The Subway Is So Late, It’s Making New Yorkers Early • Hacker News Board

Re: The Subway Is So Late, It’s Making New Yorkers Early

#251

Post by solatic » Mon, Apr 09, 2018, 9:24 PM UTC

mpweiher wrote: post #195

wgerard wrote: post #24

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…

> I think people who don't live in the city don't > realize how (relatively) stressful it can be > when the trains are late. So much this. I always thought that the typical characterization of Germany, "the trains run on time" was a put down for how boring and uptight we are. Then I lived in places where the trains do not run on time. Oh my god. Whenever I travelled back to Berlin, I wanted to hug the BVG employees.

As a tourist in Germany I took the train from Frankfurt to Munich. There was a stopover which required me to change trains.

I remember being slightly anxious because there was only a four minute window according to the schedule between when my first train would arrive and when the second train would leave. What if the first train was late? What if I couldn't find the platform for the second train (I don't speak German)?

Turns out I just had to walk to the other side of the same platform. I spent three excruciatingly boring minutes waiting for the second train to leave according to schedule. German railways are glorious.

Re: The Subway Is So Late, It’s Making New Yorkers Early

#252

Post by Arbalest » Mon, Apr 09, 2018, 11:21 PM UTC

mmariani wrote: post #232

s0rce wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Spinning is winning. Instead of using high torque shift to easier gears and spin as fast as you can while seating on the saddle. You’re going to get there with fresher legs though a bit hotter in general—it’s a nice cardio—but that shouldn’t be a problem because you’re steps away from your shower.

I've been doing higher RPMs for a while now (I'm going to guess about 80) but I think this may have impacted my knees more. I've shifted to higher gears to try and reduce the number of repetitions my joints have to do, to shift load to the muscles

Re: The Subway Is So Late, It’s Making New Yorkers Early

#253

Post by caminante » Mon, Apr 09, 2018, 11:53 PM UTC

g_sch wrote: post #199

caminante wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>[Sweden's public transit is] no Switzerland or Japan, but it’s what a reasonably well run system looks like. Comparing Sweden to NYC isn't fair. NYC Subway has ~742 stations (v. ~100 in Stockholm) and 1,756M in annual ridership (v. ~328M in Stockholm). This is just for the subway and excludes NY transit bus ridership.

I think you may have transposed some digits. According to Wikipedia [0], the NYC Subway has 472 stations. Or 424, depending on how you count. > The official count of stations is 472; however, this tabulation classifies some transfer stations as two or more stations, which are called "station complexes" within the nomenclature of the New York City Subway. If station complexes are counted as one station each, the numbe…

>I think you may have transposed some digits.

I definitely did![0] Should be 472 (as you stated.) Thank you for correcting.

[0] http://web.mta.info/nyct/facts/ridership/

Re: The Subway Is So Late, It’s Making New Yorkers Early

#254

Post by CydeWeys » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 1:03 AM UTC

nasredin wrote: post #239

CydeWeys wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not in Manhattan though, and definitely not along my commute. Motorcycles are about as slow as the cars. There isn't room for a full motorcycle to filter through the narrow space between the row of parked cars and the line of slow-moving traffic. Hell, sometimes there's barely room to slip through on a bicycle. And it's flat out illegal for motorcyclists to ride in the bike lane. But yeah, this is more of a special c…

Aren't all lanes in US of a minimum width? IIRC only California allows lane splitting. So this is a legal issue as well.

No?

And you're forgetting the double parking, bad parking, standing cars, building construction, street construction, etc. Streets of Manhattan are chaotic. Trust me when I say that there is often not any room for motorcyclists to filter past cars, especially not when bicycle lanes are present.

It being legal or not isn't the issue; it's not possible.

Re: The Subway Is So Late, It’s Making New Yorkers Early

#255

Post by brynjolf » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 10:27 AM UTC

apaprocki wrote: post #238

squiggleblaz wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if the Tokyo subway shuts down each night between 1am and 5am, why can't the NYC subway shut parts down periodically? It's common here in Melbourne to have whole lines shut down during the summer for maintenance or other service changes (e.g. removing level crossings). We hate it but we cope. There's literally no excuse for not maintaining your infrastructure. Every probably can be solved. Shut down a line every n…

It’s not to say that they can’t — it is to say that they don’t due to history and expectations. New Yorkers expect it to run 24/7 because it always has and people routinely make life decisions about where to live and work due to that. You can’t just change it without a pretty drastic social effect that would take years to smooth out.

Ok then if noone wants the change then honestly stop your whining

Re: The Subway Is So Late, It’s Making New Yorkers Early

#256

Post by CalRobert » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 1:27 PM UTC

superhuzza wrote: post #250

vvillena wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bikes still work on the rain, you only need to dress up a bit. Extreme heat is way more problematic. As you said, it's more of a cultural problem, that can be solved. If we accept that motorbikers need lots of specialized equipment to ride, we can accept that cyclists need a couple bits of extra clothing every now and then.

Not an option up here in Canada. Biking is not viable for about a 1/3 of the year. Ice, snow and low temperatures make biking extremely dangerous. My city is known as being extremely biker friendly, yet virtually nobody bikes for 4-5 months every year.

Weather has an impact but cities still see a return on building bike infrastructure.

http://vancouver.ca/files/cov/walking-cycling-in-vancouver-2...

Canada is big but most of its population lives in the south. If you're in Yellowknife that could be different, of course.

Re: The Subway Is So Late, It’s Making New Yorkers Early

#257

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 4:53 PM UTC

hyeonwho3 wrote: post #209

stefs wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

well, do all factors scale linearly? if so, it shouldn't make that much of a difference. let's compare it to the subway system of vienna, austria (which is said to have one of the best public transport systems in the world). so here's my personal theory. all numbers - city population count, station numbers, system length and ridership - scale at a pretty much constant factor of 4. there are at least two huge differen…

Many people have written many articles about the NYC subway recently. Because the trains run 24/7, they cannot renovate lines and install advanced train control. Because of the terrible train control, they put simplistic speed limits on trains. Because of all the slow trains the number of passengers per train increases, resulting in more platform delays and medical emergencies.

[deleted]

Re: The Subway Is So Late, It’s Making New Yorkers Early

#258

Post by superhuzza » Thu, Apr 12, 2018, 12:51 PM UTC

CalRobert wrote: post #256

superhuzza wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not an option up here in Canada. Biking is not viable for about a 1/3 of the year. Ice, snow and low temperatures make biking extremely dangerous. My city is known as being extremely biker friendly, yet virtually nobody bikes for 4-5 months every year.

Weather has an impact but cities still see a return on building bike infrastructure. http://vancouver.ca/files/cov/walking-cycling-in-vancouver-2... Canada is big but most of its population lives in the south. If you're in Yellowknife that could be different, of course.

Oh I definitely agree investing in cycling infrastructure is still worth it. I'm very happy my city has many bike paths and a bike sharing system.

However, the reality for most Canadians is that above all we need public transport that can be used year round. Most Canadians don't live in B.C., and pretty much everywhere else we have harsh winters (yes, even in the south).