January 24, 2005
Train Migraine
The words "C train service could be suspended for as up to five years" do not make Gothamist's Monday depression any better. Yet that's what the NYC Transit is saying, after yesterday's fire at Chambers Street. Officials say a homeless man ignited a "shopping cart full of wood" on the southbound tracks, and not only will A service will totally messed up for a while, it seems that the fire "destroyed approximately 600 electrical devices used to control signals along the Eighth Avenue line." Damaged control signals - yikes. That's probably why replacing the signals will take millions of dollars. This is in addition to all the subway problems this past weekend, partly caused by the blizzard (frozen tracks, malfunctioning switches). The Straphangers' Gene Russianoff pointed out that the NYCT division of the MTA "says, 'Tough luck, buddy'" while the LIRR, also run by the MTA, emails updates and apologies about delays and service advisories. [Related: Joe Schumacher has a telling photograph of subway service from the weekend.]
Gothamist has been noticing a lot of features lately about people having crap times navigating the NYC subways, to drive home the point that the MTA's fare hike still doesn't mean service is where it should be; here's one from the Daily News and one from Newsday that details a woman's attempt to find a station attendant because she dropped her purse onto the tracks. And free subways are part of Christopher Brodeur's mayoral platform.
How will this C line mess affect your commute? How do you cope with subway problems (iPod, book, candy, or finding someone to develop a crush on)? Gothamist on Mayor Bloomberg's subway delay, plus Ask Gothamist on why the A/C/E tracks are weird at 34th Street and whether lights outside the subway entrances mean anything.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/24/nyregion/24transit.html
"Service on the C train was also suspended indefinitely. The V train, which usually runs from Queens to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, will be extended to the Euclid Avenue station in Brooklyn, which is normally the terminus of the C."
I will cope with subway problems by doing everything possible to ensure that Pataki never holds public office ever again.
From a purely selfish standpoint, the V extension will improve my commute slightly.
But up to five years? Holy craptitude. Even the 9/11 damage didn't take that long to fix.
just to drive the point home, i moved back to nyc about 2 years ago, to bensonhurst (on the N line). i still had my car from my previous location - but i also grew up in nyc.. so my plan was to try the subway first, and see how it worked.
even in rush hour, it took me less time to drive to work than to take the subway - never mind how long it took at night, when cars are even faster and trains are even slower. and never mind the constant (out there) service interruptions for entire weekends.
so how did i deal with the train problems? i stopped taking that train!
How does this happen without anyone noticing??? Anyone know if the Chambers street station still had a open tollbooth?
A homeless guy loads a shopping cart up with wood, rolls it into a tunnel and sets the cart on fire. He was probably just trying to stay warm, but nevertheless caused enough damage to disrupt subway service for five years.
When any average Joe can roll a shopping cart into a tunnel how can we be sure that the MTA will stop potential terrorist attacks? What if the shopping cart had been loaded with explosives and not firewood?
I think it's safe to say that for the majority of New Yorkers, dealing with the subway and the MTA is the single biggest discouragement to living here.
Is there an ETA on when F service in Brooklyn will be back to normal? Currently it seems to be running Stillwell–Church Ave. and Jay–Queens. Apparently there is ice on the tracks at Smith-9th. But from what I can tell that didn't happen until late yesterday or early this morning. I mean, I wouldn't expect the MTA to provide info or anything.
Which line will the V take through Brooklyn?
It appears V will run on the F to Jay, then switch over to the C and run to Euclid.
The A and C train situation will make it almost impossible for me to live here. I depend wholly on those trains. Is anyone else up shit creek like I am if it takes 3-5 years to fix?
"the single biggest discouragement to living here"
i would think cost of living would be a bigger issue. i think people can learn to expect less from the mta and the subway.
Did anyone see a train that was spray painted all black roll through their station this morning? I was at the Nevins St. station this morning and an entire train was done up in all black so you couldn't even see the destination signs or windows. It just passed through the station with the words "The Blacker the Berry the Sweeter the Juice" painted on the last car. It was really creepy actually. Anyone know what's up with that? I assume it was graffiti, but I don't know how someone could feasibly do this.
Tien, you may well be right. My theory is that you can anticipate and adjust to the high cost of living if you want to. But the MTA throws exciting new failures at you every day, things you can't anticipate, things you really can't calibrate for. Also, it's something most of us have to deal with on a hands-on basis on a twice-daily basis.
NYC has a high cost of living because it's one of the best cities in the world to call home. That makes sense.
The subway experience is terrible and the MTA is a fiasco because ... um ... well, I don't know. It doesn't make a great deal of sense, not to me at least. That's why I see the subway as being more of a reason to leave than the high cost of living. Besides, we both live in dirt cheap Greenpoint, where you can pay your rent in cases of Vodka!
I think (and hope) it's all a meaningless threat. I could totally see the MTA dropping such pain-inflicting estimates just so that they can take their time doing the repairs - or, alternately, so that the budget and timeframe are set so far back out there that, if they screw up, they'll still be on time.
I cannot see these lines being at anything less than 90% service a year from now, no matter what it takes to accomplish that. You'll hear insane noise about this from the rest of city/state government any minute now.
