You scored this sweet townhouse in Red Hook, within crawling distance of the Liberty Heights Tap Room. The only downside is that nasty-ass commute to lower Manhattan–the long walk past the projects to the F train.

Then along comes Ikea, and its free ferry. Yes, the much maligned new Ikea on the Brooklyn waterfront is offering free ferry service to and from lower Manhattan, and the NY Times reports that some opportunistic commuters are availing themselves of this luxury.

There is the daily water taxi and shuttle bus service provided free by Ikea, technically for its customers. But for residents, the boats and buses have made the hard-to-reach neighborhood without a subway stop a little less remote; the ferries in particular have given them a picturesque way to travel between Manhattan and Red Hook.

There is concern that Ikea will scale back its bus and water taxi service, or scrap it altogether. But until then, plenty of people are enjoying the free ride across the Buttermilk Channel and the bay.

On another night, Chris Curen and Bill McDermott waited in line for the Ikea ferry on a pier in Lower Manhattan. Mr. Curen lives as close as one can to the furniture store, in an apartment building across the street. He is still angry about his new neighbor, arguing, among other things, that Ikea destroyed historic buildings to open its store.

But he added: “I guess I have to admit the traffic isn’t that bad.” Neither was the esplanade. “I think any time there’s waterfront access, it’s positive,” he said, as he and Mr. McDermott got on the boat for the shorter and more appealing ride home than their typical subway ride.

[image: NY Times]

As TJ gets a dreadful sunburn up in Cape Cod next week, Trainjotting will be in the very capable hands of journalist/novelist/memoirist/chiropodist/screenwriter/copywriter/EasyRider Tim Coleman. Tim has a Weegee-esque knack for stumbling upon curious and dubious happenings around Gotham, and a Beat writer’s flair for rendering those happenings in lyrical black and white.

Tim’s unique perspective will make next week the Best Week Ever on Trainjotting.

The NY Times has a delightful little story (and slide show!) on the best little subway in all of New York. Formerly known as the “ghost train,” the Franklin Avenue shuttle landed a 97.7% on-time percentage in May, tops in the city and about a million points better than the 4.  

With its two cars, single track and four stops, the Franklin Avenue shuttle in Brooklyn looks less like a part of the New York City subway system than a way to get around Mister Rogers’s neighborhood.

The trip from one end of the shuttle’s run to the other takes about 7 minutes, and the people who take it to and from work say they have just about the best commute in Gotham.

In the city of dark tunnels and crowded trains, the shuttle is quite pleasant. Regular riders said it was never very crowded. And the views are downright pastoral by New York standards. On the path toward Prospect Park from Bedford-Stuyvesant, automobile garages and repair shops give way to stone walls and trees that gently brush the sides of the shuttle.

The Franklin Avenue shuttle sounds like it’s just begging to be optioned into a children’s book.

A Brooklyn-based writer by the name of Philip Recchia has launched the subway blog “YoTransitMan.com,” which dubs itself as “the leading source of erroneous transit news.”

TransitMan offers a weekly dose of NYC subway-related Q and A’s. To wit:

Q: So far this year I’ve been flashed three times on the subway. What’s a girl to do?

A: Next time some deviant opens his raincoat . . . [EDITOR’S NOTE: For legal reasons, all references to the following terms have been removed from this response: “pipe clamps,” “ice tongs,” “melon scoops” and “ball pein hammers”] . . . until he hollers “Uncle!”

A quick Google of Mr. Recchia shows him to be a former NY Post reporter and the programming director of an outfit called BlogTalkRadio.com.

ELEVADER /ELL eh VAYD urr/ noun: A witless dolt who invades a full elevator as the doors close, then typically selects a floor that’s lower than yours to further delay your arrival at work.

Usage: I was all set to be on time for my morning meeting, but this elevader sprinted through the lobby and jammed his foot in the doors, forcing them to reopen. I stared at the back of his head until I’d successfully singed his hair.

This was a fascinating idea, even if the actual execution didn’t prove to be quite as compelling. The NY Times marked Independence Day by interviewing, or at least trying to interview, every rider on a rush hour Q train heading into Manhattan from Brooklyn.

Is it [sic] nearly impossible to take a single authoritative snapshot of New York City’s population, to freeze it in place, to discover and list all the different people who live here. Or were born here. Or who came here in search of success, or family, or to escape misery. Each block is different, from Park Avenue to Parkside Avenue, from the East Village to Eastchester — each is its own little city, with its own evolving ethnic mixture, its own traditions.

But if there is no perfect way to take that snapshot, then there are certainly worse ways than to catalogue the people in that car of the 8:27 a.m. Q train in the middle of the Manhattan Bridge, to learn who they are, and how they happened to be there…

The crew of Times reporters got 99 people to talk, while the other 29 were sleeping, were lost in an iPod haze–or simply held an innate mistrust of the media.

C’mon, folks, shoot us a vote for the best New York City commuter town around. All y’all schlep past these towns every day and say, Geez, I wish I lived there. (Sort of like Mount Yearnin’, if Mount Vernon was, like, really nice and didn’t have homicides.)

If you could shuffle the deck all over again and a genie offered you a 3.5% fixed rate on your mortgage, where would you drop anchor?

We’ll crown the Official Trainjotting Best Freakin’ Commuter Town Ever some time next week.  

This is long overdue.

“Dane” asks Trainjotting for the best commuting town in the area.

Hello! I was wondering if there was a secret consensus on what the best commuting town into Manhattan is? For instance, if someone could move to any commuting-into-Manhattan town (in NY, PA, CT, or NJ), which town is considered as having the easiest commute/quality of life when you factor in several variables – such as being able to find a seat on the train each morning, a quaint village surrounding the train stop, etc?

Thanks,

Dane

Excellent question, Dane, and I leave it up to you, dear readers. Which town offers the best quality of life for commuters? Every town has some sort of dealbreaker: Bronxville has that $2.4 million price tag for starter homes. New Rochelle has that crime. Pleasantville is a slightly long haul for our tastes. Montclair has the Jersey factor. Hawthorne has TJ.  

Shoot us your vote for the best-ever commuting town in the area, and ideally a reason or two why it’s best. We’ll crown a winner once we have a consensus.

JerseyJim tells us Mayor Bloomberg kicked off a “Summer Streets” program today, opening up a 7-mile pedestrian/cyclist path from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park on select Saturdays in August. The route goes primary up Park Avenue (as well as 4th Avenue and Park Avenue South) to 72nd Street.

Among those turned up for the announcement were David Byrne, who we used to see around the West Village on a big, clunky Pee Wee Herman bike, and Lance Armstrong, who apparently is into bikes as well.  

[image: Gothamist]

All Hudson, Harlem and New Haven Line trains are experiencing delays of up to 20 minutes through the Mott Haven section of the Bronx due to signal problems.

Customers are advised to listen for announcements on trains and at stations.