Slate.com has a a fun story penned by Julia Turner on yet another reason to dislike Penn Station–impossible-to-follow signs.

Penn Station’s signage got 2.5 stars on Yelp.com (”Without a doubt, one of the poorest and most confusing arrangements for signage and passenger movement that I can imagine”), Turner notes, compared to the 4.5 stars Grand Central got.

Of course, comparing Penn Station to Grand Central is comparing Tad’s Steakhouse to Gramercy Tavern Camryn Manheim to Cameron Diaz.

But Turner does some digging into signmaking and “wayfinding”–the school of thought about how best to get people from Point A to Points B, C and D–and discovers what sort of a conflicting mess the Penn Station signs representing Amtrak, LIRR and NJT make in aggregate.

She writes:

The problem at Penn Station is not that designers skipped these steps. It’s that three sets of designers did them three times. Penn Station is owned by Amtrak, which manages its concourse on the western side of the station. But Amtrak leases the rest of the station out to the two other tenants: New Jersey Transit has the southeast corner, and the LIRR the northeast. (The Metropolitan Transit Authority oversees both the LIRR and New York City Transit, which manages the two adjacent subway stations; their sign systems are similar to the LIRR’s.) The fundamental wayfinding problem at Penn Station lies in the fact that each of these entities manages its own signs, usually without consulting the others. As a result, the station essentially has three different systems of signage.

This is a crazy way to manage information at the biggest railway station in the country. The user experiences Penn Station as one place. But the current system assumes that the user experiences the station as three distinct spaces. In truth, though, as we saw in the slide show above, many journeys require travelers to cross from zone to zone.

It’s a fun read. It’s here.

Phone rang at 5:50 this morning, cancelling school for the day. It’s an automated message, and ALL our phones ring. (house phone and two cell phones, scattered around the house.

It was snowing wet-heavy Vancouver Olympixels, and starting to stick. My wife informed me that today’s storm has been dubbed The SNURRICANE, (or as they call it in Vermont: “Thursday.”). [Editor’s Note I: Does “Blizzicane” sound too much like a limited-time-only Mardi Gras milkshake at Wendy’s?]

Processing snow day factors, I heard the train whistle of the early train. Good. Things
are moving.

Time to join the morning commuter Olympiad. (ed. query - why doesn’t NBC use the term Olympiad?…much cooler than Olympics)

It was a wet but pleasant walk in the snow. Monday is March, but still winter.

- jerseyjim

[Editor’s Note II: Metro-North humming along too-we actually got in two minutes early to GCT.]

Some bait and switch on this morning’s New Jersey Transit Midtown Direct train to Penn Station.

Blackberrys were buzzing, and Clever Commuters were quizzing, as the 7:15 from Summit left the station.

As he walked through the first car, the conductor promised the nervous passengers that he would make an announcement.

“Due to AMTRAK problems, there are up to 60 minute delays in and out of Penn Station New York. Several trains are being diverted to Hoboken, but this train is not. Next Stop, Penn Station, NY.”

Some smiles, and audible sighs of relief rose above the seats. It sounded too good to be true. And sure enough, it was.

About 10 minutes later, another announcement from the conductor.

“Ladies and Gentleman, this train will be going to Hoboken. PATH trains will cross-honor fares for all NJT passengers.”
 
From the ongoing postings to Clever Commute, confusion and delays persisted on the other trains heading East.

So we rolled into Hoboken Lakawanna Terminal, and submerged to the PATH trains. Not much complaining; most of the passengers shrugged and took it in stride. In yonder days before the Midtown Direct, this was a daily slog for all Jersey commuters heading to New York City.

Plans to build a tunnel from Jersey to Herald Square for commuters looks like it’s hitting a delay.

The $8.7 billion rail tunnel project, which would bring Jersey commuters to a new terminal to be built near Macy’s, relies on some property owners on the west side of Manhattan getting bought out in order to move ahead on the project. The delay could run 4-6 months and send costs skyward.

