@LIRRScoop just tweeted a new video posted on YouTube, called the Gap Rap. I LOL’ed and had to share.
I do think @MetroNorthTweet needs to teach @LIRRScoop to tweet, properly post links, and not type in all caps…
Despite the fact that this isn’t in any way related to trains, I figured that I’d post it anyways, considering it is a rather relevant current topic. Many on twitter are talking about BPGlobalPR, a satirical user account tweeting about the oil spill. This evening they tweeted looking for people to post up “billboards” on the same topic. I suck at coming up with catch phrases, so I just picked some of my favorite tweets and turned them into billboards.
Oh, and if tomorrow’s scheduled post comes a little late, you’ll know why. I was totally going to write it tonight, but I got sidetracked…
I am so eagerly waiting for my WTF subway shirt. But it hasn’t arrived yet. So in order to console myself, (and in my boredom) I created some more amusing subway WTF-ness. Now not only can Metro-North hate me, but NYC Transit (I still love you, I swear!) can hate me too! And maybe even Parker Brothers, who publish the game.
Instead of Community Chest (what the hell is that anyways?), I opted to replace it with the “Service Change.” For pieces, I figured it might be amusing to throw in a delightful subway rat, and even a pigeon in there. If you bought the “extended version” of the game, there would even be a special “limited edition” Sadie the Subway Cat piece. Gotta market that stuff! And everybody loves cats!
As for the properties in the game, and how I determined where each of them belong, I used the 2009 Subway Ridership Facts & Figures. Blue, green, and yellow properties (the highest value) are the top subway stations, system wide. Red represents Manhattan, Orange is Brooklyn, Magenta is Queens, Light Blue is the Bronx, and the top subway stations for each (not counting any stations previously used). The Purple spots are the bottom two stations in the subway system by use. Instead of the four railroads typically used in Monopoly, there are the other MTA entities: Metro-North, Long Island Rail Road, Long Island Bus, and the other half of NYC Transit, the bus system. There are no “utilities” but instead MTA Bridges, and MTA Tunnels.
Oh, and in order for you to get thrown in jail, you are caught with a copy of the master key.
By now you’ve probably heard of the unauthorized WTF posters popping up in the subways. It has been big news in the New York area, and online. They were designed by the Working Families Party. They would have even paid the MTA for the advertising space… had the ad not been rejected. If you need a bit of amusement in your day today, I suggest checking out ABC 7′s video regarding the subject, complete with reporters attempting to use acronyms at every possible chance, and old people getting interviewed that have no idea what WTF means.
But those posters are so yesterday, old news. Now you can wear your very own WTF T-Shirt. All it takes is a minimum donation of 14 dollars, and you can then ride the subway in style! I ordered mine last night… once it arrives I’ll certainly take some pictures, and possibly post them up.
The only thing I keep thinking is that MTA made things worse by rejecting the ad. The whole rejection has been getting a lot of coverage, had the ad actually been put up would people be saying as much? Would these T-Shirts even exist? Maybe not.
In a drastic change of plans, today Metro-North has announced that the M-8 railcars will not be debuting on the New Haven Line. The new cars, made by the Kawasaki company, have been arriving a few at a time from Japan ever since December. They were to go into testing on the New Haven Line shortly, and hopefully launched by winter of this year, replacing the aging M-2 cars currently in use there.
New M-8 car, with blue Harlem Line paint scheme
The new M-8 cars which have already arrived will be getting new paint jobs – in a blue scheme, as opposed to the former red – and will be in service instead on the Harlem Line this winter. A factory in Lincoln, Nebraska will be constructing the remainder of the cars ordered, and these will be used on the New Haven Line. The first cars produced in Nebraska will arrive in 2012. When questioned about the change in plans, Dan Brucker, spokesman for Metro-North, said:
The people on the New Haven Line have suffered a long time with slow and late trains. I’m sure they can wait a little longer for their M-8′s. The New Haven Line is our least favorite of the major lines anyways – of course in front of the Pascack Valley and Port Jervis Lines. Do people even know those two exist?
I certainly can’t wait for the M-8′s! That is certainly good news, I won’t even have to go over to the New Haven Line for a chance to ride them!
At work this week a coworker came in and asked us if we could do him a favor. His daughter’s 2nd grade class had each drawn pictures of what they wanted to be when they grew up. He wanted to know if we could scan each drawing for him. Which we did, and had a bit of amusement while doing it. There were the normal jobs that one can imagine gets chosen in these situations: doctors, firemen, police officers. Some kids wanted to be farmers, even a basketball player. My coworker’s daughter wanted to be an artist. One of her friends wanted to be a “flower picker.” But good old Liam here, he wanted to be a Tan Cgotr. Which, thanks to the teacher, translates to Train Conductor.
