In February, NYC Transit installed video screens on the platform in the Myrtle-Wyckoff station in Brooklyn, showing the locations of every L train on the line, updated every 15 seconds. And now we know from the Twitter machine that the screens have arrived at Bedford Avenue. NYC Transit posted these photos, and we're told the screens have been installed at various points throughout the station.
The Club Animals who give bouncy rides, deliver crack candy around town, and give us an overall uncomfortable feeling, are multiplying like Gremlins at a waterpark. Tonight the newest member will be giving away free butterfly kisses on the Union Square L platform from 9 to 10 p.m. We have also been alerted that free bouncy rides will take place from 8 to 9 p.m. in the same location, which makes us think that dolphin and bunny are one in the same!
[UPDATE BELOW] For crying out loud, some lady had to go into labor on the subway during rush hour this morning, tying up service on the L line. This better be one cute baby. We've gotten multiple reports that the L is held up because of the delivery. One tipster tells us the woman actually delivered at the First Avenue L station, and a Twitter user reports that she gave birth between Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Earlier, there were police scanner reports about a person under the L train at 1st Ave and 14th Street. Now we hear the person is dead. The MTA's website says, "Due to a police investigation at the 1st Avenue Station, there is no L train service in both directions between the Bedford Avenue Station and the 8th Avenue Station. Please expect delays in L train service at this time." Update: We hear that the person may have jumped in front of the train.
Earlier this year Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara was busted for doodling on the wall of an East Village subway station. Well, as of yesterday, the charges against the multimillionaire have been dropped. The NY Post explains that he "was given an adjournment in contemplation after being charged with making graffiti and criminal mischief and spending the night in jail. That meant if he kept his nose clean for six months, the charges would be dropped." His lawyer says the case is officially over (and "he can get back to wowing the art world with his great art"), but the paper points out the MTA missed out on some easy money by wiping away the doodle that could have easily been sold for $10,000 (the bar Niagara was smarter). Perhaps Nara should donate a sketch to them for letting him off the hook.
The no-pants subway ride people really need to step up their game; photographer Zach Hyman is making them look downright demure, by riding the subway with a young woman who takes it all off, for free. (Not including the $2.25 cost of a subway ride.) Commuters don't even have to get bottle service or stuff a dollar in her G-string, because she's not even wearing one. In June Hyman took some shots on the L train as 19-year-old actress Jocelyn Saldana stripped down to her birthday suit; the 30-second gimmick landed Hyman a nice feature in the Post today, which happens to coincide with his show opening at a West Village gallery. According to the article, most straphangers were "blasé. But one woman started screaming and an elderly man next to her got the shakes." Hyman's series of nudes in public only feature women because, as he explains, "photographing females in public is easier than males. People see a naked woman and they smile. They see a penis and they freak out." Honey, ain't that the truth. We've provided a closer SFWish look at the "striphanger" below...
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.
Remember that guy who wrote the creepy sex book for teens. Well, he's back! This time targeting the L train set, and those who love them, with a book of short stories titled I Hate All of You on This L Train (dedicated to fellow author Tao Lin).
Greenpoint resident Chrissie Brodigan says she was riding on the L train between Bedford and First Avenue when her pug, who has health problems, overheated and began vomiting in the tote bag she was carrying him in. As she was leaving the subway station with the dog in her arms, she says a police officer's attempt to issue her a ticket turned ugly, and when she became upset the cop began saying, "If you're going to act like a woman I'm going to treat you like a woman." [We've updated with photos of Brodigan's arrest. July 1 update: A new post with details about another witness's account is here. ]
It's a good thing the MTA Bailout saved the W train from saying farewell because it sounds like its neighboring buddy line the R has already had enough dumped onto it lately. The tenth annual "subway shmutz" survey released today by the Straphangers Campaign rated the R the dirtiest line in the system with only 25 percent of its cars clean.
Of course the hipster-carting L train is the first line to get its own blog. Metro reports that the MTA is getting the L online sometime next month, and NYC Transit spokesman Paul Fleuranges assured us it would be up and running by May 1st. Start picking out your avatars, he also told us, "we plan to have a comment section and we expect and will encourage our riders to post comments and questions." A decision they may regret! As for their scribes, it looks like L line manager Greg Lombardi and MTA marketing and public affairs staff will all be generating content. And about their foray into Twitter, they tell us, "we’re going to have an online voice of NYC Transit, to promote our various programs—like MetroCard Deals, MetroCard Trips, our Email & Text Alert program" and so on. They also note they'll be using existing personnel to write the 140-character updates. Fleuranges adds, "They are trying to get me to ‘tweet’ but so far I’ve held out."
It's not just paranoid Luddites who fear the sinister agenda of the new robotic L trains; train conductors, whom the MTA tried unsuccessfully to replace with robots, are still worried their jobs are in jeopardy. One "wild-eyed, grey-haired" conductor recently told Infrastructurist what he thinks of his new robot co-worker: "The last thing the public wants is to be stuck underground, getting mugged, with a robot conductor. People need people. I can call the cops, I can intervene. Last month I had to break up a knife fight. Well, I didn’t so much break it up but I called it in. A robot can’t do that." Another conductor struck a more fearful tone, "They could easily replace humans but don’t put my name next to it because I’ll be the first to lose my job to the robots. I’m definitely scared that could happen." Better hope the robots weren't reading your lips when you said that, foolish human! Sounds like someone better invest in some robot insurance.