Reports the New York Times:

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which has pledged $3 billion toward the project, has begun trying to acquire buildings and obtain permission to bore under others. Its lawyers have been negotiating with the city over how much public notice is required before the Port Authority can condemn the property it wants.

A committee advising Governor Christie on transportation issues concluded that the required notice could affect the tunnel-boring contracts that have been awarded. In early December, New Jersey Transit, the lead agency on the project, awarded a $583 million contract for the design and construction of the Manhattan side of the tunnel. Groundbreaking on that segment was scheduled to occur later this year.

Waiting for the train this morning in the brisk air, I was again impressed by the smoking guy that stands about 30 feet from the tracks, and smokes his last cigarette before boarding the NY bound train.

It must be hard for a smoker these days, in the bitter thin air of winter. And with so many train delays, who knows when your next nicotine fix will come your way? This is why people drive cars.

It must be rotten being couped-up in a train for 55 minutes, then fighting the crowd in Penn Station with an unlit Marlboro clenched in your teeth. Climbing slowly from the tracks to the street level, finally free to light up, and become the city-walking-smoking guy.
 
From my recent observations, it stands to reason that cigarettes actually keep you warmer. So many folks outside without a coat, hat or gloves, and a burning ember in their lips, these portable Lung-Johns are ideal for people on the move. We must find a way to return to the Mad Men days of Don Draper, where smoking on trains, and everywhere, was part of life.

Don Draper has got me thinking. Our solution is right here in our hands, and that would be a cigarette made of coffee. Bear with me, but how different can nicotine and caffeine really be? I’m no chemistry wiz, so I’ll leave the details up to the experts. I think we need to put Starbucks on the case, with some small funding by Altria (Philip Morris’s new identity- the slick name that says “I’ll try ya!”).

Coffee beans are already exotic, and I don’t think anyone on the train, in a movie theatre, in the office, would be opposed to the idea of coffee that never gets cold, because it’s actually on fire. These beansmokes could be as harmless as a cup of Joe, and they’ll taste like French Roast!
 
Our trains would be safer and kinder. No spilled coffee. No disgruntled passengers waiting to light-up. And just imagine the new tax revenue! 

– jersey jim

[From Friday, when TJ was ducking out of town to escape Yankee Hysteria]

Last night was one for the NJ record books, as rail delays stretched through the rush hour, and on into Friday morning.

As I was heading home, the 5:50 p.m. from NY Penn stopped in Summit, as a disabled rush-hour train on the single track in New Providence blocked our progress, and blocked trains all the way back the line. I was lucky enough to disembark in Summit, and got a warm ride home from my wife.

But later, the problems really increased with a power outage. Trains stalled, cancelled, and announcements of 45 min to 1-hour delays. Likewise, commuters were directed to Path trains and Hoboken, to catch trains westward.
from NJT:

“Montclair Line train #6291, the 7:37pm departure is canceled. Passengers may use train #6293 the 8:37pm departure from New York Penn.

“Montclair Line train #6293, the 8:37 p.m. departure from New York Penn is canceled. Passengers may use train #6295, the 9:32 p.m. departure from NYPS.
Nov 05, 2009 08:51:16 PM

According to messages on Clever Commute….delays continued until just past midnight, as problems persisted. Tempers got heated, I can imagine. One Clever Commute customer wants to “arrange a BOYCOTT of New Jersey Transit, until they improve customer service and tell us what is going on.”

A noble effort, I’m sure. In a quick check, not a word of this in the Star-Ledger so far. I guess delays on NJT don’t qualify as “breaking news.”

I wonder if any of those reporters ride the rails?
 

-jerseyjim

Not the usual bustle of New Jersey folks on the 7:15 Midtown Direct this morning.

It seems a few citizens stayed back to vote, and catch a later train. It didn’t really register with me until our conductor offered a helpful reminder as our train pulled into Penn Station: “Today is Election Day. Polls are open until 9 p.m. in New York City, and 8 p.m. in New Jersey.”

