Subway? Check. Fire? Check.

Lately, it seems like the NYC subway system just likes fires. For what seems like the umpteenth time in the past few months, a fire in a substation caused a shutdown and evacuation of riders on the A, B, C, and D lines, all the way from the Bronx to Brooklyn on some lines. A circuit breaker malfunction (far more serious than a wardrobe malfunction in Gothamist's book) that turned into a fire at the St. Nicholas Avenue and 141st Street stop occured at 11AM and wasn't fixed until 2:30PM, which meant 600 people were stranded on the trains. Newsday noted that this the day after NYC Transit President Lawrence Reuter's claim that the subways were better, and reported, "The stranded straphangers were escorted out of the stalled trains by firefighters and transit crews, some on evacuation devices stretched across to another train that carried them to safety." Does anyone know what the evaucation devices were exactly - special subway style ones? Luckily, there were no major injuries, some passengers were treated for smoke inhalation and a transit worker suffered some burns. What's scary is that some transit union spokespeople are criticizing that ladders placed in tunnels to evacuate passengers and workers were not easily located; in fact, one ladder was locked and there was no key!

It's unclear what the damage to the substation was, but transit spokesman Paul Fleuranges said incident "is not emblematic of any systemwide breakdown or lack of maintenance," because there were workers in the substation, preparing it for the installation of a new signal system. But he apologized: "This is not the level of service we aim to provide -- and our 4.5 million daily riders have come to expect." No kidding! City Councilman John Liu, head of the City Council's transportation committee, is worried that the subways are back in the 1970s, that low period of subway quality. Riders are incredibly and understandably weary of them problems. And how can you not get a little annoyed when you see this picture of a child being carried out of the smoky subway? Plus, Gothamist on subway fires.

Photograph from Newsday