From the looks of the drawing, this future Metro-North conductor will probably be on that last late-night train out of Grand Central. You know which one I mean, the one that runs local all the way down the Harlem Line, and has plenty of drunks. It looks like Liam here plans on drinking lots of caffeine to keep awake, so much that his eyes are practically popping out of his head. I’m not exactly sure if this is supposed to be a big window on an m7 or something, or the picture is supposed to be the actual train (are those wheels at the bottom?). But apparently Liam imagines serving all the California Raisins and Blueberry people that ride Metro-North.
Drunk or high “artist’s” alternate rendition of Liam’s drawing, starring Salad Fingers.
Anyways, I thank Liam for his wonderful drawing. I would be most happy to purchase Liam’s next child’s fare on Metro North. Perhaps I can introduce him to some cool tan cgotrs.
When I got on the train this morning I was a bit tired. Conductor Miguel was collecting tickets and asked me if something was wrong. I told him I was just tired. Jokingly, he told me I shouldn’t have partied so hard last night, and that there of course are always consequences. I wasn’t partying last night, but I am certain that some people were. And I saw the aftermath of it on the platform (oh yes, there was vomit!), and in the waiting room…
It isn’t St. Pat’s anymore… get rid of your beads, your pizza box, and wake up!
Because I am in an amusing mood this morning, I figured I’d post some of my favorite photos of passed out people in the waiting room.
And as a special bonus… here is a picture of a train sleeper and some great ad placement.
If only there was some sort of drink that could possibly wake you up…
Have a great day everyone!
Admit it. You’ve probably seen a stupid person on the train. I see them frequently. People get on the wrong train all the time. Sometimes by accident, which I’ve done a few times. But if you end up getting on the wrong train because you were too busy talking on your cell phone to hear the ten messages spoken by the conductor telling you that this train was most certainly NOT going to the city, you don’t get any sympathy from me.
I had made these a long time ago, and forgot about them. My goal was to create a warning sign generator, where you could type in your own warnings and the site would create the image for you. I never did get around to doing it, but perhaps some day. Until then, enjoy these. Gina, a train conductor on my train, almost getting left on the platform again the other day (and did actually happen a year ago) made me want to go and dig these up. The first one below is dedicated to her. In fact I hear a version of this is now in the conductor’s lounge in Grand Central, a version with a spectacular little arrow pointing to the conductor on the platform, labeled with the name “Gina.”
A few of you may recall me writing about my antics at the Goldens Bridge train station in December. There had been some vandalism, and I thought I’d cover it up with amusing signs until Metro-North decided to fix it all. The first sign I posted had a picture of a raccoon, and the title said “Cat Found!” Included on the bottom of the sign was a phone number to a voicemail box I registered on the internet. If you call it, I get the message forwarded to my email box as a WAV file. A few months later (now, in March) images of the poster made their rounds on the internet. And I got a bunch of calls (some of which may or may not be from students from an unnamed school that ride my morning train). These are some of the better the messages that I got. My personal favorite is Mr. Captain Obvious, who suggests I should change my phone number. I figured I’d post it up here, since I know some of my readers thought the sign funny, and were wondering if anyone would call.
Apparently Metro-North has gotten fed up with the pigeon problem in White Plains. Maybe they were embarrassed by the fact that people were videotaping, and blogging about it. Or maybe they were getting a little pissed off that birds that have pea-sized brains were outsmarting them. Either way, last week I noticed something new at the station. Pigeon traps. With all the snow I didn’t really get a chance to post anything about the traps. But I did happen to get into a conversation in the waiting room with a woman about them. Really, the pigeons aren’t harming anything. In fact they are eating the crumbs off the floor, which is more than what some of the cleaning people manage. Their antics are amusing, and Metro-North could probably be spending money worrying about other things, rather than purchasing pigeon traps to put throughout the station. Even if they had the traps on hand, someone had to place them, and that takes time. Time that could have been spent doing other things. Like cleaning the bathrooms? Or going after the annoying people that smoke in the waiting room, or beg for dollars? I’d prefer the pigeons over those.
Now, remember whose blog you are reading. Obviously, I had to put up a sign about this. Someday I may use my talents for the good of man-kind. Today? Not so much.
Here are higher resolution images so you can see all the text:
So far I haven’t seen any pigeons dumb enough to get caught. Traps are located behind the benches in the waiting room, and on top of the ticket machines by the window. Truly the question is, what happens to the pigeons if they are in fact caught? Taking them outside the station and letting them go would do little, they’d probably come right back in. Do they get sent up the river to pigeon prison? Are they gassed by employees in a dark, back room? Your guess is as good as mine. In a few weeks the problem will work itself out anyways, traps or no traps. The weather will be warmer, and the pigeons wont need to be inside. They aren’t dumb. They come inside because of the cold. Hell, I know a lot of crazy people that do that too!
As an unrelated bonus, I figured I would include some amusing video I saw on YouTube, of a pigeon riding public transit. The pigeon’s name is apparently Henry Goodfeathers. Looks like the video was filmed somewhere on the subways of Toronto.
More polite than a lot of human subway passengers