It’s understandable on our line, as Chris Daggett (The Independent for Governor) might be courting the locals — he hails from Bernards Township, and an alumni of Ridge High School in Basking Ridge. Hope is alive until 8 p.m.!, as Jon Corzine and Chris Christie are speeding around the state, courting anyone that might listen to them. (read: not many.)

I was glad to avoid some wry commentary on the Yankees’ “Failure to Clinch” last night on my train, and their Utterly Utley undoing. The Bud Limes will have to stay on ice until Wednesday, as Chase Utley makes his way back to Wall Street, hair slicked back and feared, the Gordon Gekko of 2009.

-jerseyjim

The Philadelphia Phillies opted for a chartered train ride to Gotham to prepare for their World Series showdown with the Yankees at the House That Ruth(less Pursuit of Free Agents) Built.

The Phillies also hopped a train to New York to face the Yankees in the 1950 Series.

Writes the New York Times:

The reason for the train was neither historical novelty nor an exercise in team building in advance of the World Series, which begins Wednesday at Yankee Stadium. It was pure convenience. The distance between Philadelphia and New York is too short for a flight, and a fleet of buses traveling up the New Jersey Turnpike could spend as much time on the approach to the Lincoln Tunnel as the entire train ride.

So for the first time in recent memory, the team boarded the Phillie Express from 30th Street Station in Philadelphia about 4:45 p.m., bound for New York’s Penn Station.

(As an aside, today’s NY Times also has a big story about how newspaper readership is way down. My copy of the paper was trimmed badly at the printer, so I couldn’t read the print version of the Phillies-Amtrak story, as the last word in each sentence was cut. I instead read it online.)

[Ballplayers are just like you and me! Pedro Martinez turns up for work at Penn Station.] 

Amtrak officials said it was difficult clearing the sidewalks for the players upon their arrival, as they got there right at the peak of yesterday’s evening commute. The players got a mixed reaction from people schlepping into Penn Station.

When the first members of the team emerged from Penn Station on the corner of 32nd Street and Eighth Avenue, they were greeted by a couple of Phillies fans. Their voices were soon overtaken by more lusty locals chanting, “Let’s go, Yankees.”

Perhaps that explains outfielder Jayson Werth’s terse “no” when asked if he could give his assessment of the short ride.

Nevertheless, Hannah Kirkner, a native Philadelphian and a freshman at the nearby Fashion Institute of Technology, was delighted to see her team on a Manhattan sidewalk.

“I thought it was so cool they came here by train,” she said. “It’s very representative of our city to take the train. It’s so human.”

We’re doubtful the players will opt for the 4 train to Yankee Stadium tomorrow.  

[image: NY Times]

With the big Nor’easter coming our way, SLIPPERY RAIL CONDITIONS are likely to hit New Jersey as soon as tomorrow.  I missed my usual NY train, and had to sprint to catch the 7:43 train to Hoboken., where I found a NJ Transit pamphlet about slippery rail.

The Transit Advisory warns of a “challenging season” for this “age-old problem” in the pamphlet. Decaying materials on the rail become “PECTIN, an oily residue that can make it difficult for trains to gain or maintain traction.”

One of the tricks and treats up NJT’s sleeve for slippery rail conditins, other than spreading sand on the rails prior to peak periods, is “deploying AQUA TRACK”–NJT’s high-pressure rail washing system. Our awesome pamphlet reports “Since AQUA TRACK SYSTEM has been deployed over the past six years, slippery rail delays have been reduced by about 50 percent.”

No delays this morning, except my own of course. But as the fall season lives up to it’s name, we can at least hope to draw some enjoyment on the autumn scenery, as Bob Dylan pictures it…

Train wheels runnin’ through the back of my memory,
When I ran on the hilltop following a pack of wild geese.
Someday, everything is gonna be smooth like a rhapsody
When I paint my masterpiece.

- jerseyjim

[image: sparrowfarm.com]