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Yeah exactly. The Ronkonkoma Branch goes through CI, Brentwood, Wyandanch which is why it's often filled with the lowest class people. The Huntington Line is just slightly better with Huntington Station, Westbury (which gets the least compared to the other 2), and Hicksville getting lowlifes on the train. And both stop at the Hicksville Homeless Shelter. But you have to add Port Jeff Sta which is part of that line (diesels often transfer to Huntington Trains).
The Main Line in general aint pretty with the crowd you get and the scenery isn't great with all the bldgs tagged in grafitti you get to see along the way.
Port Washington Line doesn't serve any ghetto areas and is usually the most well-mannered.
The Babylon Branch is fairly decent as well and only has to deal with Freeport and to a lesser degree, Amityville.
Not familiar with the other branches since I dont ride them that much.
Of course from the videos of drunks & fights I've seen on line, the Main Line trains seem to be the worst and seem to be a "Jersey Shore" kind of crowd.
Most get on at Huntington & Hicksville. I rarely encounter these kind of folks on the Babylon Branch which is more civilized than the Main Line. I envy those lucky folks on the Babylon Branch almost everyday!
We all know how John is racist and stereotypes minorities. But this post finally showed me how skewed his mentality really is. Having never walked around Westbury, never really knew if what he says is true or not.
But I've been taking that Huntington / Port Jefferson train for 1.5 years now. Regularly, not once a month. I'm the commuter. And the people who take that train are 99.99% of the time very civilized. And a large amount are unusually friendly. And I only deduct the 0.01% because of special days, like St Patty's day recently, brings a louder crowd. But its just noise.
I would take this line over the Port Washington line any day. I did the Port Washington line for 3 years before moving out here. And people are not always happy when you have to sit right next to them due to crowding.
Take off the colored lenses you wear, and life just might just end up more rosy.
We all know how John is racist and stereotypes minorities. But this post finally showed me how skewed his mentality really is. Having never walked around Westbury, never really knew if what he says is true or not.
But I've been taking that Huntington / Port Jefferson train for 1.5 years now. Regularly, not once a month. I'm the commuter. And the people who take that train are 99.99% of the time very civilized. And a large amount are unusually friendly. And I only deduct the 0.01% because of special days, like St Patty's day recently, brings a louder crowd. But its just noise.
I would take this line over the Port Washington line any day. I did the Port Washington line for 3 years before moving out here. And people are not always happy when you have to sit right next to them due to crowding.
Take off the colored lenses you wear, and life just might just end up more rosy.
Race has nothing to do with it. Most of the bums that hang out at Hicksville are white. And so are the drunks that get into fights on the train Fri/Sat nights.
You travel in the peak hours so you're with the commuting crowd, and at those times the Huntington line is very civilized, that could be said about ANY branch.
You never see what's getting on in the other direction on Friday night, rowdy, loud people drinking and the girls dressed like prostitutes. Anyone who has taken a Huntington train to Penn on a Friday or Saturday night can attest to that.
I have yet to experience the same rowdy behavior on the Babylon branch at that time.
As far as the Ronkonkoma Line, yes that does get the bad crowd at Wyandanch, Brentwood, and CI, often I have to change cars because they have weed on them and it stinks it up (sometimes smoking it right on the train!), they're often rowdy, and they're always trying to hide from the Conductor in the bathroom too. I don't see this as much along the Babylon line even at the stations like Freeport. And the Babylon Line gets a fairly diverse crowd too.
Again I ride mostly off-peak hours which is very different from what a PEAK hour commuter may experience. Westbury really doesn't have as many problems as these other stations along the Ronk Line. The Huntington Line is still much better than the Ronkonkoma line when it comes to behavior. The Port Washington Line is very crowded and I guess because it serves alot of rich areas the ppl are snooty about people sitting next to them, though I've experienced seat blocking on many trains, the worst offenders are the Hamptons trains on the weekends.
Last edited by Johninwestbury; 04-10-2015 at 10:08 AM..
This gentleman thought it was nice to have a work conference call in a quiet car. When the conductor showed up, I asked him to say something. The conductor just shrugged his shoulders. Wonderful.
Does eating extremely loud in the quiet car count as it no longer be a quiet car? [ this actually counts as one of my major annoyances: if you want to eat popcorn or potato chips, can you close your mouth doing so, thank you. ]
And I have to agree with overweight people trying to shove themselves into tight spaces (middle seat or even the 2 seater). Sucks that you're overweight and I'm sure you can stand for a prolonged period of time, but does that mean you have to inconvenience me?
Funny enough, I took the LIRR for the first time ever last week and had a somewhat pleasant ride once seated.
Penn to Massapequa (not sure if thats how its spelt) at around 5:30 weekday.
I was able to get on early so I got a seat but the train was packed. Long Islanders are extremely rude and pushy to make their way in before anyone else. People standing in the aisle and near the doors until we got to some transfer point.
thankfully I dont live on long island. I would hate to live there.
Funny enough, I took the LIRR for the first time ever last week and had a somewhat pleasant ride once seated.
Penn to Massapequa (not sure if thats how its spelt) at around 5:30 weekday.
I was able to get on early so I got a seat but the train was packed. Long Islanders are extremely rude and pushy to make their way in before anyone else. People standing in the aisle and near the doors until we got to some transfer point.
thankfully I dont live on long island. I would hate to live there.
Lets see you get on a train you never ride grab a seat from someone who rides the train every night who is forced to now stand for an hour and they give you a dirty look. How horrible
Lets see you get on a train you never ride grab a seat from someone who rides the train every night who is forced to now stand for an hour and they give you a dirty look. How horrible
I walked on to the train calmly, didnt push anyone and simply grabbed the first seat I saw. Others were acting like animals. Dont be mad at me. Be mad that long island is way to congested to support itself with its infrastructure and the public transportation service is inadequate for the population level. Traffic there is a nightmare from what my friends who still live there tell me and judging by the responses in this thread the overall opinion is that LIRR is way to packed as well.