Better bring something to read—the NYC Transit Authority says that weekend subway waits between trains on the A, D, F, G, J, M, N, Q and R lines will increase from 8 minutes to 10 minutes, according to the Post. Also: "The E line, the most crowded, will run every 7½ to 10 minutes, depending on the time of day...The MTA calculates about 10 to 18 more straphangers will be forced to stand in each car on the D, E, F and Q lines. There's no estimate for the other affected lines." NYCT wants to repair lines over the weekends, to keep the subways in a "state of good repair." (L train riders won't be hit, as they already went through their weekend subway service hell when the robot train was being put in place.) MTA board member Andrew Albert spoke for all of us when he said, "This is terrible. It's [already] a joke on weekends. No one knows how to get anywhere."
As promised last October, NYC Transit has installed video screens on the platform in the Myrtle-Wyckoff station in Brooklyn showing the locations of every L train on the line, updated every 15 seconds. The system was unveiled to reporters yesterday, and L Line General Manager Greg Lombardi was on hand to explain this 21st century marvel to awe-struck commuters. The screens cull data from the L line’s cutting-edge computerized operating system, which tracks exact train locations; if they prove successful, Lombardi promises to expand them to other stations on the L line, so stranded straphangers will at least have something to watch while they seethe. But at least one commuter yesterday was unimpressed, telling NY1, "If they're broke right now, and they're cutting service, I'm not sure they should put money into something like this." An NYC Transit rep tells us the screens were bought at Circuit City (LG 42”) and the system cost "way less than $100,000" to implement.
As we briefly mentioned yesterday, the grades have come in on the second annual rider report cards for the L and 7 train lines. While only half the riders on the L and a quarter of those who take the 7 train turned in a report card when compared to a year ago, the results were roughly the same--consistently staying in the C-range in most categories. MTA officials were quick to highlight how riders gave both lines some more credit for how clean they kept their cars and stations (all the way up to B-minus for L cars). The lowest grades for both lines came in how riders felt about having adequate room during rush hour, with each picking up a D. The MTA tried to put the best face on the grades with NYC Transit president Howard Roberts Jr. saying, "What would have astonished me is if the results had turned out to be A’s.” Related: 2007 rider report cards for the 7 and L.
Two flat-screen monitors are being installed on the L train platform at the Myrtle-Wyckoff station in Brooklyn that will show the locations of trains in real time. Icons on the screens will indicate which direction the train is headed and how close is it to the station, with a long view of the entire L line, as well as a close-up view of nearby stations. According to NY1, riders will also see trains that are being held and trains that aren't picking up passengers.
This weekend marked the beginning of the 3rd annual NY Clown Theatre Festival at the Brick Theater in Williamsburg. Festivities began with clowns taking to the streets with a subway parade. Clowns such as Lord Oxford and Graspy McTakeItAll led a crowd of about 100 strong onto a rush hour L Train where they sang along as a marching band played standards such as "Come On Eileen" and "Groove is in the Heart."
Aspiring actors, look now further than the Morgan L stop in Williamsburg for your big break! This flier advertises casting for a little film called: "Niki Gets Lost In BushDick." The plot is pretty simple: Niki stumbles upon a band whilst wandering around "BushDick" and (to put it mildly) ends up "sleeping with" them, all, at once. Copyranter guesses that the band must be indie rock; perhaps some real life Brooklyn band porn names are in order. Yeah, Say Her? The XXX Affair? Either way, can't wait for the soundtrack!
A four-alarm fire that destroyed at least 12 businesses in the Bronx has also caused some transit issues. Smoke at the Pelham Parkway 2 station is causing the 2 to bypass all stations between Wakefield-241st and East 180th, bypassing Gun Hill Road, Burke Avenue, Allerton Avenue, Pelham Parkway and Bronx Park East. The MTA says there are shuttle buses between stations and also suggests riders take other buses for the B, D, 4 and 6 trains.
Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we're all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn't start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we're up to...
Uh-oh, it's the "money for daughter's funeral scam":
About a year ago, I was on the 4/5/6 train when two people got on. They were looking for money. It was a man and his wife. Their story was that their daughter had died in a fire and they were looking for donations so they could pay for her funeral. The guy stated that it would cost them $325. I remember thinking that, if his story was legit, it was really very sad. If it was fake, it was really brilliant and horribly shitty. He even had the death certificate.Continue reading "Revisiting Common Street Scams"
EVENT: Tonight at the Apple Store, the NYC photobloggers get together again. Come check out: Scott Heiferman, Kara Canal, Rebecca Smeyne, Will Sherman, Kamau Mucoki, Boogie and Martin Fuchs.
Sarah Freis sent in these signs she spotted on the L Train this morning. Has anyone seen any others?
The Daily News interviews the victim, a trader on his morning commute from Brooklyn.
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