Coins Live!

When the MetroCard was introduced, seemingly ages ago, it quickly did away with coins and tokens for subway rides.  However, the buses still take change. Even with that being the case, you would think that it never gets used since everyone owns a MetroCard anyway. But I still see the same people using coins all the time. They must just be old fashioned. It'snot a one-time thing where they forgot their card. These people actually do it every day, forefeiting the discount and carrying the extra weight of $2.50 in coins!

Barriers

We just got through one month in the year and there's already been 6 deaths involving subways. Incidents involved anything from pushing, drunks and people taking a crap. If the entire year follows this trend, we may have close to double casualties of any previous year. So the discussion of platform barriers has finally come up. This is something that's implemented in many other systems across the world, but NYC being one of the oldest does not have it and is going to have  a hard time implementing it. It should be done no matter the cost though. When we look back at where money is spent, it's much more important than topside renovations and the 2nd Ave line. Those things can certainly wait. But we'll have to see if the MTA can get their priorities right.

Weathercoaster

We've been very lucky this Winter so far. It's nearly February and we haven't had too many super cold days... probably less than 10 when it fell under 32. This week was somewhat extreme though. It was mostly in the 20's and sometimes around 14. Then all of a sudden, it shot up to 50 on Sunday. 

The warmth of this Winter really had people thrown off last week. Everyone got so used to wearing lighter clothing than usual. When the lows hit last week, it felt extra cold because they weren't used to it. In the office, many called in sick.

Another oddity is we haven't really had snow yet. There were flurries and even some accumulation last Friday, but nothing that broke the 1" mark. 

#2 on #6

Train strikes happen all the time... more often than reported. But last night's was a unique story. Some rider decided to take a crap between cars on the #6 train. In NYC, we see homeless and cab drivers go #1 on trees and walls, but this is the first I've heard anyone do #2 in public. He must've had to go real bad to do that! Trains are so unstable already and if you're going #2, you have to crouch down and be on either side of the small ledge. If you've ever crossed cars before, you already know that it's not easy walking in the center and standing straight up.

Besides risking his life for nothing, the passenger also forfeited his honor. I mean, come on.... that's one of the last ways you'd want to go in life!

Gonna Eat!

Half phone conversations are always funny, so this could be the first of many. This morning, I heard the following as a guy stepped onto the train:

"I just got on the train. So I'm gonna go to where I go every day. I'm gonna sit down at McDonald's and I'm gonna eat. Bye."

...in a thick NY accent and weasly voice. 

"...gonna go where I go every day..." - smart to be vague and cover your tracks when speaking out loud in public!

"I'm gonna eat (@ McDonald's)" - fail! That means his daily routine is a McDonald's breakfast! It turns out he was a pretty big guy too.

2013 Outlook

I just got back from vacation, but it's the first time I really got out of the routine of posting to this blog. I'm going to slow it down a bit more this year for a number of reasons:

It's been pretty busy and the mobile options still aren't that good for me. The only time I have to do this is while on the subway. While my commute is normal now, it wasn't in the weeks after Hurricane Sandy. So I fell out of that routine. Blogger still has it's bugs on iPad too.

Looking at the traffic, it's really not worth it for me to do a post a day. All the traffic goes to random old posts that I've made. Many views go to my old FNF coverage. I haven't had a chance to attend in like 2 years.

I may still post once in a while about Subway Tales or major Bulls/Yankees stories, but I'm going to cut down on the game-by-game coverage... at least until the end of the 2nd half or Playoffs.

Hope you all have a Happy New Year!