The funny thing is, this picture was probably taken in July.
Via Flicker
Tag: subway
Bomb Explosion in Times Square Disrupts Subway Service
A small bomb was set off in Times Square around 3:45am today. The explosion occurred on the doorstep of the Army/Navy recruitment station on the island in the center of Times Square.
As a result, the police immediately suspended subway service in Times Square. Luckily, trains kept moving and simply bypassed Times Square. However, since TS is a major transfer hub, bypassing it makes it a little tricky for commuters.
Luckily, service resumed fairly quickly…or somewhat quickly.
The station was/is basically on super secure mode. Trains entering the station were boarded by police dogs and checked before being allowed to proceed. In the station itself, there were officers in SWAT gear with machine guns. There were many people being randomly stopped and checked as well.
This will likely continue for the next few days. However, as the mayor said, it’s back to business as usual in Times Square, with a few more automatic weapons near by.
Dead or Alive
Contributed by a SUBWAYblogger reader Leslie S.:
I was on my way to DTW for Yanira Castro’s installation piece, when I almost tripped on who I thought was on ordinary subway vagrant on the steps leading outside to the NE corner of 14th street at 6th avenue. (at the F stop) I quickly realized that this man, bum or not, was not breathing and there was a small mass of people beginning to collect around the station. Mostly, people were as frozen as the man was.
I asked if anyone had a mirror, if the police had been called, had anytime tried to do CPR. No one really said anything, other than “he fell.” What worried me was that perhaps no one tried to help him immediately for fear he was homeless.
After about 5 minutes, the police and medics began pouring in and shoving people out of the way. No one in the crowd was of much help. Even the station agent who identified the man as a security agent who worked in the neighborhood, (and who presumably called 911) didn’t seem particularly concerned, or rather, there was a blatant lack of urgency or panic in his manner. CPR was performed for about 10 minutes but to no avail. A few minutes later, more support arrived to carry him away.
I am unsure as to his status and can only assume he did not make it, but have not heard anything on any local news outlet, so am wondering if anyone has written in about this or if anyone has heard anything about tragic incident.
I do hope he is alive.
Snow and Deja Vu
So apparently today’s snow was the most snow the city has seen in two years. For some reason, that makes it sound like some massive amount of snow…as if it were a blizzard or something.
The truth is we just haven’t had much snow at all in the last few years. This year has been a joke. Anyway, in celebration of the snowfall, the MTA has suspended track work for the weekend.
In other news, I had a very odd thing happen to me today. I rode the exact same train, exact same car both to and from work today.
Just by chance, I noticed a Dr. Zizmor ad on the subway that had been defaced to say Dr. Douchebag. It stuck in my head because it gave me a little chuckle. Honestly, who goes to a doctor that advertises on the subway? That’s a top 10 trashy thing to do. If you need more details, this clown has a Wikipedia entry. I’m not linking to it because you can find it on your own.
Anyway, this afternoon, I got on the train to go home, and saw the exact same Dr. Douchebag ad! I was on the same train, same car, and standing in the exact same place as this morning.
That’s never happened to me before, at least that I’ve noticed.
Free Hats and Gloves
Did people leave their homes and offices in a panic today?
I saw no less than 2 hats and 3 different gloves on the sidewalks and subway stairs today. People were clearly fishing around for things in their pockets and bags not realizing they were dropping them.
Why couldn’t it be $100 bills instead?
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Billions ride the New York City Subway
Well, in case there were any mystery about the subway’s getting more and more crowded, we can now put that question to bed.
In 2007, there were 2.3 billion riders. That’s right, BILLION with a B.
And of course, this is pre-congestion pricing.
Jumper DOA at 49th Street on the N Train
There are reports this morning that there was a person under a train that was dead on arrival at the 49th Street stop on the N train.
SUBYWAYblogger reader Melody brought this to our attention, and then we were able to confirm it on the police scanner logs.
Melody was on the train that allegedly struck the person. However, she was unable to find any info about it in the main stream media or blogs. Again, for those that do not know, the main stream media rarely reports suicides. This is because reporting them often causes more suicides. People of an unstable nature, who might be considering killing themselves, often will become more likely to do so if they think it will get media attention. Often, the suicide is a cry for attention in the first place.
However, according to Melody’s report, there were other witnesses who said the guy was very drunk and just fell on to the tracks as the train was coming. So it might not have been a purposeful suicide in the first place. Might have just been a drunk guy who fell.
Without doing a Freedom of Information Act search in a few weeks, we may never know what really happened.
UPDATE: Here’s what one witness claims to have seen.
We approached the station, and as we pulled in we felt a premature thud/jerk with the brakes kicking in immediately. The conductor said the emergency brakes had been activated and that they were “investigating.” 20 minutes later we attempt to leave the station again, but we only moved about 3-5 feet before the emergency brakes kick in yet again.
At that point we were evacuated from the train, and were waiting on the platform for further instruction, when we hear sirens. A bunch of cops showed up, then someone came in with one of those orange medi-boards, and the cops immediately kicked everyone out saying, “This station is closed!!!”
The Subway: Where Politics and MLK Day Converge
Uncivilsociety reminds us of a somewhat darker time in subway history. This ad once ran on the subways in a pre-civil rights era. It combines two themes in one ad that today would be considered unbelievably offensive.
First, the tongue-in-cheek way they use “women voting.” As if it were an inevitability. Then again, as we all know, women will only vote for Gold Dust detergent because that’s all women really know. Right?
Second, we might be crazy enough to allow women to vote, but let’s face it, our black servants are the ones that will use the detergent in the first place. As depicted in the ad, the lady of the house will buy the detergent, but the black house keepers will joyfully use it.
Very interesting to see how these ideas weren’t just in the back of people’s minds. They were pro actively used in advertising!
SUBWAYblogger 