Well, at least this explains my horrendous commute today (extra extra people on the 4/5, which is already packed to the walls on a normal day. Everyone was being even a bigger dick than normal, too. I need to start taking magazines with me on the train or else I'll go nuts...)
The high cost of living means that you find ways around the high cost of living, like finding the cheaper stores or limiting the number of expensive dinners you consume. But how can you get around the subway? Most Manhattanites are used to multiple subway options and stops that are never more than 4 or five blocks away from each other. If a train stops running on one line, you usually have another option. But some outer-borough people get screwed as only one train serves some neighborhoods. Finding that toothpaste costs $4.00 at my local store means I'll walk around the corner to another to check the price. But finding that my subway is out of service means I'll either be late for work or have to add a lot of time to my commute.
Empty threat or not, it just shows how antiquated the subway system is. It's shocking that the busiest transit system in the country is still using a pre-WWII technology to control traffic.
It says a lot that the MTA received such a negative reaction when it announced it will boldly tiptoe into the late 20th Century by introducing an automated signal system in the L-line.
If they would just ban photography then homeless people and terrorists wouldn't be able to bring shopping carts of wood into the subways.
If the V runs to Jay (then runs on the C) that would be totally sweet--it'll reduce the overcrowding on the F during rush hours (where V usually has plenty of room). I thought extending the V was a good idea ages ago; I didn't mean for another line to get fucked up for that to happen though.
Can anyone give an update on the current service, specifically F and V?
MTA site says "V service is operating normally" (normally as in terminating at 2nd Ave?) and "G service is operating between Courthouse Square and Bedford - Nostrand Ave", but no mention of the F.
I'm going to be fine whatever happens, but my girlfriend lives by Church Ave on the F so she would have to do the shuttle bus from Jay to Church if the F is still WIA.
TIA
What's sad is that the entire A train took about 5 years to build. How come it takes 5 years to fix a signal room? They suck.
toyochin: probably because tens of thousands of riders daily were not trying to use it at the same time they were digging and laying track. if you want them to completely shut down the entire 8th avenue line while they do this, then i bet they could do it faster...
to keith s' point: the MTA is a fiasco (your words) in part because they do not charge enough for it. at basically $1.80 per ride, it rediculously cheap per mile traveled. this despite the fact that non NYC residents, despite benfitting from it, subsidize no more than their fare since the commuter tax was done away with. add to that probably the oldest infrastructure of any US transit system and definitely the most miles served gives you and idea.
the MTA is one of the selling points for NYC. it's one of the best transit systems in the country and the only city in the US where you truly don't need a car.
What I don't get is why the C problem this morning so royally effed-up the B train. I got to the 81st/CPW station this morning at about 8:55 AM and the platform was packed. Suddenly there's an announcement stating that C service was suspended and a local B train was 8-10 minutes away. Then about 5 minutes later, another announcement said the B was approaching 96th Street. About 5 minutes after that, a jam-packed A train (which usually doesn't stop at 81st but was obviously already going local) pulls into the station. At least at my section of the platform, nobody got off, and noone could get on. Finally the A pulls out, and a couple minutes later, another announcement states that the B train was at least 8 to 10 minutes away. What the hell happened to all the B trains? I didn't stick around to find out, instead choosing to hike over to 79th and B'Way to catch a 1, but why were the announcements so screwy? Was anyone else around the CPW stations at that time, and did you wait it out and ever get on a B or A?
I just recently moved here and have to say that the MTA is my favorite thing. Thank god that you guys have stops close together and trains that come in less time than the 8-12 minutes that the A is now supposedly running in. In Chicago all the trains are elevated which means waiting in the freezing snow and wind and rain and heat, they take at least 10 minutes to come, and you always have to walk or take the bus because the stops are at least a mile apart. Public transit only gets worse everywhere else in this country.
So--did anyone take the F train to Brooklyn this evening? And if so, how'd it go?
My gf took it at around 2 pm and it was still screwy. Took her 2.5 hours from Midtown to Church Ave.
NY1 says F is back to normal, G is still screwy.
It's all gone a bit British Rail
check out my xanga (not really blog-category worthy though...) for three shots (at the end of monday's post) of the smoke at chambers maybe a few mins after it all happened...
www.xanga.com/ntwrkguy
More photos of the scene. Mine are above ground however.
Is it just me or does anyone smell conspiracy? How easy is it to justify the March fare hike with 5 years of repair and millions of dollars worth of damage? What's the homeless person's name? Am I not getting enough sleep?
Does this mean the loss of express service on the A? Or will they continue to make southbound travelers take the A to Columbus Circle and double back on the D as they did today?
The F is running everywhere, Jen--but it was a long wait between trains this morning.
i guess those "if you see something, say something" ads were a bust. oh well.
Jimmie, I'm thinking the same thing.
The MTA will use this fire to justify another fare hike -- for repairs, for security, for expanded service, you name it.
I'm expecting an announcement b/w now and when the latest fare hike goes into effect (March, IIRC).
This just added a lot of time to my commute.
As for running local, I can't speak for what's going on below 59th St., but the A is running local above 145th and probably will be for some time since the C is the only line that services those stations. Then the A runs express from 145th to West 4th, and then it goes wonky again. I suspect this means local A trains on the weekends, which was already more common than it should have been.