keeping the buses out of the water

I guess there was a fear that the buses might blow around. So they suspended service across the Whitestone Bridge.

high-winds2.png

Posted in bus, delays | Comments Off on keeping the buses out of the water

another bronx RTS bus spotted

This evening I saw RTS 8039 go by eastbound on the Bx10. It’s not every day I see an RTS in the Bronx, but if it gets to be more common, then I’ll quit mentioning it.

Of interest was that the driver’s side simply had the MTA logo and the bus number. The words “New York City Bus” were missing.

Posted in bus | Comments Off on another bronx RTS bus spotted

from the train to Bloomingdale’s, lickity split, no sh!t

Bloomingdale’s is reopening their direct connection to the uptown platform at 59 St on the Lexington Avenue IRT subway line.

I don’t know when it closed, or why, or anything really, but I’m glad it’s reopening! Direct access is cool.

Other institutions fortunate to have similar direct platform access are Kmart at Astor Pl and the Museum of Natural History at 81 St-Museum of Natural History .

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on from the train to Bloomingdale’s, lickity split, no sh!t

lisa loeb eludes me

I missed Lisa Loeb at Columbus Circle today. I would have taken the subway there.

Edit: It’s confirmed, she played “Stay”.

Edit 2: I wish this said “Hello Brian”.

Edit 3: two videos!

Edit 4: two articles!

Edit 5: No more edits

Apparently editing a post that contains embedded YouTube videos is a big WordPress no-no.

Posted in lisa loeb | 3 Comments

walking between subway cars still safer than riding in a taxi

On a year by year basis, a lot more people are injured or killed riding in taxis than walking between subway cars. In 2006, an extremely conservative estimate is that three people died while walking between cars (but it actually could be as few as zero), and that’s out of 1.499 billion riders. During the same time period, 29 people died in taxi accidents, out of about “400 million rides”. If we use a vehicle occupancy factor of 1.1 persons/per vehicle (or taxi ride), that would be 440 million taxi riders.

Now for the real math:

RIDING IN A TAXI = 29 / 440 million = 0.066 deaths per million riders

WALKING BETWEEN SUBWAY CARS = 3 / 1499 million = .002 death per million riders

So once again we find that the December 5, 2005 rule prohibiting walking between subway cars is completely asinine from a safety perspective.

Posted in safety | 2 Comments

empty buses, empty trains

so nice

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on empty buses, empty trains

‘Cloverfield’ is down with the subway

New York Magazine writes about the upcoming movie ‘Cloverfield‘, specifically discussing the accuracy of a journey made on foot through the subway tunnels by the movie’s characters. Paramount provided them with the movie still below:

Forget the walk through the tunnel – how many inaccuracies with the set for the Spring St station do you see?

Posted in film | 1 Comment

today’s humorous New York City Transit service alert

This happens every now and then – something funny will pop up in the service alert. Today we are presented with a new subway station name that combines the best of two stations. You have Jamaica-Van Wyck. And you have Briarwood/Van Wyck Blvd. Put them together and you get Jamaica-Van Wyck Boulevard (see the image below).

20080117servicealert.png

This is not the station they were referring to:

Briarwood - Van Wyck Blvd (F) - name tablet on the Manhattan-bound platform. Photo taken by Brian Weinberg, 7/16/2006.

Posted in service alert | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on today’s humorous New York City Transit service alert

the (second to) last bus standing

I caught a photo this morning of one of the only two RTS buses left in the Bronx (AFAIK), #8258 on the Bx20. The rest of this type of bus have recently been transfered to other bus depots that don’t serve Bronx bus routes.

NYCT RTS 8258 @ Henry Hudson Parkway South and 246 St (Bx20). This is one of only two RTS buses left at Kingsbridge Depot. Photo taken by Brian Weinberg, 1/17/2008.

Posted in bus | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on the (second to) last bus standing

slow going on the (1)

Arrived at my station today around the same time as yesterday, but the commute was 15+ minutes longer. The car reached crush load by 181 or so, with extended dwells at each station thereafter. Yesterday was great by comparison – we followed hot on the heels of another (1) so my car never had more than about 10 standees.

Posted in delays | Comments Off on slow going on the (1)