Archive for March, 2008
Monday, March 31st, 2008
A Peek at Metro-North’s Yankee Stadium Stop
A far cry from the saddest little ballfield in New York is the rebuilt Yankee Stadium, and the Journal News offers a peek at the $91 million Metro-North station stop that’s being built across from the Stadium.
The station platform will measure 420 feet–around six times the typical Metro-North stop, and more than large enough to […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Journal News, Yankee Stadium by TJ
Monday, March 31st, 2008
The Saddest Ballfield in All of New York
It is, simply and frankly put, the saddest ballfield in all of New York.
No, not Shea. Smartass.
On this, the unofficial national holiday and brightener of spirits known as Major League Baseball Opening Day, we salute the most pathetic baseball field–this Field of Nightmares, this Diamond in the Rough–we’ve ever seen.
If you’re on the Harlem Line […]
No Comments » - Posted in Mount Vernon, Wakefield by TJ
Friday, March 28th, 2008
‘Mileposts’ En Espanol
As Trainjotting visitors know, we’re big fans of the monthly Metro-North mouthpiece Mileposts (second best alliteration you’ll see all day). We were a bit surprised to step onto the 8:16 headed for GCT today and see a copy of it, as we’d already seen the March issue, and April wasn’t due for several weeks.
Then I […]
No Comments » - Posted in Mileposts, Reverse Commute, Stamford by TJ
Friday, March 28th, 2008
Penn Station Will Continue to Blow
The outfit that doomed the Knicks and gave the tri-state area the $99 cable/phone/broadband “triple play” for $160 is being blamed for spiking an ambitious plan to rebuild Penn Station as a glittering gateway to Gotham (uh, best alliteration you’ll see all day).
The Dolan family, owners of Cablevision and Madison Square Garden, have opted to stay […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Charles Bagli by TJ
Thursday, March 27th, 2008
Straphanger Joe: He Could Be Your Grandfather
It was a crowded F-train this morning, 8:43 am. The doors closed on the 74th Street and Roosevelt stop. Two last-minute straphangers pushed me away from my door position. I wasn’t annoyed, because I still had a pole to hold on to and I wasn’t reaching far or through people to get to it. Osho’s […]
No Comments » - Posted in F Train, Straphanger Joe by TJ
Thursday, March 27th, 2008
Why Metro-North Doesn’t Offer Wifi
Our fellow Metro-North blogger Station Stops wonders why Metro-North doesn’t offer hotspots for wireless webcrawling. He notes that the Gotham Gazette addressed this issue with a well-researched article way back in 2004, when laptops were the size of suitcases and hotspots were something only women over the age of 50 got. (Sorry, sorry.)
Writes the Gazette:
The […]
2 Comments » - Posted in StationStops, Wifi by TJ
Wednesday, March 26th, 2008
L Train Wins “Subway Shmutz” Study
The Straphanger’s Campaign has released its ninth annual “Subway Shmutz” cleanliness study. The survey revealed that subway cars are slightly cleaner than in 2005, and that the L train, with an 88% cleanliness rate, is the pick of the, well, litter.
“Passengers on the L and 7 are riding cleaner cars, thanks to more cleaners and better use […]
No Comments » - Posted in 7 Train, L Train, Straphanger's Campaign, Subway Shmutz by TJ
Wednesday, March 26th, 2008
Word of the Week: iPod Runner
We have an extra-special Word of the Week this week because, unlike the usual ones that are a peek into the dark recesses of TJ’s brain, this one’s a peek into actual conductor slang. It comes from Bobby of the Metro-North conductor blog Derailed. Bobby is perhaps better known as the Conductor to the Stars.
iPOD RUNNER […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Word of the Week by TJ
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
MTA Improvement Plans Derailed
When MTA CEO Elliot Sander gave his “state of the MTA” address just a few weeks ago, he spoke of increasing service on 11 subway lines and adding trains and cars on the LIRR and Metro-North, among other projects totaling some $30 million dollars.
While his trip to the podium wasn’t quite as ignominious as another […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Elliot Sander, MTA by TJ
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
A Paraplegic Steps Onto the 2 Train…
I generally skip the Metropolitan Diary in the Monday NY Times. Too many rich old ladies from uptown stumbling upon too many cabbies/homeless guys with a heart of gold, too many punchlines reading like some version of “Isn’t New York great?”
In fact, so formulaic are the diary entries, which are submitted by the public, that […]