Wishing for a walking commute

(Or at least a bicycling one)

This is my usual commute these days:
08:10 Leave home, walk along 125th Street
08:30 Arrive at ABCD subway station - Take the D train
09:10 Transfer at Atlantic-Pacific Station - Take the 2 or 5 train
09:40 Arrive at my office

Today, my commute went like this:
08:10 Leave home, walk along 125th Street, notice abnormal number of people on streets
08:30 Arrive at ABCD subway station
- wait for train, and notice abnormal number of people on subway platform
08:40 Hear announcement that no trains are running at that station
- walk back towards 1-Train station (closer to home)
08:50 Learn from fellow passenger (who had been waiting for 45min at the 1-train platform)
that only 2 Trains were running
09:00 Arrive home drenched with sweat and humidity, change clothing
- check online subway advisories, which don't agree with what I've heard at the different stations
- make some phone calls, decide to try buses
09:45 Get on M104 train near home (125th Street)
11:00 Get off M104 train at Columbus Circule (59th Street)

It took 75 minutes to travel about 60 blocks. At 20 blocks per mile, the bus went 3 miles in just over an hour. If it hadn't been that hot and humid out, I could walk about as quickly! At this point, I called to find out if any of my students would still be waiting around for class. Given that my class begins at 9:55, and ends at 1pm, it was doubtful anyone would still be around by the time I arrived. So I ended up not getting to class today. I ended up not too far from home, given a lot of transportation over a lot of time!

So what was the problem? Apparently we had a huge rainfull overnight. Usually I wake up for these things, or notice extra water on the roads, or something! Unfortunately, I hadn't realized at all that we had a downpour. The roads were wet, but given that it was 97% humidity, I figured it was just condensation on the concrete making it all wet.

The subway system was partially running by 11am. Unfortunately, I wouldn't have made it to work anyway, as many trains weren't leaving Manhattan. I guess the tunnels were massively flooded, in addition to many stations/tracks being flooded. Pretty crazy! Must share this lolcat image from the gothamist:



Toby called to say that the subway company (the MTA) has a recent update:

"In addition, due to a police investigation at the Sterling Street Station, there is no service on Wakefield-bound 2 trains between the Brooklyn College-Flatbush Avenue Station and the Atlantic Avenue Station."

Even if I had gotten to work this morning, it looks like I might not have made it home! Eep!

It amazes me how the city shuts down like this. The transportation within this city is so important because few people drive. But, unfortunately, there is a very poor system set in place for emergencies. This kind of flooding happens frequently enough that if there is a large rainfall, I expect there to be subway delays or cancellations now. You'd think, then, that the MTA would have a protocol in place for dealing with such emergencies! Like, maybe having a command centre, to which every station makes periodic (maybe hourly?) calls to update them on that particular station's situation. The command centre then compiles the information and calls stations back. Employees at the stations can then be pro-active in giving people up-to-date information.

Currently, it seems to be a free-for-all 'system', in which employees pretend to know information and dispense it freely. Unfortunately, you only get information if you ask. I mean, if no trains were running at the ABCD station, shouldn't they have been roped off and/or a sign put up to explain the situation? Why did I have to wait until I was on the subway platform, trying to listen to staticky, muffled announcements to get that information? The bus driver told me that the trains must be running because, "See all those people waiting on the platform (of the 1-train)? They wouldn't be there if no trains were running." Right. Let's not consider the 100s of people on the subway platform earlier this morning who just didn't know and were waiting until a train finally came! Or the MTA guy standing in the Columbus Circle station: I asked him if any trains were running downtown. He looked up, saw a crowd of people coming up from a platform and said, "See all those people? They're leaving a train. The trains must be running." Yeah, thanks. I could have made that observation myself. But WHICH trains and WHERE are they going?

Here's a screenshot of the subway advisories from about noon today:

(There is more to the advisories. I think every single line had some change!)