Bad Day on the #7 Train – Both Ways

This morning, the announcement was signal problems at 33rd Street.  There was no express service, so I took the local which was normal until it got to 74th Street.  From there to Queensboro Plaza the train was sluggish.  I arrived at work about 20 minutes late.

Going home the delay was much worse.  There was a bad fire at the intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue in Flushing.  Since water used to fight the fire came into the subway station service on the #7 train had to end at Willets Point by Citifield.  The train was extremely slow from 33rd Street to 61st Street.  At that point, I had the option of transferring to the Long Island Rail Road, but I decided not to do that. I stayed on the #7 which at least speeded up and arrived at Willets Point.  There was a long line for substitute bus service. so I decided to walk the 2 miles home.  The traffic was horrendous as many streets were closed to traffic.  The walk turned out to be the right decision.  I arrived home at 6:40 PM after leaving Newark at 4:00 PM.

You just can’t win.  When NJ Transit is running on time, the 7 train screws up.  When there are no problems on the 7 train, NJ Transit is bad.

11 months to retirement.

 

Rainy Day Train Delay#12 and #35

I think it’s about time that I added some humor to this blog.  Before I left work I received this message from NJ Transit. “NEC and NJCL service are suspended due to an overhead wire problem.”  There are overhead wire problems no matter what the weather is, so rain is not an excuse.  There were heavy winds associated with this storm as well.

I was lucky and was able to get good service on the PATH.  Thankfully, my delay was minimal.  People who know me are aware that I am a big Bob Dylan fan.  Below is a Youtube video of his hit Rainy Day Women #12 and #35 performed at Live Aid in 1986.

Let’s call this one Rainy Day Train Delay #12 and #35.

MTA Contract with Union Expires

It’s not time yet for an oy vey, but the contract with the MTA and the Transport Workers has expired.  As of now, there is no threat of a strike, but one would be disastrous for myself and millions of others in the region.  My gut feeling is that the workers will not strike since the union learned their lesson in the past.  I think if there is a strike the union and its individual members would be fined.

I do feel that the workers deserve a fair settlement and hope that an agreement is reached soon without a crippling strike.

A few hours after I wrote this entry, the two parties reached a tentative agreement.

 

Double Delay on NJ Transit Caused Me To Miss a Professional Meeting In Piscataway

I was planning to go to the VALE Librarians meeting at the Rutgers Busch Campus in Piscataway today.  I was going to travel to NJIT is Newark as usual and meet up with my collegue Joe who would drive me to central New Jersey.  I got to the 7:44 Long Branch train as usual.  The train pulled out and stopped after a couple of hundred yards out of Penn Station.  I waited and waited as the train just sat there.  Finally they announced there were mechanical problems on this train and that it was going to return to Penn Station.

By the time we got to Penn it was 8:20 and saw that the next train that would stop at Newark was to leave at 8:27.  I boarded that one, but it just sat at the station and didn’t pull out until 8:45.   The announcement was there were signal problems. I phoned Joe to tell him to leave without me.  I just didn’t want to hold him up.  I finally arrived at NJIT in Newark at 9:20 over 1 hour late.  I worked there instead of going to the meeting.

OY Vey.  It just never fails when there is a train delay on the way to a special event.  Next December New Jersey Transit loses its most reliable customer when I retire.  I wish they were reliable.

First Panhandler of the Year

This evening I was in my favortite place the waiting room on Track 1 of Newark Penn Station which does not look at elegant as the photo above.  A pandhandler comes up to me with a smart phone and shows me a picture of his son.  He says I need money to see my son in Hackensack.

He had money to pay for the phone and the monthly charges, but not for a train ticket of about $10.  Go figure.  I really think most of these panhandlers are looking for drug money.