People sink to the lowest level when there is scarcity of certain goods/facilities and it this is what must explain the attitude of some long islanders on the LIRR - they cant help it, its their instinct.
Funny enough, I took the LIRR for the first time ever last week and had a somewhat pleasant ride once seated.
Penn to Massapequa (not sure if thats how its spelt) at around 5:30 weekday.
I was able to get on early so I got a seat but the train was packed. Long Islanders are extremely rude and pushy to make their way in before anyone else. People standing in the aisle and near the doors until we got to some transfer point.
thankfully I dont live on long island. I would hate to live there.
Right. Cause people line up two by two on the subway and march into the trains in an orderly manner. LI commuters are no different then anyone who takes the subways, trains or metro.
When boarding the train at Penn Station yesterday a middle aged man in a suit actually shoved me with both hands catching me off guard almost knocking me down to the floor. Apparently he said I cut in front of him trying to walk down the aisle for a seat. I was shocked an instinctively shoved him back, we exchanged a few words and he then turned around and walked away.
Few months ago again at Penn Station, there was a lady sitting on the handicap seats that fold down. She had all her bags on the seat next to her and refused to remove them to allow me to sit. So I actually sat on the edge of the seat. Throught the entire ride she kept trying to push me off the seat. All the passengers were telling her to take her bags off the seat but she would not listen.
Never a dull moment riding the LIRR......
The LIRR brings out the worse in people. Penn Station is bad enough with the train announcement going off ten minutes before the train departs. You have to run for a seat like a madman or you won't get a seat.
What is worse is that people feel that they are entitled to two seats. Women want a seat for their handbag and men generally are oblivious to people standing. No one should have to ask someone to move their bags and knapsacks. Other people pretend that they are sleeping in the morning.
Some lines are worse than others. There was someone who said you have not ridden the subways. I ride the subways all the time and believe me the people who ride the subways have nothing over the mean spirited riders (not all are mean) on the LIRR.
The blame is also on the train conductors who do nothing to remind people that they pay for one seat not two or three!
Speaking of LIRR craziness a friend reminded me of what happened last year in Bellmore. The train hit some debris east of Bellmore, and the impatient passengers began "self evacuating" the train, which then resulted in a complete suspension of service as third rail power had to be turned off. Then because the a/c shut off (it was a hot day) more started leaving the train. You're not supposed to leave the train unless directed by crew or am in immenent danger (like a fire). If it's hot open the end doors or emergency windows. Never leave the train on your own, there is quite a distance between the train and the ground, the third rail even if turned off could hold residual charge (or the train shoes), so many dangers so don't do it! Because of these idiots people wound up getting home hours late.
Many just walked back to the Bellmore train station and waited for service to resume. Well maybe if y'all stayed on the train you'd have been on your way sooner. The "debris" turned out to be just a tree branch.
Have to see I've never seen this on the Main Line. Babylon Branch riders must be very impatient if they're willing to do this, what a spoiled bunch considering they get the most frequent service!
Speaking of LIRR craziness a friend reminded me of what happened last year in Bellmore. The train hit some debris east of Bellmore, and the impatient passengers began "self evacuating" the train, which then resulted in a complete suspension of service as third rail power had to be turned off. Then because the a/c shut off (it was a hot day) more started leaving the train. You're not supposed to leave the train unless directed by crew or am in immenent danger (like a fire). If it's hot open the end doors or emergency windows. Never leave the train on your own, there is quite a distance between the train and the ground, the third rail even if turned off could hold residual charge (or the train shoes), so many dangers so don't do it! Because of these idiots people wound up getting home hours late.
Many just walked back to the Bellmore train station and waited for service to resume. Well maybe if y'all stayed on the train you'd have been on your way sooner. The "debris" turned out to be just a tree branch.
Have to see I've never seen this on the Main Line. Babylon Branch riders must be very impatient if they're willing to do this, what a spoiled bunch considering they get the most frequent service!
Based on my experience with the LIRR, I expect it was something like this...
Engineer stops train and calls it in.
Dispatch and engineer talk about the possibilities for 10-20 minutes
Crew dispatched to investigate
Crew arrives and decides "debris' is out of their area of expertise.
More "specialized" crew comes in.
10 Nassau County police arrive to "investigate" (i.e. mill about)
10+1 MTA police show up. Jurisdiction battle ensues. Enough police on scene to guarantee road traffic is just as screwed up as LIRR.
Special "tree branch removal" crew arrives.
Upon review of situation, tree branch specialists decide they need to wait for specialized equipment to arrive
Automated platform announcement claims "The 5:24 train is running on time" although it is now 6:45 and the train isn't moving.
Union leaders negotiate a deal for triple-overtime and the 3 oz. tree branch gets removed (by the same gust of wind which landed it there in the first place).
Hyperbole, but not probably not far from the truth.
Were the passengers wrong? Of course. Are people impatient - especially after a long day at work - of course.
Were they pushed to it by an overpriced, crappy, crowded commuter rail line? Of course. Doesn't make it right, but there is culpability on both sides.
The roads are not better. Do they really need to close 1-2 lanes of traffic during rush hour and have 5-8 police cars show up for a minor fender bender? Do they need to close lanes for roadwork during rush hours? Maybe they do... but when you spend an extra hour in traffic to drive by and see 10 cops (or a road crew) standing around doing absolutely nothing (or drinking coffee), it makes you understand how road rage is born.
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LIRR Meaness
