OT How bad has the NYC MTA Train Service become?

[BKlutch]

True tale of woe:

I take the F train in from Queens to Manhattan every day (from KOQ's hood)

About 10 days ago, the delay was 45 minutes as there was a problem with the rails at 75th ave, and all the trains were diverted onto the express track.

Their solution: Close 75th Ave station heading into Manhattan for 5 weeks, and reroute all the westbound trains over the local tracks. This didn't work, because they were all delayed about 15 minutes.

New solution: reduce the amount of RUSH HOUR trains by about 30%. This means that by the first or second stop, the train is almost too full to even get on.

My response: walk 1.25 miles to the beginning of the line and get on there at 179th St. It often takes 2 or 3 trains before I can get a seat, and almost nobody from the 2nd stop on ever gets a seat. In this hot humid weather, it's a lot of fun walking. I need to wear my running clothes and change into my work clothes at the office -- too bad we don't have a locker room or showers.

The tracks are in such bad shape that this kind of thing was inevitable. The stations involved were NOT affected by superstorm Sandy, so there's no excuse for this except neglect.

I try to tell myself that walking is good, as long as I bring enough water to survive the commute.

When this problem is fixed, the commute will still be overcrowded and uncomfortable. On the way home in the evening, I never get a seat. One thing I do like - people are amazingly good at dealing with this without going crazy on others (almost always).

[HarthorneWingo]

I own an automobile.
Fuq that train life.

You drive from Long Island (Nassau? Suffolk?) into the City 5 days a week?

[HarthorneWingo]

We - our entire country - has been ignoring our infrastructure for way to long. I would like to take this conversation further, but I don't want to start chit.

[Clincher]

True tale of woe:

I take the F train in from Queens to Manhattan every day (from KOQ's hood)

About 10 days ago, the delay was 45 minutes as there was a problem with the rails at 75th ave, and all the trains were diverted onto the express track.

Their solution: Close 75th Ave station heading into Manhattan for 5 weeks, and reroute all the westbound trains over the local tracks. This didn't work, because they were all delayed about 15 minutes.

New solution: reduce the amount of RUSH HOUR trains by about 30%. This means that by the first or second stop, the train is almost too full to even get on.

My response: walk 1.25 miles to the beginning of the line and get on there at 179th St. It often takes 2 or 3 trains before I can get a seat, and almost nobody from the 2nd stop on ever gets a seat. In this hot humid weather, it's a lot of fun walking. I need to wear my running clothes and change into my work clothes at the office -- too bad we don't have a locker room or showers.

The tracks are in such bad shape that this kind of thing was inevitable. The stations involved were NOT affected by superstorm Sandy, so there's no excuse for this except neglect.

I try to tell myself that walking is good, as long as I bring enough water to survive the commute.

When this problem is fixed, the commute will still be overcrowded and uncomfortable. On the way home in the evening, I never get a seat. One thing I do like - people are amazingly good at dealing with this without going crazy on others (almost always).

So much truth. I deal with the same exact commute every day and it has gotten TERRIBLE lately. Especially with school being out, you'd think that there would be less people on the train but alas. The buses are garbage too, particularly the Q46 coming home where there's one specific stop where these buses are packed from the stop off Union Turnpike and that there are legit FIVE buses all on break, meaning less buses around to take people. No exegerration that the bus stop I use to get home packs up and is like half a block long full of people. It's ridiculous.

The MTA doesn't care much about the people riding the commute, it's always crowded. I can't even get a seat(And I offer my seat to the people who really need it) and I come from Brooklyn to get to Queens.......an over 1 hour commute where people are still standing. The 75th avenue closing was an absolute dumb decision as that's one of the lesser used stops along the F line and naturally with the E train already getting priority over the F, it creates delays and overcrowdedness for the commuters.

The f train riders are more than patient and very seldom do you get **** though I have seen a few. I used to do that walk to 179th street but on a 9-5 grind every weekday, it does add up. I did that for so many years going to college and even going to work that now I am relying on the Q46 sadly.

[BKlutch]

True tale of woe:

I take the F train in from Queens to Manhattan every day (from KOQ's hood)

About 10 days ago, the delay was 45 minutes as there was a problem with the rails at 75th ave, and all the trains were diverted onto the express track.

Their solution: Close 75th Ave station heading into Manhattan for 5 weeks, and reroute all the westbound trains over the local tracks. This didn't work, because they were all delayed about 15 minutes.

New solution: reduce the amount of RUSH HOUR trains by about 30%. This means that by the first or second stop, the train is almost too full to even get on.

My response: walk 1.25 miles to the beginning of the line and get on there at 179th St. It often takes 2 or 3 trains before I can get a seat, and almost nobody from the 2nd stop on ever gets a seat. In this hot humid weather, it's a lot of fun walking. I need to wear my running clothes and change into my work clothes at the office -- too bad we don't have a locker room or showers.

