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Now I live in Manhattan (for now at least...might be movin' later this year!) and a lot of times I get annoyed by the rerouting and reduced subway service due to construction on the weekends. I'm sure it's necessary work being done so I don't question it and don't think it should change.
But sometimes I look at the lists of service changes wonder how subway users in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx cope with entire stretches of stops being out of service and having to be stuck with a potentially longer bus ride instead. Especially if you only live near 1 or 2 lines. Is it annoying?
Note: This isn't supposed to be an MTA-bashing thread. Just interested to know what people do on the weekends when they need to get somewhere.
I don't live in Brooklyn anymore, but when I visit my friends there on the weekends (or attempt to) there are generally major subway issues every weekend. There have been times where literally 3/4 of all subway lines running into and out of the boroughs are screwed up. It shouldn't take an hour and half to get from where I live in Chelsea to Brooklyn Heights, but often it does. Many of the service changes are often unannounced on the website and you don't find out about them until you reach the station.
Despite the rapidly declining service that the MTA provides, they still raise prices frequently. The employees are always rude and seem to have an entitled attitude. The entire organization is a mess and its the fault of both the corrupt management and the greedy, lazy unions. I'm thrilled I no longer depend on the subway to get to work.
I live in Brooklyn (Prospect Heights/Park Slope - right on the edge) and I'm within a 3 minute walk to the 7th Ave B/Q (which I don't even have to cross the street to get to!) and Grand Army Plaza 2/3. I find that one of those two is always working for me - the question is which one! Aside from the several weeks when I first moved here when they were doing work on the bridge I think, the Q has been much more reliable on weekends (the B doesn't run on weekends as a matter of course).
Is during winter months. When you have to wait for a shuttle or walk to a different subway line in the freezing cold, it sucks big time. Other then that, it's way easier in mild weather to get up, grab coffee and just troop it to where you have to go.
With me, there is what I call the "Triple whammy". Bad weather, + I have to be at work early (7:00 AM) + Having to walk 30 min to the F line if the Q or N is out. But Brooklyn boy is rugged and soldiers forward!
It's good to live in an area with more than one line. I live close to the 7 and also the E/F/M/R so something is usually running. On weekends I definitely have to budget more time to get around.
There is an article in today's Times on this very topic.
Now I live in Manhattan (for now at least...might be movin' later this year!) and a lot of times I get annoyed by the rerouting and reduced subway service due to construction on the weekends. I'm sure it's necessary work being done so I don't question it and don't think it should change.
But sometimes I look at the lists of service changes wonder how subway users in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx cope with entire stretches of stops being out of service and having to be stuck with a potentially longer bus ride instead. Especially if you only live near 1 or 2 lines. Is it annoying?
Note: This isn't supposed to be an MTA-bashing thread. Just interested to know what people do on the weekends when they need to get somewhere.
Ok, the MTA bashing will be minimal. The scheduling of repairs, improvements, maintenance, must be done by a child, and always has been thus.
Moving to the boroughs, you also have to deal with the 10 pm tranformation, when the Subway transforms into the 'Twilight Zone'!! You might never get home....
The answer to your question---au-to-mo-bile!
Private or hired. Of course, that's primarily a native mode of transport (personal vehicle).
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Growing up in Brooklyn, weekends from the age of 17 or so, meant travel by car. If you found yourself in the city w/o a vehicle, calling for someone to pick you up was common. Avoiding the subway after 10 pm was an absolute law.
I can't tell you the number of 'stories' I and my friends have of being in the city 'late', choosing to take the subway, and completely forgetting about the 'twilight zone'. The 'Odesseys' the MTA can take you on can be epic!! Later, you laugh after the fact, but during an Odessey you want to killl someone, anyone with an MTA badge!
The problems with 'twilight zone' are the maintenance cars, which, collect the cash (and before the metrocard, tokens) these cars are manned by men/women with guns!; trash collectors; track cleaners; maintenance trains, etc., and trains being re-routed for all the above reasons plus some.
NYC may be a 24 hour city, but the MTA treats non 9 to 5ers as second class citizens. Which is why many employers provide transportation after 8pm home, and for their night shift, transportation to and/or from work.
Something to seriously consider, if you work those hours and live in the boroughs or suburbs. If your employer does not provide transportation, then commuting can be a real PITA! and/or costly paying for taxis.
I've know nurses and other hospital night personnel who pay for car service to and/or from work on a nightly basis. Poorer workers just have to deal with the twilight zone, and are very aware of the train schedule.
Peronsally, living in Astoria, I avoid morning and evening rush hour as much as possible. Prefering cabs or driving, leave prior to 8:30am and the drive is easy. Leave the city before 4pm or 7pm or later and the drive is easy. Of course, an accident or something can turn the drive into a Pita at any time.
As far as the Subway rescheduling, the MTA is rather good at posting notices. Posting 'comprehensible' notices is a different issue. So, just get into the habit of checking for notices on Thursdays and Fridays. I rarely do, but GF rarely misses a notice. GF and I will often make our way into the city and taxi home. If you live 'deep' in the boroughs cabs can be costly, but we our average ride is $15.
For us life in Astoria is almost always a cab home, whether general shopping, grocercy shopping (whole foods), entertaining, or whatever. GF relys more on the subway for work, though she only works in Manhattan once or twice a week. She almost always uses the subway to commute. For me its about 50/50, and dependant upon time of day and mood. If not for GF and a medical issue, I would take the subway less.
Before my medical issue, I hadn't been on public transport for over 5 years. Many of my contemporaries are much the same. 3 years ago, I was suprised to learn one of my good friends was taking the Subway everyday commuting downtown from WH.
That's life in the boroughs. My personnel situation is a bit above the norm, but common to many natives, those living in the boroughs, suburbs, and those who work independantly (no clock punching, no boss). Life is best in the boroughs when you're not on a 9 to 5 grind.
When I lived off the J train, it got pretty bad one month. The J picked us up at Fulton and then said its last stop was Essex Street. We got off, waited, then boarded a BK bound J. As we were crossing the bridge, the conductor told us the train was stopping at Marcy then running express to Broadway Junction. (my stop is Halsey). Long story short, when I got on the train at Broadway Junction, it was skipped my stop and went to Myrtle. From there I got PO'd and took a cab. On the weekends I generally avoid taking the train, specifically the F and the A late nights. I usually cab it.
When I lived off the J train, it got pretty bad one month. The J picked us up at Fulton and then said its last stop was Essex Street. We got off, waited, then boarded a BK bound J. As we were crossing the bridge, the conductor told us the train was stopping at Marcy then running express to Broadway Junction. (my stop is Halsey). Long story short, when I got on the train at Broadway Junction, it was skipped my stop and went to Myrtle. From there I got PO'd and took a cab. On the weekends I generally avoid taking the train, specifically the F and the A late nights. I usually cab it.
You could've taken the Q24 bus from Broadway Junction to Halsey Street (assuming this happened before June 2010 before they cut it back to Broadway Junction)
But yeah, those GOs can be a pain in the @ss. Luckily, when I lived in Brooklyn, I lived near an express stop (Brighton Beach), so it was impossible for a train to bypass it on the weekends.
Some areas have express buses. For example, the BxM11 runs down White Plains Road, so it's an alternative if the (2) isn't running (of course, you could take a shuttle bus or something, but some find it easier to pay the extra $3.25 and save themselves the trouble)
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Dark, Cold silence of winter decay.
And more then once did I see tempers flare, Not surprisingly. I walk or if it's TOO cold, grab a taxi.
