Day THREE.

[KiaKat]

Yup. Three days since the storm.

And my local train still isn't running.

WTF, MTA?

I can't afford to take another day off work, so I'm hiking out to the other end of the neighbourhood (no buses, either) in order to take a DIFFERENT train and basically go around the edge of the borough before cutting back across to get to work. Adding around an hour+ to my commute. And there's no guarantee I'll get there on time, because THAT train has been running slowly, too.

[thansal]

Which trains are still not running? Or am I missing something and there is another area (not the tri state area) that calls their public transit the MTA?

I went to work today after calling it in yesterday due to my neighborhood still not being plowed. I figured I would let everyone else tramp down the snow banks for me. That and I live at the bottom of a bunch of hills, so the buses were not exactly reliable (Though today the bus routes are fine, it's just getting from sidewalk to buss that sucks :P). That said, the train I take (E/F) was fine, but then, it is almost never above ground.

[Shalom]

Which trains are still not running? Or am I missing something and there is another area (not the tri state area) that calls their public transit the MTA?

Well last I heard Boston used those three letters too, but KK is talking about the city you're thinking of. Last I heard, the Brighton (B/Q) and Sea Beach (N) lines weren't running over the outdoor portions. I don't get this, I know for a fact the MTA owns not only rotary snowplows, but jet-powered snow melters as well. (More pictures here: http://www.nycsubway.org/cars/snow.html)

This page on the MTA's press release website has them talking big about how well they're prepared for snow removal. Shyeah, right.

[KiaKat]

Yup. I'm on the Q/B line. "Officially" the train started running at noon. But the Prospect Park Shuttle, which I have to take from work, is still shut down, and no word on when it'll reopen.

I left home at 10:30AM. Got to work at 12:01PM. My car is *STILL* stuck in its parking spot (and likely to remain that way for the rest of the week), and ONE plow has been down my street. South Brooklyn is a MESS.

There are lots of reasons for why it's a mess, only partially due to the weather, and I'm not going to go there because that's Fratching territory.

*rabble*

(Oh, and Shalom, Boston uses MBTA, not MTA. Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority. I've heard it referred to as the MTA a couple times, but most people add the "B" so as not to confuse with NY)

EDIT: Saw a funny ad on the train today: "A city is only as good as its public transportation."

I snarked.

[lupo pazzesco]

Poor Kia.

I have tea. LOTS of tea.

I can share. It will help thaw you out, and i think we've still got that blanket nest around here somewhere...

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Look on the bright side Kia--at least you aren't driving an SUV.

[KiaKat]

HAH.

After trying to dig the car out this morning, I gave it up for lost, at least for the rest of this week. No fucking way in hell I'm getting it out of that snowbank until some melting happens.

[dalesys]

(Oh, and Shalom, Boston uses MBTA, not MTA. Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority. I've heard it referred to as the MTA a couple times, but most people add the "B" so as not to confuse with NY)

You mean the Kingston Trio was wrong?!

...and his fate is still unlearned.
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston
He's the man who never returned...

[KiaKat]

You mean the Kingston Trio was wrong?!

...and his fate is still unlearned.
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston
He's the man who never returned...

Like I said, I've heard it called the MTA a couple times, but it's rarely shortened these days. Too many people who spend time in both places.

[Shalom]

Yup. I'm on the Q/B line. "Officially" the train started running at noon. But the Prospect Park Shuttle, which I have to take from work, is still shut down, and no word on when it'll reopen.

You have to remember that the Franklin Shuttle is the lowest of the low on the MTA's list of priorities. They would have closed it down altogether had not the whole neighborhood protested, and I'll bet they wish they'd torn it down in 1940 with the rest of the Fulton Elevated.

(I have a soft spot for that line in my heart for the sheer amount of history it's got. That was the original main line of the Brooklyn, Flatbush & Coney Island Railroad, dating back to the 1880s; it's some of the oldest iron on the system, or was until they rebuilt it. When I was a kid I'd ride to the other end and back to Prospect Park just for the hell of it.)

I left home at 10:30AM. Got to work at 12:01PM. My car is *STILL* stuck in its parking spot (and likely to remain that way for the rest of the week), and ONE plow has been down my street. South Brooklyn is a MESS.

You're telling me.

My parents live not far from you (low 20s). I spoke on the phone with my mom, whose car is buried in her driveway and likely to remain there for a while, and she said that not only didn't they plow her block at all, but when they plowed out the avenue, they plowed it in! Left a four foot high ridge along the edge of the intersection, so nobody could even try to get into the block. Her boss had to pick her up at the corner.

(The presence of the car which some yutz abandoned in the middle of the block, in the middle of the street, diagonally, may have had something to do with this decision. I'm just sayin'.)

There are lots of reasons for why it's a mess, only partially due to the weather, and I'm not going to go there because that's Fratching territory.

You referring to this? Yeah, I'm not going there either. In any case it doesn't seem all that likely, primarily because these guys live in the city too and their neighbors would hand them their heads if it was true.

I can't afford to take another day off work, so I'm hiking out to the other end of the neighbourhood (no buses, either) in order to take a DIFFERENT train and basically go around the edge of the borough before cutting back across to get to work. Adding around an hour+ to my commute.

F to Jay Street, then the A? Or depending on how far northeast you are (we're by U) you could hike down to the Junction and take the IRT.

[KiaKat]

F train to C train. Store is out in the ass-end of Central Brooklyn, and the C is the only train within walking distance.

I'm not close enough to the Junction to take the IRT, and there's no way of switching to the C unless I go into Manhattan. As it is, I'm working out just how long it's gonna take me to get home, and I'm not enjoying the thought.

Basically, I get off the F at the huge 24hr supermarket, then walk about a mile east.

I hear ya about the car and the snowplows. The plows have left such a ridge along the side streets that no one can get in or out, and those who try tend to get stuck and flounder a bit. It's frustrating.

I know the shuttle is far down on the list of priorities, but it's the only way for most people to get from N. Bklyn to S. Bklyn without going into Manhattan. Utterly ridiculous that they've split the borough yet again.

[Amanita]

I've heard some interesting snippets about NYC- the lower deck of the Verrazano bridge was closed (seems odd that only the lower deck was), and somebody walking under the Manhattan Bridge said it was practically raining down there, with all the melting snow. And all the bus routes are still eff'ed up.

[KiaKat]

lower deck would have been closed for weight reasons, most likely.

my commute last night (normally a 25 minute drive) took 2.5 hours. i had to walk over snowbanks for a half hour because the train stopped and didn't start up again.

supposedly all the trains are open today. i'll report once i get to work. if i get to work. one never knows with these trains whether they're actually open.

[Amanita]

RE: The Verrazano Narrows Bridge- I've heard that that bridge is actually one of the most likely to be closed to traffic period in stormy weather, due to its highly exposed location, right at the entrance to the harbor. Not due to threat of harm to the bridge, but that in high winds, vehicles can get blown around- high sided ones blown over, or cars pushed out of lanes.

I've read about the engineering and construction of the Verrazano, and it's an amazing structure, shame about its lack of walkways

[Shalom]

I've read about the engineering and construction of the Verrazano, and it's an amazing structure, shame about its lack of walkways

Who the heck is going to walk across that? The on-ramp alone is a mile long.

Besides which, you can probably blame Robert Moses for that. In his book, if you didn't own a car, you were irrelevant. I'm more annoyed about the lack of rapid transit tracks on that bridge.

(Moses wasn't a big proponent of public transportation, to say the least; he deliberately made the overpasses on the Meadowbrook Parkway extra low to prevent buses from getting to Jones Beach.)