Another subway question (transit, emergency, today)

[Moderate Guy]

Originally Posted by TunaBoy

Is it perfectly fine to exit through that emergency door right after stepping off the train? I think I recall alarms going off but people kept going through there instead of the regular exit/entry, especially when it gets crowded. So is this illegal and unacceptable, perfectly fine, or illegal but tolerated?

If you're worried about alarms going off then you must be a newcomer to the city. This is a town where everywhere one turns an alarm sounds. Pass by a motionless car, the alarm goes off. Fire trucks, squad cars with cops racing to buy some donuts for the lieutenant, young girls screaming when old geezers are trying to hit on them, old ladies bawling when young fellas don't, ambulances running down multiple pedestrians in order to save one life, door buzzers malfunctioning, I tell ya, there's an alarm everywhere in NYC.

So I'd only worry if the alarm didn't go off then I'd report it to an MTA person if you can locate one since they no longer sit in booths and who knows where they are.

[Fred314X]

You ask if it's "perfectly fine." It isn't; you're not supposed to. But, as they say, that plus a MetroCard will get you into the subway. A gate marked EMERGENCY is just for that: an emergency. Simply because people don't feel like going through the gate hardly qualifies as an emergency.

[arabella22]

It's one of those things that is not wrong until you get busted.

Ever notice how you can have 30 cars going 20 miles over the speed limit and the state trooper pulls over only one and the rest go on their merry way? I always wonder how they pick that ONE. Do they have a private count in their heads? "Ok after the 20th car the next one that is speeding I am pulling over" or maybe they only pull over red cars on Sunday and blue cars on Monday etc...who knows!

I would say the doors DO say don't do it...not that I don't sneak by after others open them but I would not open the door myself...personally...

[Green Irish Eyes]

Well, I'll raise my hand and guiltily admit to using the emergency door at the 190th Street station on the uptown "A" line. There are two ways to exit the station -- one involves going up a set of stairs, and the other exit is via a ramp. This is easier (and faster) than the stairs, but the exit turnstile is one of those "iron maiden" types -- you know, not just a turnstile, but one that looks like a revolving door with metal bars. When there's a crowd getting off the train, there's a real back-up at that one door. Plus, if you're carrying anything more than a small bag, it's difficult to maneuver yourself into the enclosed space and work your way around.

So, many people (oftentimes, myself included) just push open the emergency gate and go.

What can I say ? <*shrug*>

[Moderate Guy]

Originally Posted by squeezeboxgal

Well, I'll raise my hand and guiltily admit to using the emergency door at the 190th Street station on the uptown "A" line. There are two ways to exit the station -- one involves going up a set of stairs, and the other exit is via a ramp. This is easier (and faster) than the stairs, but the exit turnstile is one of those "iron maiden" types -- you know, not just a turnstile, but one that looks like a revolving door with metal bars. When there's a crowd getting off the train, there's a real back-up at that one door. Plus, if you're carrying anything more than a small bag, it's difficult to maneuver yourself into the enclosed space and work your way around.

So, many people (oftentimes, myself included) just push open the emergency gate and go.

What can I say ? <*shrug*>

alright lady. as a transit cop, if i've heard one sob story, i've heard a million. you'll get your day in transit court.

[gaia227]

Everyone at my stop uses the emergency doors. You aren't supposed to but there is no agent there, no one cares and if they do they are going to have a hard time stopping three hundred people charging at them.

Personally - I go through the turn-style.

[Joe Bama!]

With my luck I'll get a ticket or prolly arrested. So i try to obide by the rules of the MTA. I've been arrested 4 times, one time for using my High School issued Metrocard on a holiday. So the moral of the story is you never know, so dobn't risk it unless you have to.

[Fred314X]

Originally Posted by Miles

alright lady. as a transit cop, if i've heard one sob story, i've heard a million. you'll get your day in transit court.

Hey...I didn't know you were a transit cop! And with me as a tower operator, I think transit may be overrepresented in this thread.

Sob stories, the man says. They never end. Everyone can justify their behavior...until they're standing in front of a judge. Then all of a sudden they're "sorry."

[Green Irish Eyes]

Originally Posted by Fred314X

Hey...I didn't know you were a transit cop! And with me as a tower operator, I think transit may be overrepresented in this thread.

I'm thinkin' that Mile is just yanking our (emergency brake) chain and isn't REALLY a transit cop .....

[dixiecupdrinking]

Yup. They'll ticket you every once in a while. I don't do it and the arbitrarily law-abiding part of me secretly hopes to see a cop pull aside all the people who do it every morning, just so I can get a little advantage for following the rules, for once.