Sound like a good commute?
5:30 pm - I left work.
5:45 pm - I got on the train at 34th street, only to find out that there were NO TRAINS going into Queens, except the 7 (the only one that runs above the East River, rather than beneath it, where FIFTEEN MINUTES of hard rain had caused all the subway tunnels into Queens to flood, suspending all service).
6:15 pm - After waiting in line to get on the 7 train at 42nd street (it was less a line than a sweaty, angry mob), I managed to push my way onto the fourth 7 train that came by. The first three were completely full (so was this one, but I got on anyway). There were actually several times during this ride where I was fearful that I might get crushed to death. I am NOT exaggerating.
6:45 pm - I arrived at Roosevelt Ave in Queens, stupidly that the E train would be running in Queens. Ha! The NYPD has practically declared a state of emergency at the station. I realize I'm going to have to take a bus. I wait in line (!) to look at the one bus map on the wall of the station. There are no buses going directly to where I'm going. I pick a bus. I wait in line to get on the bus.
7:00 pm - I am on the bus, and so are many other sweaty, weary people. (Did I mention that it was still raining?)
7:30 pm - I get off the bus pitifully, pitifully far from where I live.
7:45 pm - walking
8:15 pm - walking
8:30 pm - walking
8:45 pm - walking
9:00 pm - I get home. I think I walked about six miles. Six miles is a good walk if it's not in the pouring rain, you're not coming home from the end of your workweek, and you're not starving and feeling a chest cold coming on.
I'm not telling you this so you can throw me a pity party. I'm telling you this, good people of Cleveland, because for God's sake, stay where you are, where there are nice commutes (there is NO situation imaginable that would cause this in Cleveland, not even lake effect snow.) You are NEVER going to be afraid you're going to get suffocated or trampled on an RTA bus, or worse, pushed off the edge of the subway platform by a surging mob of (literally) about a million people.
Don't move to New York. All the fun I've had here totally isn't worth what I went through this evening.
5:45 pm - I got on the train at 34th street, only to find out that there were NO TRAINS going into Queens, except the 7 (the only one that runs above the East River, rather than beneath it, where FIFTEEN MINUTES of hard rain had caused all the subway tunnels into Queens to flood, suspending all service).
6:15 pm - After waiting in line to get on the 7 train at 42nd street (it was less a line than a sweaty, angry mob), I managed to push my way onto the fourth 7 train that came by. The first three were completely full (so was this one, but I got on anyway). There were actually several times during this ride where I was fearful that I might get crushed to death. I am NOT exaggerating.
6:45 pm - I arrived at Roosevelt Ave in Queens, stupidly that the E train would be running in Queens. Ha! The NYPD has practically declared a state of emergency at the station. I realize I'm going to have to take a bus. I wait in line (!) to look at the one bus map on the wall of the station. There are no buses going directly to where I'm going. I pick a bus. I wait in line to get on the bus.
7:00 pm - I am on the bus, and so are many other sweaty, weary people. (Did I mention that it was still raining?)
7:30 pm - I get off the bus pitifully, pitifully far from where I live.
7:45 pm - walking
8:15 pm - walking
8:30 pm - walking
8:45 pm - walking
9:00 pm - I get home. I think I walked about six miles. Six miles is a good walk if it's not in the pouring rain, you're not coming home from the end of your workweek, and you're not starving and feeling a chest cold coming on.
I'm not telling you this so you can throw me a pity party. I'm telling you this, good people of Cleveland, because for God's sake, stay where you are, where there are nice commutes (there is NO situation imaginable that would cause this in Cleveland, not even lake effect snow.) You are NEVER going to be afraid you're going to get suffocated or trampled on an RTA bus, or worse, pushed off the edge of the subway platform by a surging mob of (literally) about a million people.
Don't move to New York. All the fun I've had here totally isn't worth what I went through this evening.
posted by Christine Borne at 9:05 PM
7 Comments:
ugh. and i thought my commute from TR to philly was bad...
I don't know; the rapid can become a scary, scary place right after the St. Paddy's Day parade or a particularly fun Indians game.
Heh. Yup, I had to walk about 40 blocks (2 miles) to get home that day. I was on an F train at 34th (after waiting 15 minutes for a V that would never come), finally gave up after we stopped at each stop for 5 minutes and got off at Rockefeller Center. Walked to Lex. Walked into the 6 station and saw wall to wall people. Saw a 4 train crawl by since the express tracks were flooded and saw a sardined 6 train pull up. Cursed and left the station.
I walked home, basically from Rockefeller Center, dripping sweat in the humidity and rain. Ick. Just...ick.
Good thing this is the exception, not the rule.
The 6 has been absolutely goofalicious since they started work on the Euclid Corridor project (which I still oppose...I just hope it doesn't become Waterfront Line: The Sequel)
Since I live in Akron, I have to deal with the ideosyncracies (not to mention fare structures) of two systems: RTA and Akron METRO. At least RTA's planners aren't on crack.
I've never had trouble with the 7 myself. Oh, who am I kidding -- I forgot about that time I had to go to Jackson Heights and transfer back just to get to Manhattan from Sunnyside. Boy did that suck.
Hmm...I have not seen that yet here in Northern Nevada...then again there are fewer people here in Ely than one would find in an apartment floor in NYC...
Wait a minute. Aren't there yellow cabs, airport vans, inter-borough busses, heavy rail, that sort of thing?
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