Results tagged “commute”

The New York Times posted an article today for anyone who's ever had to endure subway transfers to get to their beloved. They track the story of one couple, Peter Horan and Afton Vermeer, who must trek nearly an hour and a half to see each other in the same city (Horan lives in western Harlem, Vermeer in Sunset Park.) While this is not news to many couples in the city, the Times reports that it seems to be happening more and more, with a variety of repercussions.

The NY Times and CityRoom have been collecting their readers' subway reading material choices, and there's an article in the Times with a little bit of what they've offered: "There are those whose commutes are carefully timed to the length of a Talk of the Town section of The New Yorker, those who methodically page their way through the classics, and those who always carry a second trash novel in case they unexpectedly make it to the end of the first on a glacial F train." Some are reading scripts—hoping for a part—while others are reading religious texts (the Talmud) and even 5-8 year-old summer day campers are reading (The Baby-Sitters Club). One CityRoom commenter said, "I don’t read newspapers on the subway — I might get depressed and jump in front of a train," which would obviously earn them the wrath of their fellow riders, while another said, "Newspapers are for online reading." What are you reading on the train? A few weeks ago, we were reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo on a 7 train...and noticed that the guy on the right was also reading it.

Rep. Michael McMahon and Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano asking that cars be allowed back onto the Staten Island Ferry. Car service was suspended at 9/11, but now, McMahon writes, "The residents of Staten Island endure one of the most arduous and costly commutes in the country; all options which could ease that burden without compromising our safety should be made available... Opening the ferry to car transportation would give Staten Island commuters more choices, ultimately save many commuters time, and would cut down on all the unnecessary vehicle emissions resulting from the need to drive through Brooklyn to get to Manhattan." One ferry rider concurred and told NY1, "I think I would feel safe, and I think as a Staten Islander, we don't have much access, or anything, you have to take bridges and pay huge tolls." However, there are some detractors: Transportation Alternatives' Wiley Norvell said to the Post, "The logistical and expense burdens of moving cars on the Staten Island Ferry is totally out of proportion to the benefits of using the ferry for cars."

While you were busy checking out possible candidates for a Missed Connection post and listening to your podcasts, 36-year-old Brooklyn writer Peter Brett wrote a novel while commuting on the F train. Feeling like an underachiever yet? He wrote the novel, his first, entirely on his smartphone. Now the "dark, demonic fantasy," titled The Warded Man, is sitting pretty in bookstores. The Daily News reports that Brett worked in medical publishing, and for the two years it took him to finish the 400-page novel, the F was his muse on his daily commute to and from the Fort Hamilton Parkway stop and Times Square. He told the paper, "I trained myself that at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. every day when I got on the train, that was my writing time. I had about 45 minutes each way, and everyone who takes the F knows that 45 minutes can turn into an hour and a half." Now a full-time writer, he combats writer's block by taking rides on the train.

If you ever see this woman on the train, offer her your seat. In their ongoing Extreme Commuter series, amNewYork follows Tameeka Henry's 2 to 5 day/week travels from Brooklyn to Dix Hills, Long Island. The 21-year-old student attends Five Towns College there, and while it's only about 30-something miles from her Brooklyn home, it takes about four hours each way. Four hours. Maybe that 3.9 GPA can be partially attributed to all of that forced study time. She "takes a dollar van, a city bus, the subway, two Long Island Rail Road trains and a Suffolk County bus to get to and from school. Sometimes she catches a ride to classes, but either way, she still has to leave her house at 6:45 a.m. to get to school on time." What's all that cost? $26. Luckily, she graduates in May. [via NYMag]

As Jimmy Fallon prepares for his Late Night close-up, house band The Roots are frantically writing hundreds of original songs to play on the show because NBC is refusing to pay music licensing fees. The group has 12 days til they take over the airwaves, and drummer ?uestlove told Rolling Stone that of the 200 songs they are attempting to pen, "we've written about 55 so far." In the same interview he tells the magazine that the entire band is "commuting via tour bus every morning at 8 am" from Philly. So it's safe to assume none of their 200 new jingles have to do with leaving a giant carbon footprint on the environment. Unless they use a biodiesel tour bus?

Yesterday's bucolic (and then slushy) snowfall turned dangerous, as roads became very icy overnight. On Nassau County, highways were being salted and snow, but the conditions were still serious: One driver said, "[They're] horrible, slippery, scary. I have a truck so it's not so bad for me, but I feel sorry for people with cars." And in NJ, on Routes 1 & 9, WABC 7 says "three tractor trailers and four cars collided...One of the cars was crushed between the tractor-trailer and the divider," while there was a 15-car crash on I 78. Even commuter-train riding passengers are having a tough time: NJ Transit trains are delayed as some railroad crossing gates are stuck in the down position, due to an electrical malfunction from road salt and melting snow.

