My morning commute, which was already enough of a headache, has just gotten worse. As New Yorkers already know, there was a subway fire sometime Sunday (started by homeless folks) which destroyed a relay room, which is what controls traffic for the subway lines. Because of the fire, there is no C train and the A train has been severely crippled.
The best part? The MTA says it will take… get this… 3-5 years to get everything back the normal. Seriously. The commute which normally takes 30 minutes (I live in Manhattan, the Upper West Side) took almost an hour thanks to the massive influx of folks who would normally be taking the blue trains. If this overcrowding (and the trains were already packed as they were) and slowdown is going to continue for the next few years, then I may as well get the fuck out of Manhattan now since the whole point of living here (and putting up with deplorable living conditions, i.e. my filthy roommates) is speedy transportation.
Back to the 3-5 years estimate, sounds ridiculous right? Yes it does, but according to at least one engineer that I’ve heard from, it’s actually reasonable when one considers that the system, despite upgrades over the past few years, is still mostly archaic. So my attitude is, if it’s going to take that long to fix it back to way it was, why not spend the little extra time to finally modernize it? Because that would make sense, and the MTA doesn’t work that way.
Then there’s the issue of how a homeless person got to such a sensitive spot in the first place. I really can’t blame him or her for starting a fire; it’s been dangerous cold this past few days and was just trying to stay alive. Plus everyone knows that beneath the city are countless homeless folks and they utilize the subway space to form virtual communities. And it’s been said that given the scope of the system, it’s impossible to monitor everything. Yeah well, didn’t this city just go through a massive shakedown due to the fear of even more terrorist attacks?
Can’t wait for the Olympics to come into town! Nevermind that city can’t seem to pay teachers a decent wage yet there’s no qualms about wasting eight billion dollars on some idiotic stadium to shot eight football games a year. If the west side is this overcrowded and fucked up now, imagine how it’ll be then. That there’s another reason to get the hell out of dodge.
In lighter news, the trailer to Crispin Glover’s new flick is finally online. It’s chock full of bugs, screaming, boobies, and retards. Don’t watch this one at work (obviously).
