The MTA Board has officially approved the “doomsday” budget fare increases.
Fares will be increased and service will be cut in some areas.
The Daily News reports that things got a bit heated at the hearing.
Tag: subway
New Rider Report Card
I was handed a new (the Second Annual) Rider Report Card this morning as I headed down to the subway. I can’t believe it has already been a year since I filled out one of these things.
I especially enjoy the little opening letter inside the card. Here’s a few highlights.
“We’ve worked diligently over the past 12 months to improve your riding experience. We hope you’ve noticed…”
Ummmmm…not so much.
#4 – Sense of security in stations
#5 – Sense of security on trains
Notice the use of the term “sense.” They specifically are not asking about actual security, just how you feel about it. Not “do you think security is good,” but instead “do you feel like you are secure.”
I wish there were more room to write on the card.
#2 – Reasonable wait times for trains.
Yeah it’s been great so go ahead and cut service as soon as possible.
Subway Cheapskate Makes Out on Leftover Fare
Turns out it’s not just the homeless guys that pick up the tossed Metrocards to try and to use the leftover values.
The Post reports that Georgette DiFini, an F line resident of Brooklyn, regularly picks up discarded Metrocards. She claims that roughly 40% of all tossed cards have at least some money left on them. Not enough for a ride though.
You might be asking yourself how on earth would anyone be left with anything less than a whole dollar on their Metrocard. Well, it’s that tricky 15% bonus you get on any fare purchase over $7.00. If you get a $7 card, you’re going to get bonused $1.05. That damn $0.05 is going to carry over.
The MTA says simply refill your card to use the leftover bonus. So in this case, you’d have to add another $0.95 to cover the remaining balance of a $2.00 fare. It’s like the MTA is getting their ideas from the crack dealer’s handbook. Get just a little taste extra to keep them coming back. The $1.05 isn’t worth a damn thing. They’ll need to spend another $0.95 to be able to use it.
Anyway, this woman finds these cards everyday. How many you ask? Try around 45 a day!
The then takes her loot up to the tokenbooth to rollover the balance onto her card. She’s making about $10 a week she says.
Not a bad idea if you don’t mind fighting the bums for their finds.
What happens to all the “change” that never gets used? The MTA keeps it of course. That change adds up to about $4 million a year. That’s a $4 million donation New Yorkers make to the MTA a few cents at a time.
New South Ferry Station Set to Open
MTA’s officials gave the press tours of the new South Ferry station that is expected to open next month.
Many reporters made comments about how clean it was, as it it were a hospital wing. The fancy new station cost about $500 million to build directly under the current South Ferry station.
What does this mean for straphangers? Once it opens, you’ll never hear a train conductor say that you have to be in one of the front five cars at South Ferry ever again. The new station allows all 10 cars to platform.
The current South Ferry station is a gem. It was opened just two years after the subway opened! However, the turn is so sharp and the platform so short that only five cars are able to pull up to it. So that meant riders would have to keep track what car they were in if they planned to get off. Otherwise, they’d have to walk forward to another car or be stuck.
The new station has elevators and escalators as well as one of the more sophisticated security systems in the entire subway.
WTF? A $107 Metrocard in the Works
For that price, it had better come with at least two drinks.
The latest news is the very real possibility of subway fares going over $100 for monthly cards. I call bullsh*t there not because of the price necessarily, but what we get.
I love the lead from the Daily News:
Brace yourself for the C-note MetroCard.
It is so true.
Anyway, back to my point about what we get. Here’s the breakdown of what we could be facing in a C-note fare world. A 30 day Metrocard goes from $81 to $104 with service cuts -OR- $107 without.
So basically, you’re going to get raped for a new Metrocard, it’s just a matter of how hard. If you want to get your ass slapped with a $104 fare and decreased services (the double whammy), that’s one option. If you want to get raped for $107, but still enjoy the same crap services you’ve always received, that’s the other whammy.
Notice that there was no fare for BETTER service than what we have now. How about a $125 rate structure where we could actually benefit from better technology, faster service, less frequent breakdowns, and a fresh coat of paint. Nooooooo…why think of that.