The tracks are in such bad shape that this kind of thing was inevitable. The stations involved were NOT affected by superstorm Sandy, so there's no excuse for this except neglect.

I try to tell myself that walking is good, as long as I bring enough water to survive the commute.

When this problem is fixed, the commute will still be overcrowded and uncomfortable. On the way home in the evening, I never get a seat. One thing I do like - people are amazingly good at dealing with this without going crazy on others (almost always).

So much truth. I deal with the same exact commute every day and it has gotten TERRIBLE lately. Especially with school being out, you'd think that there would be less people on the train but alas. The buses are garbage too, particularly the Q46 coming home where there's one specific stop where these buses are packed from the stop off Union Turnpike and that there are legit FIVE buses all on break, meaning less buses around to take people. No exegerration that the bus stop I use to get home packs up and is like half a block long full of people. It's ridiculous.

The MTA doesn't care much about the people riding the commute, it's always crowded. I can't even get a seat(And I offer my seat to the people who really need it) and I come from Brooklyn to get to Queens.......an over 1 hour commute where people are still standing. The 75th avenue closing was an absolute dumb decision as that's one of the lesser used stops along the F line and naturally with the E train already getting priority over the F, it creates delays and overcrowdedness for the commuters.

The f train riders are more than patient and very seldom do you get **** though I have seen a few. I used to do that walk to 179th street but on a 9-5 grind every weekday, it does add up. I did that for so many years going to college and even going to work that now I am relying on the Q46 sadly.

It's really getting worse for everybody. After Trump was elected, I remembered the one thing he said that I really liked was he was going to help fix infrastructure. I guess the NYC MTA is not the kind of infrastructure he wanted to rebuild.

You just finished school? Well, I graduated over 30 years ago. So this walk adds another 15 minutes to my commute. That's the worst part - and if it's raining when I do it. I probably shouldn't complain about the exercise. LOL

[BeagleBoss]

I work near Grand Central so there are different routes and trains I can take to work like the 7, F to 6 or R/M to 4 and THEY ALL SUCK!!!!!! Transportation to and from work is easily the worst part of my day.

[BKlutch]

I work near Grand Central so there are different routes and trains I can take to work like the 7, F to 6 or R/M to 4 and THEY ALL SUCK!!!!!! Transportation to and from work is easily the worst part of my day.

they do, but there are days when the EFMR are stuck in Manhattan, so I take the 7 to Roosevelt Ave and then switch trains.

A number of years ago, we had a tornado that knocked out all the buses around Flushing and Jamaica, so I took the 7 to Flushing and walked the rest of the way home that night.

But you're right, all the trains are horrible. And whenever there's a Mets night game, the trip home - fugedaboudit!

[Phish Tank]

i used to live downtown and had to take the 4/5/6 trains to work as I work between Grand Central and 51st Street. Boy it was hell. Especially in the summer time - good luck. You're better off trying to get to work around 10am or around like 7am because otherwise you'd have to basically crowdsury over the trains.

Now I'm in Astoria and it isn't as bad anymore. But if the N/W are delayed, it can be pure hell waiting for one train. Luckily, I live right by a subway stop so it doesn't bother me.

But yes, the MTA overall has been awful along with the entire realm of public transport into NYC. The main reason honestly is twofold:

1) The subways were originally built as 4 or so independent lines operated by 4 or so private enterprises. There was no sense of coordination between any of those companies when building the lines. (this could be the main reason to use against privatizing infrastructure) As a result, trying to upgrade the subway system has to be done on a line-by-line basis.

2) The NYC Subways have a clear advantage over most other cities/nations by being a 24 hour system. However, that's a disadvantage because the only way you can do full-on repairs is by actually shutting down an entire line over the course of days/weeks/etc. That will basically never happen.

[BKlutch]

i used to live downtown and had to take the 4/5/6 trains to work as I work between Grand Central and 51st Street. Boy it was hell. Especially in the summer time - good luck. You're better off trying to get to work around 10am or around like 7am because otherwise you'd have to basically crowdsury over the trains.

Now I'm in Astoria and it isn't as bad anymore. But if the N/W are delayed, it can be pure hell waiting for one train. Luckily, I live right by a subway stop so it doesn't bother me.

But yes, the MTA overall has been awful along with the entire realm of public transport into NYC. The main reason honestly is twofold:

1) The subways were originally built as 4 or so independent lines operated by 4 or so private enterprises. There was no sense of coordination between any of those companies when building the lines. (this could be the main reason to use against privatizing infrastructure) As a result, trying to upgrade the subway system has to be done on a line-by-line basis.

