First Post

I live in Queens and work in Brooklyn.

This blog will be an account of my daily commute. It is from the suggestion of my boss who said, "You are funny and you have an awful commute. Please write a blog." So it is done.

It takes me 3 trains to get to work (the N/W* [my stop to Queensborough Plaza] to the 7 [Queensborough Plaza one stop to 45th Road-Court House Square] to the G [Court Square to Fulton Street]).

I'd like to dedicate this blog to the engineers of the subway of yester-year: the developers of the BRT, BMT, IRT, IND, and all the other acronym trainlines that make-up today's New York City subway system, the MTA. Consider this a shout out to those fearless men who created over 686 miles of track, all of which flows through Manhattan.

All except one.

Those men-of-the-future created one, single, solitary train to make the long haul between the "outer boroughs", the Brooklyn-Queens crosstown local train: the G. The G allowed for the working population residing in Queens and/or Brooklyn a convenient commute between the two.

However, in recent years, "convenient" has taken on a new definition: G train service has been cut in half, train length has been shortened from 6 cars to 4, the MTA frequently closes end-of-platform exits, and has severed access to other more reliable trains by terminating service half-way through the length of the line.

Please don't misunderstand, I am not complaining about riding the subway. I love public transportation. Hell, it's part of why I moved to New York (4 years ago, when I made the decision to move from Chicago to New York, the thought of being stuck in a car in traffic gave me a headache. Now I realize, the headaches were the result of the massive amounts of alcohol I was consuming. Regardless, the point remains.).

It's just, the subways, like the New York City streets above, are riddled with crazy people.

And I mean that term in the broadest sense of the word: from those struggling with varying degrees of mental illness to the drunk Broadway back-up dancer who refuses to stop performing his favorite part of that night's show... at 8:45am. And whenever you sprinkle a little crazy into the equation, it's time to "Publish Post."

So, enjoy, gentlemen.

This is the fruit of your labor.



*The W line tied for "Worst" of the 22 lines in the system by The Straphangers Campaign.