To me (as a life long New Yorker) this is yet another sign of our decaying society - our crumbling empire. I've often wondered if the people of Rome understood that their empire was crumbling. Did they actually see the signs as it happened, or did it occur in such a way that the slow-motion decline wasn't sharply felt? The problems here aren't just the subways. The roads, the bridges and other infrastructure are also…
It's interesting seeing the ways people work around this, even for people who don't have hard start/end times (e.g. tech employees). I have one friend who uses Citi Bike to get to important meetings I think people who don't live in the city don't realize how (relatively) stressful it can be when the trains are late. Riding the train during peak hours is already a pretty stressful experience: The sardine analogy is ve…
Offtopic: Audible. Big fan. Perfect for commutes and a lot of situations where having a book/device in front of you is not an option.
To me (as a life long New Yorker) this is yet another sign of our decaying society - our crumbling empire. I've often wondered if the people of Rome understood that their empire was crumbling. Did they actually see the signs as it happened, or did it occur in such a way that the slow-motion decline wasn't sharply felt? The problems here aren't just the subways. The roads, the bridges and other infrastructure are also…
How do you get out of bed with such pessimism? Rome faced existential threats from German and Persian invaders, as well as multiple imperial assassinations and civil wars. At the core of it, New York City simply has too many people on an old, straining infrastructure. And yes, though there are a few people who grow ever richer and a bloated City and State bureaucracy which are problematic, but there is also an enormo…
New York has almost the same number of people as it did in the 1950s. You can't blame this on population growth.
Maybe they should have scheduled maintenance closures that reoccur over the same parts of the day every day. Say, 1-5am?. So, it would be a 20hr/day instead of 24hr/day subway, but would be dependable during those 20 hrs.
Then how do people get home from the bars? That's my major complaint about BART, that it stops running too early. If I'm out late enough in the city, I can't return to the East Bay easily, so I either end up stressing to get the last train, or end up having to use my car, which has its own stress involved.
So make it 3D/wk or something. Period ongoing maintenance is key to sustainability.
I've had a couple instances where the MTA was so messed up either through delays or a weekend schedule change that I had to get off the subway and order an Uber to reach my destination...
SHOWTIME folks seem to be starting again. I still have a strange anxiety that some crazy person will push me into the tracks if I get too close after those string of incidents a few years back. And now I also wonder when the next train derailment will be since those seem to now be a real possibility. Some of our trains are literally past their expiration date and begging for an accident. .
In almost all cases I think this is a valid critique, but not against the MTA. It's one of the oldest, most complex, largest and among the ten highest daily ridership. To me, it remains an absolute marvel. Of course daily riders do and will forever complain. As someone who riders infrequently and is warned about impending doom, I find myself too often pleasantly surprised.
Why does the London Underground mostly run to schedule, though, then? Because it's older, arguably as complex (especially the subsurface railway), and not that far below NYC in ridership…
London has spent a lot, reflected in "London's monthly travel cost 'most expensive in world'" headlines. This article has a months travel at US$174 in London vs $118 in NY http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-39806865
I haven't been in NY for over 10 years. When I was there, the subway was fantastic. On time, cheap and clean (ish)
Has there been some very rapid drop in service? is this something which forseeably could get better soon, or is it a one-way hole without a huge capital investment?
Strangely enough, even in cities such as mine, which aren't so packed, cycling is still faster. Busses are faster than cars because they don't need to park, but still take 30-35 minutes. I can cycle in in 20 minutes. Note there is no train in my direction. I think this is partially because bicycles are not that popular here, but there are provisions for bikes that go above and beyond cars. Having seen Bruges in Belgi…
I live in Palo Alto and this is frequently true even though biking is definitely an afterthought in most cases. By car, I can get to work in about 30 min (+/-10 with traffic) but can bike there in consistency less than 20.
Same here in the east bay, driving to work in Emeryville takes 15-25 minutes and then add another 5-10min to park, even in the garage. If I bike to work its less than 25, usually around 20 and I can leave my bike in the small garage in the basement or just take it up to my office. Takes me longer to get home since have to climb back up 300ft to my place in Piedmont. The bus is pointless and would take about 20min of walking + the time on the bus.
> This matters if you can't afford to live in Manhattan It also matters if you’re catching a regional rail train ( e.g. on the Metro-North or LIRR), which tend to run on time to the minute.
I've just begun commuting into NYC on Amtrak, and it leaves on time to the [i]second[/i]. After years of my commute impacted by subway delays, NJ Transit delays, and an independent ferry service that had its share of problems, Amtrak is really quite refreshing. I had forgotten that things were supposed to be on a schedule! I lived in NYC for 5 years, and had no idea that the subways were on a fixed schedule. I though…
Counter-anecdote: for the past ~5 years, I've been taking Amtrak (usually Northeast Regional) between NYC and Boston every couple of months. Trains leaving Boston South Station almost always leave exactly on time. On the other hand, the odds of an on-time departure from NY Penn Station have been maybe 20%. Of the 80% of trains that leave late, the vast majority do not make up the delay over the course of the trip, and therefore arrive late in Boston.