2) The NYC Subways have a clear advantage over most other cities/nations by being a 24 hour system. However, that's a disadvantage because the only way you can do full-on repairs is by actually shutting down an entire line over the course of days/weeks/etc. That will basically never happen.

In Tokyo, a friend told me their adolescent daughter always had to return home by 10 pm from dates because the entire Tokyo subway system shuts down early. I do like having trains 24/7 here, but agree that repairs are such a disaster. They do most work on the weekends, so you never know if your train is going to be running or you're going to miss that one great thing you had planned. I know they publicize schedule changes for repairs, but that's way after we order tickets.

[Greenie]

I own an automobile.
Fuq that train life.

You drive from Long Island (Nassau? Suffolk?) into the City 5 days a week?

Hell no.

[poeman]

AMAZING THREAD, no for real...

THE MTA SUBWAY IS THE BIGGEST JOKE OF ALL TIME. Continued increase in rides, horrid and I mean putrid service issues during key times. Continuous construction and weekends you literally cannot commute anywhere. I **** hate the MTA and the mothereffer mayor Bill De Blasio.

P.S. We have more homeless people in streets and pan handlers in subways then rats

[poeman]

Yellow line is ****
Orange line is ****
Green line is ****

I'd rather take a Amtrak train to DC then ride the subways during rush hour or mornings..Also, the **** heat on the subway platforms is horrendous. They literally NEVER TURNED OFF THE HEAT FROM THE WINTER.

[moocow007]

I pay $350 every month to ride the LIRR. Another $100 or so for the subway. I would expect services to better than it has been.

The problem is incompetence. No different than the problem of most everything else government run. You get people in positions of power and influence based more on tenure than competency. Breeds complacency and doesn't reward intelligence and ingenuity (2 things critical since the dawn of man in getting things done right).

I still remember when my station though about increasing yearly parking at the station lot from $35 to $400. I mean what kind of moron would think that that type of hike would make sense? I'll tell you, a stupid, dim witted, poorly educated one getting fat sitting behind a desk that they likely didn't earn.

[thebuzzardman]

I work near Grand Central so there are different routes and trains I can take to work like the 7, F to 6 or R/M to 4 and THEY ALL SUCK!!!!!! Transportation to and from work is easily the worst part of my day.

they do, but there are days when the EFMR are stuck in Manhattan, so I take the 7 to Roosevelt Ave and then switch trains.

A number of years ago, we had a tornado that knocked out all the buses around Flushing and Jamaica, so I took the 7 to Flushing and walked the rest of the way home that night.

But you're right, all the trains are horrible. And whenever there's a Mets night game, the trip home - fugedaboudit!

How long ago was that now? 8 or 9 years ago? I was still in NYC for that. (living in Queens). I believe I took the 7 as well, and then a bus, which took a while navigating and detouring downed trees. The nabe I used to live in had a lot of those old sycamore trees and a number of them went over. It was pretty amazing, for NYC.

*I generally avoided the 7/bus thing by laying out some extra bucks for the LIRR that was close enough to where I lived in Queens to be worth it. I spent all of HS doing the bus/train and train/bus thing to school. No thanks.

[magnumt]

The MTA is the most corrupt organization in quite possibly the world.

They are allowed to do whatever they want with no repercussions.

You are one paranoid and negative fuqn dude GKF.

--Mags

[Knicks Byke]

even the LIRR is a bitch now.

[moocow007]

even the LIRR is a bitch now.

Seriously. I'm hating Barclay Center even more beyond the fact that the Nets play there. I've been taking the trade out of Atlantic Terminal and it's absolutely brutal. 4 tracks and always packed as heck. I'm going back to Penn Station next month and living with the delays from Penn.

[HEZI]

Watch on YouTube

Is that Brooke Hogan? Hulk Hogan's daughter?

-edit oh she was the one recording it

[Knicks Byke]

even the LIRR is a bitch now.

Seriously. I'm hating Barclay Center even more beyond the fact that the Nets play there. I've been taking the trade out of Atlantic Terminal and it's absolutely brutal. 4 tracks and always packed as heck. I'm going back to Penn Station next month and living with the delays from Penn.

bro we probably ran into each other a couple times

I take the LIRR to atlantic to Jay st every morning haha

at least they give us that free train ride for now

[JXL]

It took the MTA virtually 10 years to manipulate and hold back 4 stations for the 2nd Avenue Subway, it will take another 7-8 years for the 2nd Phase to screw over this city and tax hard the people's living. Cuomo and Del Blasio would rather debate how to spend carelessly on the next skyscraper downtown than upgrade this system. They still have those dirty R32s running on the C line, and they haven't fully incorporated the new subway cars to the 6 line since they took most of them and gave it to the 7 line.