Commuter Chronicles

For what it’s worth, mass transit, including subways are still, by most intents and purposes, a cheap and semi-fast alternative to get around, despite all the years it’s been around without a major upgrade. It’s still highly regarded in my mind and is one of the major reasons I don’t feel like moving out to a suburb in which going to a movie or toy store won’t require gas and alert driving.

That said, the amount of near-homocidal rage and frustration fed to me by the dopes who run such a system is just at the point where I must yell about it to someone.

I take a multi-train commute to work everyday, from the border of Brooklyn/Queens at the L-train’s Dekalb, all the way to the north of Queens at Astoria-Ditmars Blvd. How I planned to get there without losing myself would be a feat colonial explorers would be proud of, if only for the lack of a train way up there. Now, I know you’re thinking “But there’s a G train there, you jerk!”, and you’re right, had it not been for the unreliable slowness the G brings. For a major inter-borough train (Hah, yeah, laugh that up), they are fewer and farther between than most buses. As well, from there I have to travel up several flights of stairs just to transfer to the 7, waiting outside to catch one, just for one ride.

My alternative is going INTO Manhattan, then going only the 4,5 up to Lexington, then relaxing till I get to the job spot. Takes a bit longer, but it’s less hassle for me, and L trains arrive pretty often anyway.

This rant comes to you now as a result of the destructive habit the MTA has gotten into of upgrading absolutely nothing for days at a time, namely the 2 trains I ride on daily: The L and the N/W. By now, people out of state can tell you how often the L train goes down at certain segments, this month being all of Manhattan’s side. On the weekends, they divide what would be a 1 train ride into 3, having you transfer at Bedford, then at 14th St/Union Sq. But for me, that can be worked-around by the slow and unsteady G.

Then comes my nightly terror, Astoria-Ditmars. For those un-N/W savvy, Ditmars is the last stop on the train, which would mean an absolute abundance of trains, right?

WRONG

Despite how many working trains full of commuters are dumped there, the MTA workers at the station constantly yell at commuters who just want to sit down somewhere nice, away from the cold (Bonus fact: It’s an outdoor station, so we can frolic in the wintery frigid snow all we want =D), because that train is out of service or just plain “Isn’t taking anyone anywhere”. So they’ll go through ALL the cars, and systematically kick out people who STUPIDLY think that trains, a paid service, will actually BRING you somewhere. No, that’s never the case. And once that train goes, another comes in it’s stead, and all commuters stand there, shivering, watching, hoping that it’ll be salvation from the blasting snow or drenching rain. Just yesterday in fact, all of the people at the station had to be kicked out of 3 trains, and I have to say “Kicked out of” because they exclusively tell people to get off AFTER they’ve gone in, rather than preventing people their high hopes.

I’ve no pictures to show, but if anyone has a picture of a bulls-eye and perhaps a sledgehammer…

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This post was submitted by Morter.

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