MTA PLANS INCREASE!

What? And by what, I mean WHAT? I am not ready to pay more for my very necessary commute. Apparently on Monday, July 28 the MTA announced that next year there will be a 4 % fare hike, less than the original proposed hike of 7.5, but still not ideal. These are approximates on how pricing will look like in 2015:

• Single ride would go from $2.50 to $2.60
• Unlimited weekly passes would go up from $30 to $31.20
• 30-day unlimited passed would jump from $112 to $116.50

This increase will not be impacted by the recent and ongoing agreement with the LIRR, bus, and subway workers. Instead, the MTA will fund those by dipping into reserve funding. Along with the $14 million dollar budget revealed earlier this week calls for $20 million dollars in improvements. The MTA also plans to increase staffing to prevent equipment failure and a quicker response to subway track problems.

The following fare hike is scheduled for 2017, as of right now that increase is predicted to be another 4%. Talk about confusing and upsetting half of New York City commuters.

Underground New York Public Library

Recently, I was browsing online and I discovered something called the Underground New York Public Library, basically it's a blog of photos taken of different people reading various books/Kindle books on the train

Click here to visit the blog.

The most interesting thing for me,  when looking at the blog is the books range from classic like "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger to apparently instructional books like "How to be a Man: A guide to Style and Behavior for the Modern Gentlemen" by Glenn O'Brien. They also post daily from Sunday-Friday! So if you're looking for book ideas, look no further! Also, to spice it up on Sundays they post a "Sunday Morning Bible," which is like highlights and other interesting thoughts from the author of the blog.

Hopefully this inspires some of y'all to grab a book and have something to do on the train, because it sure inspired me to reread Catcher in the Rye, and get insight from Holden Caulfield.

"I left all the foils and equipment and stuff on the goddam subway. It wasn't all my fault. I had to keep getting up to look at this map, so we'd know where to get off. The whole team ostracized me the whole way back ton the train."

For me, that is such a familiar instance, I have definitely gone on the train and gotten off without something that is really important and had a significant amount of people judge me for it.

Please stand by for the closing doors

Mom leaves baby in train station

I recently read an article that I encourage everyone to read about a woman leaving her 7-year-old child in the NYC subway. The article is written by a mother, who completely relates how that could happen and discusses the hardships of being a mom and all of the awake hours. Instead of taking the high horse route and telling the mother what she already knows, about how heartless and horrible of anyone to commit such a crime.

The link for the article is here.

Check it out.

Interview with a commuter who doesn't speak much English.

So, yesterday I interviewed my grandma, Lehya Khazan a woman who is 78 and born in Russia. She barely speaks a lick of English and I was curious to find out the perspective of someone who isn't a native riding the subway, and the obstacles within that.


So, here goes:

Q: Hi grandma! Thank you for letting me interview you. I think my first question would have to be, as a non-native, would the MTA transit system be your favorite type of transportation?

A: No. I really don't like it because it is very hard to get around. I am too old to use it.

Q: If you're getting on the subway, where do you usually go? 

A: I usually only take the subway to Carnegie Hall or Lincoln Center for concerts. I take bus everywhere else or I like to walk. Everything I need, I have near me.

Q: Do you think the language barrier gets in the way of you comfortably riding the subway?

A: Yes, but I don't think it would be my favorite way of transpiration.

Note to self: Old Soviet grandmas are very ambivalent to subway riding.

Please stand by for the closing doors 

 

 

 

 

How to be recluse and not talk to anyone on the subway

I'm sure any given individual who has taken the NYC subway a handful of times has had to run into the awkward moments of some nutty person speaking to them on accident or someone begging for money and hated every second of it. When you want to be alone, you just want to be alone and theres nothing anyone can do to change that, especially a stranger. Sometimes it's plainly just too early. Sometimes I'm in a really bad mood. Sometimes I just don't actually care.

But here's my tips on how to appear as a recluse on the subway and like it,

1. Use your phone. I know the complete opposite of what the rest of the world is telling you to do. But, do it. You'll look and feel important and like you have something you need to be doing, even if you're just pushing random buttons on the verge of wetting your pants.
2. Read a book. Or whatever is in place of books these days. You'll look and feel smart and slightly old fashioned. Books always have service, unlike phones.
3. Sleep  or don't because I have missed my stop so many times and ended up in the Bronx of Queens.
4. Read the newspaper. You know they still exist? They're 75 cents now. America...
5. Do your makeup. Ladies, I hate doing my makeup in a moving train car, but sometimes I know I have no time and, honestly it's something to do on the train.
6. Do some last minute work. Whether it be homework or work. Always good to review whatever you're doing.
7. Daydream and get lost in your thoughts and awkwardly look like you're staring at someone.

That's all. 

Please stand by for the closing doors

Beautiful train montage

This woman did what ever NYC subway rider wants to do, and that is recording other subway riders sitting across from her, for a whole year. The act of riding the train seems so routine and mundane that we forget about the interesting characters we can run into on the subway.


Here is the video, I hope y'all enjoy it as much as I did.

 

Lost and Fraudulent.

Recently, a local Brooklyn blog called the Bensonhurst Bean conducted some research regarding the lost and found operations that go on in the MTA. If someone has been on the MTA train, they have definitely heard the message on the train "to keep your belongings in plain sight."
Well, what happens if you by chance you lost a personal belongings? One would expect there to be no fee to find an item that belongs to them. But apparently, online searches direct MTA customers onto an official website called "lostpropertynyc.com," which demands personal information then generates a payment automatically from the given information. The website informs the reader that the MTA works hand in hand with them and that the process is completely legit.
Currently, the MTA Police Department has launched a criminal investigation into the website. They found that this website is also soliciting money from NYC taxi and airport customers.

Whoa, what a scheme.

For the original Bensonhurst Bean article click here