Results tagged “ftrain”

     

Last night, the MTV Video Music Awards returned to New York City with its usual mix of spectacle and a heavy dose of nostalgia (mostly Michael Jackson-related, with a remembrance from Madonna, then a performance of Scream by Janet Jackson). However, the whole thing was upstaged by Kanye West's antics—the rapper decided to storm the stage when Taylor Swift was the surprise winner for Best Female Video with her song "You Belong With Me." He took the microphone from the 19-year-old to declare Beyonce's "Single Ladies" "one of the best videos of all time." Here's video:

Mayor Bloomberg is calling for the MTA to eliminate the fare of the most frequently used—and very slow—crosstown bus lines such as the M50 and M14. Perhaps sensing that the campaign season was beginning to get bogged down in talk of neverending term limits and a recent poll that showed challenger Bill Thompson closing the gap among voters, the Bloomberg campaign came out today with a 33-point proposal to reshape the transit system throughout the five boroughs. After largely letting the MTA stew in its own juices throughout the budget crisis, Bloomberg is reminding New Yorkers that he is still the mayor who not that long ago attempted to make congestion pricing his legacy.

Fresh off their annual Subway Shmutz Survey, the Straphangers Campaign is doing their best to be a buddy to local commuters with the release of "State of the Subways." (They sure do love those s's!) The group analyzes subway performances in a variety of different categories and then breaks them down by individual lines, something that the MTA refuses to do.

As Ponzi-schemer Bernie Madoff anxiously awaits his Monday sentencing, his wife Ruth has really been making an effort to counter the impression that she's still living large off her husband's victims. Just look at her here, riding one of those underground locomotives, wearing her working class dungarees, and contemplating a sweet 99-cent cellphone offer! But just don't expect her to be happy about her humiliating new commute in steerage—when the Post photographer tried to help publicize her modest lifestyle, she asked, "Are you having fun embarrassing me—and ruining my life?" You see, if only the tabloids had just minded their own business, she never would have lost her Florida mansion, the chateau on the French Riviera, and the yachts. But the Post's article is just, uh, ruthless in its demagoguery, even gleefully pointing out that besides her déclassé "oversized jacket and unfashionable flats," Ruth "was also having another bad-hair day. Since her upscale hairstylist, Pierre Michel, banned her from his salon, it's been streaked with gray instead of highlights." Ouch. Ruth, who's also been spotted buying the Post at newsstands, might want the Daily News today instead. (Or not!)

A few hours ago, F train service was suspended between Avenue X and Church Avenue due to falling debris at an elevated subway station. WABC 7 reports, "The problem started around 5 a.m. this morning when a 4x8 piece of the platform became loose and collapsed down below at the 18th Avenue Station." The transit authority "took out the remainder of the loose concrete, while engineers examined the structural integrity of the platform." Manhattan-bound service resumed, but Coney Island-ound service is skipping 18th Avenue.

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.

F—and G—train riders, brace yourself in 2011. The Daily News reports that the MTA board is "expected to award a $179 million contract to rebuild the Culver Viaduct, a crumbling concrete and steel structure above local streets and the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn’s Carroll Gardens" today. What does this mean? Well, lots of service disruptions—and shuttle buses!—starting in 2011.

Hey there fellow F train straphangers, good news is rolling into a station near you sometime soon. Control Geek has a report from this morning: "I was waiting for the F subway at 15th Street/Prospect Park Brooklyn this morning and a brand new train came in! Apparently they were testing it, it had the automated announcements and everything. To keep people from boarding, they were opening the doors on the wrong side." Lost City also spotted the test trains (and their "folding, Paris-Metro-like seats") a few weeks ago. Now that the F has caught up and ditched the yellow, orange and brown color scheme...is it time to work on the seatless subways of the future?

Stand clear of the breaking water, please. A husband and wife were riding the subway to Bellevue so she could give birth but never quite made it to the hospital, settling for delivery on the F train platform at East Broadway. Yep, a husband relied on the MTA to get his wife to the hospital, despite the fact that entire generations of New Yorkers have grown old and died while waiting for the F. But the real miracle here isn’t the successful delivery, but that passengers reportedly got off the train to help her!

A violent scene unfolded on the platform of the 23rd Street and 6th Avenue F train yesterday afternoon when a person was stabbed by a homeless man. Clarence Carter Cochran had a steak knife plunged into his chest when he tried to stop the homeless man from bothering a pregnant friend.

If you were planning on taking the F train anywhere this weekend, better put on your reading glasses -- Gowanus Lounge spotted commuters stalled in front of the following sign. The 9-year-old should attempt this for his next subway challenge:

Newsday reports that emergency track work at West 4th Street will be causing delays on the A, E, D and F lines. Apparently Brooklyn-bound F train will be running on the E between 36th Street Station in Queens and 42nd Street Times Square, and then the F will run on the A between Times Square and Jay Street-Borough Hall. And some other Brooklyn-bound F trains will "run on the D line from 47th-50th Street-Rockefeller Center...

There may be March Madness in the air, but East Village Idiot has the cure for New Yorkers who can't get behind the NCAA: March Radness, which take 64 disparate NYC moments/ people/ objects/ stores/ trends/ nonsense and sees who will reign supreme.

A bunch of people emailed to ask if we knew what was going on with that huge cloud of smoke visible over Brooklyn. One of our Gothamist Contribute commenters answers: "There is a brush fire in Great Kills Park That is in Staten Island for those who don't know." NY1 is reporting that the fire is pretty large, but no one has been injured.

Overnight

A bunch of people have written in to ask if the Roosevelt Island Tram is running. The answer is yes-- it is not operated by the MTA (it's run by JWP and overseen by the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation.) Some tram info:

David clued us in to this great set of pictures of the Kentile sign in Gowanus. Check out the slideshow for a "23 Views of South Brooklyn" experience. Sadly, we could only track down one photo of the Eagle Clothes sign on Flickr-- it gets a lot less attention than the Kentile sign because it is harder to see from the F Train as you come in from Manhattan. And for more Gowanus goodness, check out this very timely article on Forgotten-NY.

Showcases are pretty standard nowadays, especially in the realm of Off-Off Broadway. The big idea, of course, is for several new playwrights to get together with short plays that are as yet unproduced, split the costs and consolidate the potential audience. In a showcase environment, the plays usually have something in common, and it's frequently thematic. Perhaps they all deal with love, loss, or death. In the case of the new showcase at manhattantheatresource, it's that they all occur on the F Train.

Reverend Billy, Street Preacher, The Church of Stop Shopping

Or, if you'd prefer your politics more silly (Frankenstein is chasing little Jack Edwards! Augh!) and less well-founded (but still bombastic and passionate) tonight, come meet with the Gothamist crew tonight at The Magician - drinks are on us. More info here.

Stacey Herron, AOL Music