I must say, I had excellent subway timing today. It has been a really, really long time since I got to the platform and walked right onto the train both times today.
There was no waiting whatsoever for me today. I got to work early, and got home ahead of schedule.
I’m always a little afraid when that happens because it usually means that the rest of the week there will be no trains at all.
The MTA is recruiting websites for their new (?) affiliate marketing system.
If you are a webmaster, they would looooove to pay you 5% for all the sales traffic you send to transitmuseumstore.com. That’s right, cash money for selling transit schwag.
Well, we weren’t especially impressed with the program, so you won’t be seeing ads for subway gear here any time soon. A 5% share for low end items and transactions is a bit weak.
Think about the transaction volume. Let’s say someone gets a nifty subway map necktie for the low low price of $38.00. That’s $1.90 for you. Yeah…not that thrilling. And how huge is the market for subway stuff?
It was nice to be be asked though. Apparently they have to pay off the actual transit museum because the stuff is under licence. So that’s the reason for the low commission rate.
Maybe if they had kicked me some snazzy subway cuff links or something, I would have joined. Maybe.
Thank goodness this is not a NYC subway car. However, I’d imagine it can’t be that far behind.
This little gem is from the Toronto subway system, and I discovered it on this Canuck blog. In a recent advertising move, Ikea launched a campaign up there in Cana-dee-a.
They took over an entire train and decorated each car in “Ikea style” decor. You can see the pictures, if you can stomach it, by clicking here.
How long until that crap shows up on the S train?
Tonight around 5pm, an N train jumped the tracks. There have been conflicting reports of whether or not it was just one car or two that derailed…not that it matters. The fact is that there was a subway derailment.
Passengers on board had to be removed with a rescue train. Typically, this means a train that pulls up along side the stranded train. Then, gangways or ramps are used to transfer passengers from one train to the other. In the derailed cars, passengers would have been moved forwards or backwards into cars that were still on the tracks.
At this time, the MTA website is still reporting:
Due to an ongoing rail condition at the 57th Street-7th Avenue Station:
Bay Ridge-bound
trains are running on the
line between the 36th Street Station in Queens and the 34th Street- Herald Square Station.
There is no
train service between the Queensboro Plaza Station and the Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard Station in both directions.
Shuttle trains are being provided between the Queensboro Plaza Station and the Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard Station.
Please expect delays in service on the
I love how it gets played down to an “ongoing rail condition.” I think it borders on dishonesty. Just come right out and say that it was because of a train derailment. Don’t try to be all secretive.
Also, it’s not really a huge shock. I posted this video over a month ago about a section of track at 59th street that sags 6″ or more when the train passes over it. It still has not been fixed. I cannot believe that they don’t know about it. If not, the inspector needs to be fired because this is obvious to all the passengers that wait on that platform. Plus, with all the construction on that platform, surely a worker has seen what I did.
Anyway, I think it is safe to say that there could be some morning issues for the commute. Even if everything gets fixed, it is likely that trains will run through the area slowly.
Check the MTA site for the latest updates.
That’s what the MTA is saying these days when they look at the capital improvement budget. There’s a gaping $3 billion hole smack in the middle of the budget responsible for general repairs and maintenance of the transit system.
Yep. $3 Billion. Oops.
“The [CAPITAL] program has some shortfalls in it,” Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Elliot Sander said at an agency board meeting. [AMNY]
Uhhh yeah, “shortfall” is an understatement.
While mega-projects like the Second Avenue subway are not affected, the “nitty-gritty” work of station repairs and upgrades, signal replacements, or purchase of new cars could suffer, said MTA spokesman Jeremy Soffin. {AMNY]
You know, just the minor things like repairs, and track signals. And really, how badly do we really need working brakes?
This was honestly what you had to deal with this weekend to get around the city.
The MTA basically decided to turn the subway into a giant NASCAR track. So you had to just get on and cross your fingers that you boarded the correct train in the loop.
The 2 train went down the west side as normal, but then returned back up the east side. The 5 train went down the east side, but then came up the west side.
Hopefully you didn’t have your iPod turned up so loud you couldn’t hear the announcements. Odds of noticing the posters were low. Even if you did, you probably wouldn’t be able to read them without the special decoder ring.
Ok, this is the first of a two part series focused on how much MTA Employees are paid versus other city service workers.
First a quick poll.
[poll=5]
We will have the full wrap up later on this story. You will be shocked…at least I was. So check back soon, we’ll have all the details.
In the mean time, just ponder what you think would be reasonable.
How much should a custodian or iron worker make? How much should a conductor or maintenance supervisor make? We’ll have a lot of fun with this one soon. The comments are going to be GREAT.
Well, if you have eyes, you can see that the weather is complete crap today. There’s going to be tons of flooding, especially in the subway tunnels.
So, let us know in the comments section of this post if you experience any service delays while out and about today. We will post them all here. Everyone knows that the MTA site is stupidly slow when it comes to posting alerts, so we will have to rely on eachother.
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For a while, we’ve had a little checkbox on our comments where you could allegedly subscribe to get an email alert when there are new comments. However, let’s be honest, it hasn’t really worked that well in the past. Ok, it sucked.
But not anymore!! We’ve upgraded the system. Now, you’ll get those notifications for real.
So, if you comment on our blog, check the little box, and you’ll get an email if anyone else responds to your comments.
A new feature on SUBWAYblogger: Subscribe to comments.
For a while, we’ve had a little checkbox on our comments where you could allegedly subscribe to get an email alert when there are new comments. However, let’s be honest, it hasn’t really worked that well in the past. Ok, it sucked.
But not anymore!! We’ve upgraded the system. Now, you’ll get those notifications for real.
So, if you comment on our blog, check the little box, and you’ll get an email if anyone else responds to your comments.
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