Yesterday, NY Times reporter Mireya Navarro witnessed, on a 2 train last night, a man who boarded at Canal Street and was napping on the subway seats: "His eyes still closed, [he] sat up a couple of stops later, opened his fly and urinated. From a seated position, he thoroughly soaked his vicinity, and the half-full car emptied out in the middle as his fellow passengers — including this reporter — fled in both directions." Aboard another train car, Navarro said she would contact the authorities when she got out at her stop, "They should remove him, I argued, before other unsuspecting riders walked into the car and had to deal with him and the mess." But her fellow straphangers nixed that idea, with one woman explaining, "All they’ll do is take the train out of service, and we’ll all be stuck." Photo: imjustsayin' on Flickr

While yesterday's snow was beautiful, it's making for a messy commute this morning across the Tri-State region. WCBS 2 reports, "In the hardest hit areas, mostly in New Jersey, about 2 to 3 inches of snow were measured... As the morning continues however, most of the precipitation is rain." But add the rain to the snow, and it's a headache for drivers...though not so much for the kids with late school openings. There were also a number of "multiple minor, apparently weather-related accidents" on Long Island; the state DOT was out making sure roads stayed a little less slippery. Additionally, today is a gridlock alert day in the city!

According to a new report, the average commuter in NYC emits about 1,750 pounds of CO2 each year, making New Yorkers some of the greenest commuters in the country. High five! But if you want to know how much your commute is contributing to civilization's imminent doom, Transportation Alternatives has added a handy carbon calculator to their Rolling Carbon website. Simply type in the distance you commute and your mode of transport, and the machine tells you how guilty or self-righteous you should feel! So if you're an SUV driver residing 10 miles from work, you emit 32 pounds of carbon dioxide every day. To offset all that carbon, you would need to plant 46 trees every year. Or you could just stop being such a tool.[Photo cred.]

We've received conflicting reports regarding this morning's A train service. As early as 10 minutes ago it's been reported that service from Queens into Brooklyn is "SUSPENDED DUE TO A BROKEN RAIL ALONG THE LINE." Yikes! However, the MTA is saying there are only "residual delays" due to an earlier incident. Has anyone experienced a headache this morning on the line? We'll update as more information comes in.

Yesterday's unusual double-header subway series, with the first afternoon game at Yankee Stadium and the evening game at Shea Stadium, might have been a commuting nightmare for devoted fans trying to catch both games. But the teams got full police escorts to the stadiums--it only took 17 minutes for the team and media buses to head from Queens to the Bronx and 20 minutes for the Bronx-to-Queens travels! But one Daily News reporter who decided to drive made it to Queens in just over an hour. Did any readers take the subway from Yankee Stadium to Shea? And the Mets are hosting the Yankees right now, Johan Santana vs. Andy Petitte

This morning, New York Water Taxi introduced their new commuter ferry route for residents of the Rockaways in Queens. While it's not a straight shot--it stops once at the Brooklyn Army Terminal--it will move up to 400 commuters from Riis Landing to Wall St.'s Pier 11.

As a part of greening up the earth, Google Transit will tell you the quickest way to get from Point A to B using mass transit in the city.

Seems as though the Staten Island Ferry riders have had enough of the preachers that give unsolicited sermons during their daily commutes. Today one of them stood up to a preacher, and garnered much applause for the act.

NYPIRG's Straphangers Campaign released its 2007 report on Subway Schmutz today and there was reason for encouragement. Overall, car cleanliness improved slightly between 2005 and 2007, but there was significant improvement on the 7 and L lines. The L line actually has the cleanest cars in the system according to Straphangers, with 88% of cars earning a clean rating versus 61% in 2005. The 7 train line was tied for second place, with 78% getting a clean rating versus 22% in 2005.

Starting in mid-September 2007, "additional cleaners were deployed at both terminals for these lines, working in multiple shifts to provide 24-hour coverage," according to MTA New York City Transit. Beginning on December 10, 2007, two new "line general managers" were appointed with greater authority to run the L (Greg Lombardi) and the 7 (Lou Brusati).

The snowy weather is causing the usual commute problems: The snow accumulation is around 4-6 inches in the city, with more to the north and a little less to the south, and visibility is low for drivers. There are a number of accidents on highways and roads, and more are sure to happen later on in the day when the snow is expected to turn into freezing rain and sleet.