Tuesday, December 20, 2005

My morning commute...

...sucked, to put it bluntly, though it could have been worse.
I walked for half an hour, past a supposed car pool location which was deserted as no one was even attempting to car pool, to the Atlantic Avenue Long Island Rail Road station. There was a huge line to buy tickets, so I dutifully made my way to the end of it, but a few feet away, a train was about to pull out and the conductor just waved to us to get on, saying we'd be in line all day. So I got on, and no one ever tried to make me pay.
From that station, the train goes outbound to Jamaica, Queens, where you can then change to an inbound train to Manhattan. However, at Jamaica, the police were checking to see if people had tickets, and if they didn't, forcing them to get on a huge line. I spent over an hour on that line-- it looped back and forth for blocks, and everyone was freezing. Then by the time we reached the ticket booth, they weren't even charging money for tickets anymore, if they ever were, so I got right on a train to Penn Station, which pulled out half empty. I can understand why they wanted to make people line up and not have total chaos in the station, but they should have at least moved the line through faster and made sure all the trains were full to capacity before they left for the city.
Then when I got to Penn Station, I walked to work, which took 20 minutes or so but seemed like nothing compared to what I'd been through already.
So anyway, it cost me nothing to get to work, but lord only knows what I'll have to do to get home. I'm hoping I can share a cab, as it is pretty damn cold to be walking over the Brooklyn Bridge. Hitchhiking is also starting to look like a good option.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was listening to NPR this morning about the strike and several commuters interviewed seemed to like the novelty of walking to work. I think this might wear off in a while. Even Bloomberg walked in a show of solidarity.

But fear not Madame X, for I believe Bloomberg, Pataki and Spitzer are on the case. NYC will be riding in no time.

Madame X said...

Actually a lot of reader reports on the NY Times website were very positive, saying it was their best commute in years! I would be more of a trooper about it if it wasn't so cold. I walked home from work during the blackout and on 9/11 and dealt with it fine, but the cold weather really gets to me!

Anonymous said...

GOOD LUCK with the walk and the cold. Wow, crazy how that strike can throw so many people's lives into chaos!

Caitlin said...

I have been thinking of you since hearing the news...hoping it wasn't sucking too bad. bundle up and stay warm...I hope the strike ends soon ::: crossing fingers :::

lpkitten said...

good luck. i am crossing my fingers for all of you that the strike will not last long.