InsideTransit

Earlier this week, riders of the L subway line in NYC got an eyeful when 19 year-old Jocelyn Saldana stripped down naked and started riding the pole. The NY Post has a story about the event which took riders by surprise – they probably thought the heat got to them and they were hallucinating. I can tell you this, I’d rather see a naked woman on my subway rides home than listen to the (mostly) horrible music that so-called musicians try to play. Even more I’d just prefer a quiet train with good air conditioning.

From the Post, “…That free show in mid-June — as well as similar ones from Times Square to Chinatown — were the creation of photographer Zach Hyman, 22, whose portraits are never under-exposed. The photographer and his volunteer models don’t spend much time on location. The model quickly disrobes and Hyman gives himself only 30 seconds to fire off 10 shots with his Hasselblad 500 film camera.”

Apparently Hyman carries a lot of bail money should cops find him while he is shooting the nudes.

And here you thought the Metrocard was just for paying your fare. Below is a photo from the “shoot” but I’ve blurred the bits – if you want to see the full image (NOT SAFE FOR WORK) – Swiss site Blick has it for you.

It looks like it might be a couple of days before the #1 train is back to its full route.  From the MTA, “At approximately 10:30 p.m. Sunday, a section of the brick architectural façade fell 35 feet to the track bed below. A downtown 1 train was in the station, but did not sustain any major damage…A contractor has been called in to remove any remaining loose brick and make temporary repairs, but those repairs may take several days to complete. 1 service will not resume until it is safe to operate trains through the area.”

My suggestion is to stay away and use other subway lines is possible – of course the only real suggestion is to take the A line and if you are in the Bronx, just stay home

Here are the official recommendations from the MTA:

• 1 train service will operate in both directions between South Ferry and 168th St
• Free Shuttle buses will operate between 168th St and Dyckman St (the M3 bus is also listed as a free option)
• 1 train service will operate in both directions between Van Cortlandt Park – 242nd St and Dyckman St

There are some impacts to wheelchair-based service – so call the MTA for the latest info at 1-800-834-1173.

They also let us know that the 181st Street station is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. This is certainly exciting news for those passengers who need to get home! Please be patient and make sure to drink lots of water as it’s going to be hot and humid.

As a railfan, I am often asked which subway gets you to the new Yankee Stadium fastest. Well it’s clear from the video below that it’s the 4 train. The video below which I found on Subchat shows a race between the B, D and 4 trains from midtown Manhattan to Yankee Stadium. As one of my friends pointed out, the D is not blue in real life. Of course the trains are longer than one car, they don’t share the same tracks and the B is a local so it should never win a race. It’s sponsored by Subway (the sandwich place) and if you ignore all the transit mistakes, it’s a whole hoot of fun!

I love checking out other transit blogs.  Whether they are about the technical side of transport or from the perspective of a commuter, it’s always interesting to see other views about the transit systems we all ride. Today I have a very cool blog from the perspective of the commuter. I wish more people shared regular thoughts about their daily commute.

Musings of an Irate Commuter is authored by Sheryl Yvette. She has a variety of posts from fare hikes to bus driver reviews, and a really groovy spreadsheet that helps you decide which Metrocard is best for your commuting situation.

Her latest post is worth a look even if you aren’t into transit. Each day for the last month Sheryl took photos of a newspaper bin which has been used as a trashcan. It wasn’t emptied for over a month and it’s interesting to look at how some commuting pigs use the bin as their own waste deposit. Apparently there is no half-life for McDonalds french fry wrappers. Here’s one photo from the collection:

LoHud.com is reporting that a car fell onto the Metro-North tracks in New Rochelle outside NYC this afternoon.  The car fell 15 feet to the tracks. Luckily the woman driving the car missed the catenary wires which carry the electric to power the trains.

From LoHud, “The accident was reported about 1:45 p.m. Police are investigating whether a collision on Bridge Street above the station resulted in the car’s barreling through a fence. The female driver was alert with no obvious injuries, police said.”

There are conflicting reports as to if the track where the car landed is a main track or not. The MTA website isn’t reporting any delays on the New Haven line so it’s safe to assume all should be well for the evening rush hour.

There is this myth that one day there will be a subway here in NYC that goes up and down second avenue. Apparently work is going on to build it but many wonder if we will see it before the martians arrive to fight us for earth.

NY Daily News writer Pete Donohue notes that his sources told him that the first phase of the Second Avenue Subway won’t be open for riders until 2015. This is two years later than the latest provided date of 2015. And in more exciting news, the LIRR tunnel to Grand Central has been pushed back a year to 2016.

“It will not come as shock to the American people that the Second Ave. subway is behind schedule,” Straphanger Campaign leader Gene Russianoff said. “It’s a big complicated project. I think part of this is bowing to the economic realities of what money is available and when.”

The original date for the subway was 2012. The Second Ave. budget is revised upwards slightly to $4.4 billion from about $4.3 billion.

I will keep dreaming that it will be here one day….

Now this is exciting – if you like to wear cuffs or other jewelry on your wrists, I have something for you. It’s the NYC Metro Cuff made by Tiffany Burnette. You can see a photo of it below – it highlights what looks like most of Manhattan.

So now if you ever get in a jam and don’t know which line to take, you can just look at your wrist and be on the go in a jiffy. It’s like the NFL quarterbacks that can’t remember their plays so they wear them on their arms.

I wonder if they offer attachments for night and/or weekend service. Can I order one with my line on it? It’s pretty neat looking – I have seen more people wearing subway t-shirts and other products so this just might work. Check out more photos here.

There have been loads of people who have created alternative NYC subway maps over the years.  Kriston Lewis has put together one of the best looking and functional maps I’ve seen to-date. The lines are clearly noted, bus transfers are included on the main points, and it’s easier to follow than the current MTA subway map.

Click the graphic below to download the map – note that it’s a PDF file and is 80″x80″ in size.

Over my years riding the subway, I’ve spent countless hours studying where to wait for a NYC subway to make sure I get off at the closest point to where I need to be at my destination. Most NYC subway stations have multiple exits and multiple transfer options and knowing where to wait can mean a couple of minutes savings each day. If you are waiting for a train, why not align yourself before getting onto the train to save time at the exit?

For example, if you are on the #1 northbound and plan to get off at 50th street, there’s only one exit at the back end of the train. Moving down from the front to the back can save time when getting off.

But what happens if you are going to a new station or aren’t sure where is the best place for transferring from one line to another?

A new mobile application has launched to help with this issue. It’s called Exit Strategy NYC and is available for most mobile platforms including the iPhone, Android, Blackberry and even the Amazon Kindle. The price ranges from $2-5 depending on your device. And the Exit Strategy application doesn’t need to have Internet access to be used – this means you can use it in the tunnels of NYC.

Brother and sister team Jonathan and Ashley Wegener created the application and call their idea “platform strategy”. It took two months to grab all of the data and get it into their application. The MTA should integrate Exit Strategy NYC into the official MTA web site.

Now if they can just create an application so I know which subway lines and cars are most likely to have single women that meet my criteria – I’d pay for that!

Here at InsideTransit, we are always on the lookout for people wearing subway and transit-related clothing. This morning one of my friends sent me the image below. As you can see, it’s a woman wearing a NYC subway map as a dress!

It appears to be a map from the 70s. Even the straps on the dress have some subway writing on them (I can’t make out what it says).  The top of her dress is actually most of manhattan which is duplicated from the bottom left of the dress.

The dress is available at Nordstrom for $250! Just get some subway maps at a station and paste them together – then it will cost $0 (but don’t go out when it is raining!