rant.
Today, so far so good. I’d like to just forget this morning ever happened.
Live from the subway, back to you in studio… .
POLL: What kind of rider are you?
Over the years, I’ve noticed that there are generally a few kinds of riders when it comes to getting on a crowded subway train.
This is expecially ture lately it seems because for whatever reason, the trains seem to run just a little slower in the summer. Why is it that the there just seems to be fewer trains? It’s not like they’re broken down, they just come spread out by an extra 5 or 6 minutes apart. So by the time it gets there, it is so crowded that a few women get pregnant by proxy.
Anyway, what’s your story?
[poll=2]
SUBWAYblogger 