Easter, Circus, Yankees, Aqueduct & Transit
April 8th 2007 07:00 pm
I went to Aqueduct Race Track in Queens, NY yesterday for the Wood Memorial, a major Kentucky Derby prep race. Instead of driving, I took the 10:36 A.M.MidTown Direct out of Chatham to NY Penn and then the A train to Aqueduct. The 10:36 A.M. MidTown Direct was on time and I was surprised at how crowded it was. In an 8 car consist, 6 cars were already open. The car I ultimately sat in was headed for Trenton; but, that’s a story for another time.
At Summit, all 8 cars were open and you knew this was going to be one crowded train. By Orange, it was standing room only throughout. It seems people were headed to Madison Square Garden for the Ringling Bros. Circus. A ton of people were headed to Yankee Stadium. I spoke with a woman carrying a Paul O’Neill sign and she told me with the new stadium construction, it was impossible to park their car, so, their entourage of 17–yes, seventeen people used the train. A lot of Yankee fans had the same idea. Another group of people were simply headed into Manhattan to see the Easter displays at Rock Center and the Department Stores—and then, there were degenerates like me headed to a race track on a Holy Saturday with my Racing Form in hand. When we got to Secaucus, the platform was pretty full and the MidTown Direct was now a sardine can with people standing in the vestibules.
You would have thought that these various events would have been known a bit in advance to NJT. With that foresight, you would have thought NJT could have run a couple of “special” express trains in the A.M. and reverse them in the P.M. I’ve always said that if the M&E had 1/2 hourly service on the weekends, it would be wildly successful. Run it–they will come.
Now to the MTA. What a bunch of idiots. I wanted to take the A train to Aqueduct. So, at 34th Street, I swipe my Metrocard and go up the steps to the Express platform. One problem, there was NO express service–all service was running on the local track. Was there a sign? NO. Was there anyone pointing this out? NO. So, why were the turnstiles open? Beats me. I came back out and the attendant was kind enough to buzz me in to the local tracks. She ultimately called someone to close the express turnstiles down. The A train ran as a local the entire way and it was S L O W. I made Aqueduct with 10 minutes to spare on the first race. Returning home, the A was local and at Boro Hall, a decision was made (God knows why) to run along the F line. I boarded the A train at Aqueduct at 6:08 P.M. and got to 34th Street & 6th Ave. at 7:03 P.M. I surprised myself at how fast I could run down 32nd street to make the 7:11 MidTown Direct from NY Penn. Here was another train loaded to the rafters with all cars open. Luckily, they didn’t collect my ticket; so, I have a one way fare to NY Penn the next time I go.
As for the events: There were snow flurries for Easter; the circus clown who lost his 12-inch bicycle was riding it; the Yankees won in dramatic fashion with an A-Rod Grand Slam to boost the Yankees to a 10-7 victory over the Orioles and NoBiz Like ShoBiz won the Wood Memorial giving me a $179 profit on the day.
Jishnu Mukerji responded on 08 Apr 2007 at 8:36 pm #
Clearly all those people who don’t use and never will use Secaucus as a transfer station were out in force.
Joe Versaggi responded on 09 Apr 2007 at 7:44 am #
According to Weekend Service Advisories, http://www.mta.info/nyct/service/subsrvnweekend.htm#a, there was no G.O for the Easter weekend, thus no excuse for the A to run local.
As for the over-crowded MDT, maybe if the 2 and 3 hour interval service to Hoboken weren’t such as joke, the loadings could have been evened out.
BrendanRead responded on 09 Apr 2007 at 3:16 pm #
Unreliable weekend subway service is unfortunately as New York as the stench of garbage on a hot day.
What makes the train-set-playing by the MTA particularly offensive is that it still occurs despite the huge sums that have been poured into rebuilding the subway and into customer (mis)information systems.
“Plus ca change, c’est le meme chose”–Alphonse Karr
Joe Versaggi responded on 09 Apr 2007 at 6:37 pm #
The weekend G.O.’s on the TA are totally out of hand. While there was no work on Easter weekend, the C was out for a 2-month duration anyway because they weren’t going to schedule crews for just the one weekend. Ditto for the G out to the Queens Blvd Line. It is also true that Jay Street HQ was dragged into Metrocard monthly passes kicking and screaming. They wanted nothing further than 12 for 10. Pataki told them institute it or else polish up your resumes. So as far as the TA is concerned, most are getting a “free” ride on weekends, so they have no problem disrupting service far more excessively than the work requires. Well hidden are the $7 Fun Passes, available only at the SMALL, credit card-only Metrocard vending machines. They will not even come up on the menu of the regular, large machines.
But, I’d still take them over PATH’s cattle-car torture on weekends. The TA has dramatically spiked up service on weekends. Never in the heyday of the BMT did the J run 8-car trains at 8 and 9-minute intervals all day on weekends, but they do now. PATH is what happens when railroad men run a transit operation – to hell with anyone but regular commuters, and run fixed intervals all day don’t matter what.
Bob Scheurle responded on 09 Apr 2007 at 7:22 pm #
For those of us who don’t know, what’s a “G.O.”?
Joe Versaggi responded on 10 Apr 2007 at 10:04 am #
General Order, TA-speak for weekend service disruptions.