It’s way more fun for politicians use their chewing gum to plug the leaks in the dam than actually fix the problem.
A bit of rain for the next few days. Will the trains hold up?
I guess only time will tell. When there’s back to back days of solid rain, it can cause some big issues on the subway. For whatever reason, the subway and water just don’t mix.
It is kind of ironic that an massive system of underground tunnels build on an island at the mouth of a major river completely melts down when the water gets even the slightest bit high. Poor planning? I’m just saying.
Also, the manager of my home subway stop clearly cannot wait to start salting the stairs. Either that or he has more bags of salt than he can store. Everyday for the last week, there’s been obscene amounts of salt on the stairs. It actually has made the stairs more treacherous because you feel like you’re walking down gravel planks.
It’s been fairly warm and dry so the salt just sits there.
A little sprinkle here and there would probably be a good idea when it gets below freezing at night, but it has been so warm lately.
Of course, we’ll get a foot of snow in January, and we’ll need to bring our own shovels to get down to the train.
Naked Subway Guy
You know, this isn’t even one of the more shocking things you’d see in the subway. It probably wouldn’t even create much of a commotion.
However, walk your naked ass into the middle of a super crowded train car, and you’d have some issues. The last thing any New Yorker would allow is some naked dude rubbing up against them.
Deal Drugs on the Subway?
Or at least discuss strategies. Yikes.
There’s two fairly large, old men that ride the subway every morning. I see them at least a couple times a month together. They’re already on the train when I get on, so they must live further uptown.
They have really distinct old-man gravely voices, and are quite round in the middle. They usually sit across from each other on the train and chat about old men issues.
Today, I was close enough to be able to understand what they were talking about.
Turns out, they are old men drug dealers. Good to know that age is just a number.
One was talking about a client that wants more than he’s able to get. They were talking about it in a somewhat cryptic way, but you knew what they were talking about.
“He keeps asking for four, but i can’t get him that many.”
“Why not? I thought you got six when you go up there.”
“Yeah.”
“So you keep the rest for personal use.”
“Yeah, and my guy won’t sell me more than that.”
“How much you sellin’ for? $15?”
“Uh huh.”
“So here’s what you do, you tell him you can get six but you’re gonna have to make two trips. When you come back, say you could only get three. Then when he makes a fuss about it, tell him you have a fourth, but that’s it.”
“I don’t know.”
“Or you sell him three today, and three tomorrow. Then you still have six left over for the next time.”
So it was a meeting of the minds to say the least. They then got into a discussion about people buying on credit and not paying up. Good times.
Fat Woman Hissy Fit
So a fat woman and a gay guy walk into a bar. (Just kidding)
Instead, a skinny gay guy sits down next to a biiiiiiig hunk of woman on the subway. She’s easily a seat-and-a-halfer. Her thighs are just spilling over into the seat next to her.
She was all the way at the end of the row, so her other side was oozing out under the bar into the doorway. I’m not even kidding when I say that people had to be careful walking through the door on that side. One guy’s leg rubbed up against her and scared the crap out of him. It startled him as he got off the train.
Anyway, big momma is reading the paper. The New York Times I believe, surprisingly not the Food section.
So skinny gay guy is just minding his own business. He’s a little squished in his seat, but doesn’t seem to mind. He’s reading a book and listening to an iPod.
Then, big momma goes to turn the page. She nearly smacks him in the face. She’s so round, she can hardly get her hands around in front of her. The bottom of the paper keeps getting hung up on her breasts as she tries to fold the page back. So with each page turn, she’s flapping her flippers arms out and getting all in the gay guy’s business.
To his credit, he didn’t say anything the first two times she did it. He just made a face and rolled his eyes. People around us were smiling, trying not to laugh because she made a big deal about every turn of the page.
On the third turn, she bumped his book. The pages of her newspaper were covering his book as she was turning the page.
Finally, he had enough. Read More »
Crazy Drunk Subway Dancer
You never really know what you are going to see on the subway. That’s why I think everyone should carry a camera at all times when riding the train. You never know what you might find.
I guess the same goes for the Internet. Found this video on Scuzzy TV. Never heard of this site before, but I like it.
SUBWAYblogger 