Where have all the locals gone??
So I thought I'd seen it all as far as NYC public transit goes. But today I experienced the Change-a-Saturday-Train-To-Express nightmare. A little bit of background: Some stations have both a local track with a platform and an express track. Trains on the express track don't stop at every station. Deep Blue probably couldn't predict which trains become express trains and when. It is probably completely random or a sick psych experiment by the US government...
So today at WoodHaven station out somewhere in the abyss of Queens, all of the trains into Manhattan became express. A non-descript blue ribbon was supposed to alert you of this. Buried somewhere on the platform was a hand-written note that told passengers what to do. Apparently you have to go east for 5 stations before you get to a station with an express stop so that you can go back west. Of course in my case I want to go North, so once I get on the west train, I have to travel back 3 stations into Manhattan before I can get a train that again goes east to where I need to get to in Astoria. Below is a paint sketch of my ridiculous route home:
Astonishingly, everyone on the train was surprised by this express announcement. Everyone was either a tourist, a first-time traveller, a crackhead (there were 2, one was singing quite terribly) or a newly relocated passenger. This begs the question: Where are all the locals??? Some possibilities people have suggested
a) lost into the abyss of Queens.
b) the locals know better than to take the train
c) there is a secret easy train system for locals which you need to be a member to find
d) NYC is so big, it is impossible to become a local.
Perhaps I will find one and interrogate it. It will tell me the secrets of the NYC train system. Once I have that information, it will be valid for about minute before some self-righteous train-conductor decides to go express.
Once I finally reached my home station, I decided it was my god given right to complain to someone. I picked the spanish ticket collector. I'm not sure if it was his accent but I swear he being facetious when he said, "They either drive them express or they drive them loco".
I think everyone here is a bit loco:
Grr... of the Day:
Hard to believe this post was not in itself the Grr... of the Day. That honour, however, belongs to my key incident last night. Apparently, while I was away the management had replaced the door and kept the same lock. However the lock wasn't really sitting well in the door. When I went to turn the key, the entire lock spun and dislodged from the latch that keeps the door locked. In a desparate attempt, I tried to turn it back but it was clear doing so would break my key. In the spirit of if it rains it pours, I also had not battery power in my cellphone to call an emergency locksmith. After going across the street plugging in my phone and leaving a pitiful message for my landlord, I managed to turn the lock back without breaking the key. Of course in the meantime I met my neighbour for the first time, who nearly called the police thinking I was breaking in. He seems to avoid me know. I suppose I've finally become sketchy enough to deserve to live in the City.
So today at WoodHaven station out somewhere in the abyss of Queens, all of the trains into Manhattan became express. A non-descript blue ribbon was supposed to alert you of this. Buried somewhere on the platform was a hand-written note that told passengers what to do. Apparently you have to go east for 5 stations before you get to a station with an express stop so that you can go back west. Of course in my case I want to go North, so once I get on the west train, I have to travel back 3 stations into Manhattan before I can get a train that again goes east to where I need to get to in Astoria. Below is a paint sketch of my ridiculous route home:
Astonishingly, everyone on the train was surprised by this express announcement. Everyone was either a tourist, a first-time traveller, a crackhead (there were 2, one was singing quite terribly) or a newly relocated passenger. This begs the question: Where are all the locals??? Some possibilities people have suggested
a) lost into the abyss of Queens.
b) the locals know better than to take the train
c) there is a secret easy train system for locals which you need to be a member to find
d) NYC is so big, it is impossible to become a local.
Perhaps I will find one and interrogate it. It will tell me the secrets of the NYC train system. Once I have that information, it will be valid for about minute before some self-righteous train-conductor decides to go express.
Once I finally reached my home station, I decided it was my god given right to complain to someone. I picked the spanish ticket collector. I'm not sure if it was his accent but I swear he being facetious when he said, "They either drive them express or they drive them loco".
I think everyone here is a bit loco:
Grr... of the Day:
Hard to believe this post was not in itself the Grr... of the Day. That honour, however, belongs to my key incident last night. Apparently, while I was away the management had replaced the door and kept the same lock. However the lock wasn't really sitting well in the door. When I went to turn the key, the entire lock spun and dislodged from the latch that keeps the door locked. In a desparate attempt, I tried to turn it back but it was clear doing so would break my key. In the spirit of if it rains it pours, I also had not battery power in my cellphone to call an emergency locksmith. After going across the street plugging in my phone and leaving a pitiful message for my landlord, I managed to turn the lock back without breaking the key. Of course in the meantime I met my neighbour for the first time, who nearly called the police thinking I was breaking in. He seems to avoid me know. I suppose I've finally become sketchy enough to deserve to live in the City.
posted by Megalomaniac at 7:07 PM
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