Tag: mass transit

Train running late? Take this Maserati instead.

subwayblogger2 Comments

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.

Photo Credit

Lots of Foreign Tourists this Morning

subwayblogger7 Comments

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.

Is it the beginning of the end?

subwayblogger1 Comment

I’m about one or two more back to back track fires away from taking cover in a bunker somewhere.  Seriously.  Things over the past couple weeks are just getting crazy.

It all started with summer showing up light a white hot freight train.  For weeks, we enjoyed beautiful mid 70’s each day.  Then, overnight it was 96 degrees outside…or 104 if you follow that “Real Feel” bullshit.

**Side note.  What the hell is a “Real Feel” temperature or heat index?  I know what it really means, but lets just make it easy.  Just tell me how damn hot it feels outside and leave it at that.  If it’s 86 outside but feels like 94, I want to know about the 94.  Screw the 86…who cares.  My ass is sweating.

Anyway, the heat showed up, and I started to brace for the subway heat as we’ve discussed at length in the past.  Interestingly, it was virtually the same day it hit as last year.  Also, we’ve discussed that it takes about a day or two for the heat to make it’s way underground.  Then it’s an oven.

So yeah, of course I was expecting the heat eventually, but not all this other crap.

Let’s start with the track fires.  It’s so damn hot that shit just randomly catches on fire on the PATH train tracks almost every week.  Switches, lights, and boxes in the subway blow up or short out.  How hot is it?  Hot enough to bring mass transit to it’s knees.

If there’s ever been an argument for better maintenance of the subway system (including upgrades), this is it.   Gas is hitting $5.00 a gallon all around us, more and more people are taking the trains, and we’re running a system from 1932.  Just wait and see how f-ed up it gets when the rain comes…

Then, there was last night.  I’m sitting in my apartment, and it’s perfectly quiet outside.  All of a sudden it sounds like rocks are being thrown at my windows.  I look outside, and it looks like a tornado is coming up the block.  I watches as a whole tree across the street became uprooted.

Then on the other side of the street, scaffolding started ripping off my neighbor’s building.  You know the scaffolding they put over the sidewalks?  Most usually have blue plywood walls put up around the first story of the scaffold.  Well, this wind started peeling off the 4×8 sheets of plywood like post-it notes.  They flew up the street doing cartwheels over the cars on the block. Read More »