This graphic cracked me up when I saw it on Second Ave Sagas today. Apparently, it originally came from Daily Kos, but it is a great metafore for the city’s transit policy.
Poll: Subway Station Takover Ads
Do you think the MTA should allow larger scale subway station takeover ads? For example, our Canadian brothers and sisters have this sort of advertising on their turnstiles.
What about NYC?
[poll id=”8″]
If not, why?
Dropped like a sack of taters
Today I witnessed probably one of the coolest things I think I’ve seen on the subway to date.
There was a small group of teenage kids standing just outside the turnstiles. You could tell just by looking at them that they were up to no good.
Couldn’t really tell how old they were. I’m guessing they were about 14 or 15 years old. They were all pretty tall. One was probably 6 feet tall. But they looked young. Really lanky. Frankly, it was almost comical because they were really tall, super skinny, but had huuuuuuuuuge baggy pants and hoodies on. Like all three of them could have fit into the same pair of pants at the same time.
Anyway, one of them made a dash for it to skip out on the fare and hop the turnstile. They didn’t realize that leaning against the wall was a cop, just out of their view.
The cop ran over just as the second one was going over. Both of the kid’s feet were in mid air when the cop went two hands on. He snatched him out of mid air and in one clean motion dropped him chest first onto the ground. It was amazing.
The kid that made it over already took off running. The other kid who had not yet attempted the jump took off out of the station. So two got away, but the look on their faces was priceless.
Cuffs on. Game over.
Dear Steve Jobs, please send me an iPhone
You know I’ve made it no secret that SUBWAYblogger wants an iPhone for the express purpose of a better moblogging experience. Frankly, I’m getting pretty antsy, and I wish Steve Jobs (or anyone at Apple) would just send me one.
Hell, they could be an entitlement sponsor of SUBWAYblogger. We could be the mobile blogging posterchild.
http://v.wordpress.com/GyIzZkju
I have a Blackberry World right now, and yeah, it is ok. The blog by email thing is really lame though. And all the WordPress bells and whistles simply aren’t there.
Plus, being able to pull pictures in right from the iPhone camera into the post would be huuuuge. Then you could see what I see.
SUBWAYblogger is a super Apple fan too. We have a Macbook Pro 17″, Macbook, Mac G4, iPod’s galore, iPod Touch, Airport Extreme with Timecapsule and more.
Clearly, I would have bought one myself by now. However, SUBWAYblogger’s day job does not yet support iPhone for email. So I did not want to have to float two cell bills, and the cost of two devices if at all possible.
Anyway, I’m having a temper tantrum. I want one now. If you work at Apple or AT&T, please email submit [[at]] subwayblogger.com if you would like to offer one of your fine products. It would be greatly appreciated.
Photo Sums it Up
FREE Ads on SUBWAYblogger are Back
Continuing our very popular monthly offer, free banner ads on SUBWAYblogger are back. Yup, just plain free. Seriously.
What’s the catch? There isn’t one. You never have to pay for anything. Just order the free ad, and that’s it. I know it sounds like a scam, but it really isn’t.
Get a week long banner ad in our left RIGHT sidebar (premium space!). You can pick any 7 days you like.
If you are interested, just send an email to:
free [[at]] subwayblogger.com
You’ll get an email back with instructions within 5 minutes or less. If it takes longer than that, check your SPAM folder. It might have been caught in your filter.
And if you are interested in advertising on other New York City blogs, check out the NYC Blogger Network.
Train running late? Take this Maserati instead.
With all the talk recently about corporate sponsorship of subway stations and other mass transit fixtures, it is no wonder that we saw a pair of Maserati on the Grand Concourse of Grand Central Terminal. (Side note, is the plural of Maserati “maseratis,” “maseraties,” or just plain “maserati” ? I could look it up, but ahh.)
Granted, this was a high end charitable fundraiser where a raffle ticket would set you back $1000. So basically, if you are a bank CEO, here’s where you could spend part of your bailout check.
Corporate interests are rarely allowed on the floor of the Grand Concourse any more. Once in a great while, you might see something, but it’s rare. The place is basically considered a temple, so brands don’t often get access.
However, maye it will become more of a regular occurrence.
Maserati? Ehh ok I guess. Kia? Not so much.
Lots of Foreign Tourists this Morning
Did you see a higher than average amount of foreign tourists on your train this morning? I sure did.
There was a large group of what sounded like Swedish tourists on one side of me. Then on the other end were a bunch of Germans. There’s definitely no mistaking the German language.
I wonder if this is just a taste of what’s to come this holiday season.
I’m all for the foreign tourists (as long as they keep walking on the sidewalk). Bring us your Euros!
When I noticed that the market opened -300 points this morning, I almost spit my coffee on my computer screen. Way to go bailout.
The European economy is starting to feel the pain of our problem as well. So it makes me wonder if we will see even more tourism than we did last year. With our economy in the crapper, travel should be pretty cheap, right?
Domestic travel is certainly going to be down. People from around the US are definitely not going to fly to New York for a trip, and spend $500 a night on hotel rooms. So those rates will probably drop and get scooped up by international travelers.
And the stores are going to start the holiday insanity sales even earlier this year. So they’ll be here in droves to buy all our Levi Jeans and Reebok sneakers.
Of course, Europeans are fans of mass transit, so they tend to take advantage of the subway. Combine that with more and more Americans leaving their cars at home in favor of mass transit, and we’ve got crowding. It’s going to be “interesting” to see if the system can handle the load.
Did You See the Wrapped Shuttle Train?
The MTA just unveiled its fully advertisement wrapped subway train.
The shuttle (S) from Times Square to Grand Central has every single car wrapped from top to bottom, inside and out with a giant vinyl ad for History’s “Cities of the Underground.”
The Times reports that the vinyl costs $75,000 per car. I don’t know if that’s just the cost of having the ad made or if that includes it running on the trains for a month.
That sounds like a lot, but in the grand scheme of advertising, that’s pretty cheap. The whole train is probably going to run them about $370,000 for the month. A single full page ad in the New York Times runs $80,000 to $150,000. So this will probably be seen by just as many people and will gain press attention.
The Times has a photo, but I didn’t want to steal it. If anyone has a picture of it, we’d love to post it. Send it to submit [at] subwayblogger.com.
Thanks But No Thanks, Body Shop
There’s a new ad on the subway that I noticed today for The Body Shop. I’d actually seen it a few times before but never really knew what was being sold.
For whatever reason, I looked more closely at it today.
It is a sign with flowers. Chamomile to be exact. The product claims to help you sleep better and wake up more energized. (Can you say fish oil?)
Turns out, it is a aromatherapy “pillow mist.” I’m not making this shit up.
It is a spray that you are supposed to spritz on your pillow at night. The magical scents are supposed to make you sleep better. Unless it’s chloroform, I’m not buying it.
That one gets chalked up with Dr. Zizmore on the Bullshit Subway Ad Wall of Shame.
SUBWAYblogger 