Results tagged “yourcommute”

Did your commute feel more like Springfield than New York today? If you're out and about than you'll likely run into the Simpson-izing of Manhattan! Too bad we don't have a monorail here.

From the looks of these photos, the commute home for those on the L train was no fun last night. On the same day that riders on the line were asked to rate the service, service came to a halt during the evening rush. Who's to blame? It seems like the MTA actually gets a pass this time. Rumor has it that someone pulled the emergency brake.

Thankfully, there was no rain last night or this morning, meaning that today's commute will be better than yesterday's (we hope). The riders of the E, F, and R will have to put up with delays and diversions, but at least there is service. The MTA's latest service alert for subways and buses says:

Posted on:8/9/2007 7:23:08 AM

Continue reading "Today's Commute: Most Subway Lines Working"

Another wet April day. Friday is off to a rainy start. So much so that the National Weather Service has issued a flash flood warning for the city and much of northeastern and central New Jersey. The warning is in effect until 11:00 a.m. as a large area of moderate to heavy rainfall passes over already saturated ground. Taking a cue from Jesse Jackson the Weather Service reminds us "when encountering flooded roads make the wise choice… turn around… don't drown." If the warning's not enough a flood watch, a flood statement and a special weather statement have also been issued.

After a long week, there's something nice about a Friday night at home. But being social creatures, we sometimes like to have company over for our nights in. Often tired to cook, we tend to turn to our trusty pile of takeout menus, but there's another option -- the roast chicken. The trick is to find a place along your commute home that makes juicy, tender rotisserie chickens. Our local favorite is Pio Maya, a taqueria that also has nicely spiced roast chickens, available whole, by the half or quarter, either by themselves or with sides, and served with a side of tangy hot sauce. Last Friday we grabbed a few roast chickens, knowing we had some leftover potatoes and green beans at home, and chowed down with some friends. Buying two whole chickens gave us plenty of great leftover meat for dinner and lunch this week (curried chicken salad, shredded chicken tossed in some soup, chicken burritos), and we'll pop the bones in the freezer for homemade stock.

We didn't spot any buses or trains when we were out last night, but rumor has it they started running sometime after midnight? If you snapped some pictures of your commute into work, we'd love to see them-- tag them "subway" or "bus" on Flickr, or send them to photos(at)gothamist.com. These were taken by Satmandu last night and Tien this morning.

Some of the most striking images during yesterday's strike were not of commuters walking across the Brooklyn Bridge (though those are always gorgeous) but of commuters trying to enter LIRR stations. Hundreds of people queuing up outside the Jamaica, Queens station, thousands of people just trying to get into Penn Station. One person told WNBC that the Penn Station experience was "like being the mosh pit of a Metallica concert," and the crowds got so bad, some LIRR workers waived fares. There were reported waits of an hour and a half just to get tickets, which later prompted officials to suggest commuters get their tickets the night before - or commute in the off hours! The MTA even issued new strike contigency information for the LIRR, asking workers to "stagger" their work day and therefore stagger their commutes in.

Oh, yes, it's on. After 3AM this morning, the Transport Workers Union announced they would strike a couple hours after rejecting the MTA's latest offer. Thousands of subway and bus workers walked off the job, leaving millions of New Yorkers to find new ways to go to work (sneakers, meet 60 blocks of walking). Now, New York City is in a state of emergency, in its special "contingency plan," with restrictions on vehicles (only cars with at least four people inside) for most of the morning, people trying to hail cabs, and Fifth and Madison Avenues closed to traffic. Transit workers, though, did finish their routes and close up stations carefully, at the union instructed; one station's sign read, "Strike in Effect. Station Closed. Happy Holidays!!!!" The city is trying to convene an emergency court session to stop the strike, but who know, this could go on for days.

In the eight days since it started randomly checking the NYPD has gone through thousands of bags in subway, bus and commuter train stations across the city. And the results have been negligible, which is a good thing according to the NYPD. The Times reports that in it's first week of operation the bag searches have led to one arrest for possession of illegal fireworks, no legal challenges and minimal resistance (those T-shirts don't count).

In the wake of the London blasts, Mayor Bloomberg took the subway after arriving from Singapore, in an effort to show New Yorkers that mass transit was safe. Today, there is supposedly at least one police officer on each train (no word on whether they can pass between cars), as security overall has been stepped up all over the region and country. Helicopters are flying above, bomb-sniffing dogs are on patrol and machines guns are being toted around. The NYPD and MTA are reminding people to say something if they see something - suspicious packages and the like. How was your commute last night and this morning?

Yesterday morning, a vaccuum train was derailed near the Smith and 9th Street stops in Brooklyn, causing a huge problem for commuters who take the F and G trains yesterday. The train was being returned to Brooklyn after cleaning up various subway tracks, but it ended up getting derailed in the early morning, causing grief for commmuters and possibly more damage to the train tracks. The NY Times notes the extent of the derailment:

It took more than 60 track and car maintainers and other workers until 3:22 p.m. to get the train moving again. It was removed to a rail yard near Coney Island for repairs. Transit officials rented two large cranes, one to deliver materials to the site and the other to lift up the middle car so it could be placed back on the tracks.

Continue reading "Yesterday's (and Today's?) F Train Headache"

The MTA's NYC Transit president, Lawrence Reuter, helped fuel more worst-case-scenario nightmares of commuters when he said that the fire "highlighted the transit system's susceptibility to terrorism" as the area is "easily accessible, by passing through a simple swinging gate." Thanks, Reuter, thanks a lot, given that Gothamist also found out that there are many signal rooms like that along the subway's lines. The MTA doesn't really reassure us when they say, "Everything is basically destroyed in that room," either.

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 was your commute? Did you wear the galoshes? Gothamist on whether subways have drains and the wet and cranky commute last September. And just think - there would be so much pretty (but soon gross and slushy) snow if it were just, like, 15 degrees colder.

Are you taking off during the Republican National Convention? Some readers have said their bosses are giving them the time off. Or are you totally changing around your commute? And some permits are being issued for convention protests, but the big one is still pending.

Friday's track fire on the third rail of the 2/3 line - a fire that snarled traffic for half a million New Yorkers - led to diversions Friday and the rest of the weekend. The MTA claims that the 2/3 will be normal today. But if it's not, here's NY1's explanation of how your commute is shot: