Morning Commute Insanity. (New York, Union, York: transfer to, disposal, living in)
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A wacky story today for residents and even you out-of-towners looking to move in or visit as stuff like this does happen from time to time.
So, my commute literally doubled today thanks to a switch malfunction at Union Square. Heading down - the train was stop-and-go until it stopped and stayed at the 138th St/Grand Concourse. 10 minutes later - train is taken out of service. Conductor says it would be best to go back to 149th/Grand Concourse and go down the West side since NOTHING is running down Lex. I go back to 149th/GC to transfer to the 4 - not only are the Manhattan bound platforms jam-packed but the MEZZANINE was also crush-loaded. So I say - forget it, I'm going to Yankee Stadium and take the D train. So when I finally get to THAT station, THAT platform is jam packed and people are standing on the stairs into the mezzanine. Not nearly as bad as 149/GC but still pretty rough.
Then I said, you know what, I give up. There's a brand new shiny Metro North station nearby (Yankees - East 153rd Street) - I'll just take that downtown. So I walk from the 4/D station to the Metro North station. A complete 180 since NO ONE was there. I waited a few minutes - got on the Metro North and got to Grand Central in 10 minutes and got to work.
Total time of travel = 2 hours 15 minutes.
It's a good thing to be living in New York where there are multiple transportation options at your immediate disposal. The Metro North was literally "plan D."
Always have backup plans (PLURAL) for your commute, folks. That's the moral of the story.
It was reported all morning on the local NBC channel that there were signal problems along the 4/5/6 trains and some of the 5 trains were running along 2/3 lines downtown in Manhattan.
Wow, I rode the 5 train from 149th and 3rd to Grand Central this morning with no problems. it was 7am though. My plan D would have been calling in sick, LoL..
I must've of just missed the problems too. I was on a southbound 5 train around 8. It actually went between 149th & GC and 125th St. quicker than normal though it did creep from 86th St. to 42nd.
Anyway, it is great having so many options to get to where you need to go.
union square was packed around 8:45ish this morning. Instead of taking the 4/5 to bowling green, i took the R to whitehall st which was not crowded at all
After going through the mess caused by this signal glitch, I was intrigued to wonder whether nyc is prepared to deal with natural or man made large scale disasters like Katrina.
One may argue that NYC survived 911 ok but that was so localized and targeted attack. In the event of a horrific disaster occurring on this island, how could the public transportation handle the needs of evacuating all the folks here? It is a scary thought that u could not help venting it out to you guys.
I think there were a few lines with issues this morning but yes, you must *always* have your alternate routes lined up- especially in the other boroughs. All it takes is for one major train issue on your line and then you're stuck trying to figure out how to get where you need to go. When I lived in the BX the issue that always seemed to cause problems was heavy rain. A heavy and long downpour and the 2/5 were out of commission! You deal with being stuck once and you learn all of the alternatives on how to get home!
After going through the mess caused by this signal glitch, I was intrigued to wonder whether nyc is prepared to deal with natural or man made large scale disasters like Katrina.
One may argue that NYC survived 911 ok but that was so localized and targeted attack. In the event of a horrific disaster occurring on this island, how could the public transportation handle the needs of evacuating all the folks here? It is a scary thought that u could not help venting it out to you guys.
When it rains very heavily some of the lines are suspended because the pumps can't work fast enough to clear the water.
This doesn't really count as a major disaster but during that huge black out in 2003 people managed just fine-- then again we weren't trying to evacuate quickly, just get back home.
After going through the mess caused by this signal glitch, I was intrigued to wonder whether nyc is prepared to deal with natural or man made large scale disasters like Katrina.
One may argue that NYC survived 911 ok but that was so localized and targeted attack. In the event of a horrific disaster occurring on this island, how could the public transportation handle the needs of evacuating all the folks here? It is a scary thought that u could not help venting it out to you guys.
Last summer when Hurricane Irene was bearing down on us Bloomberg sounded the alarm, & over reacted as far as I was concerned. That being said the exodus out of Manhattan was clam & orderly.
If we ever had a major weather event or somthing worse that required us to get out of the state we would be screwed. There is no way that somthing affecting NYC wouldn't effect NJ or CT. So we would be stuck where we are to ride it out.
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