AMNY Subway Tracker

The World Trade Center stop on the E will lose its elevator starting Friday due to construction. While no elevator means little or nothing to some riders, for others, like Michael Harris of the Disabled Riders Coalition, it's a major problem.

“It’s a very popular stop for tourists and for residents with disabilities who work in the downtown area,” Harris said.

The MTA has posted a listing of alternative routes to get to and from the World Trade Center area using ADA accessible stations.

--Matt Sweeney
Photo by alphaquam on flickr

A young man from Brooklyn was found on the tracks at the 14th Street and Eighth Avenue station early this morning. Police are still investigating, and an autopsy is scheduled for Monday, but Stan Pales death appears to be an accident, police said.

About a dozen of his friends gathered outside his home on Avenue R near East 14th Street in Brooklyn yesterday. They said that Pales, 21, went out Saturday night to Club Hiro on West 17th Street and Ninth Avenue. They thought he left with a friend, but were not sure what happened afterward. Police told Pales' mother, Inga Krips, that he swiped his Metrocard in the transit system at 4:30 a.m. He was found at 6:55 a.m., facedown after being struck by a southbound E train, with his cell phone and money.

His best friend and next door neighbor, Rick Russo said of Pales, "He loved to party. He loved to play handball. He loved nothing more than his family and friends." Pales left behind his mother, stepfather, and 7-month old brother.

--Matt Sweeney

Waiting at the 23rd Street/Ely Avenue station on the Manhattan-bound E/V platform in Queens this afternoon, I witnessed a prime example of the MTA's inability to deal with wet weather.

A live announcement came over the PA: "No Queens-bound E trains are in service. Please walk to the 7 train platform for Queens-bound service."

As the message repeated, clamorous school kids and the rest of the rather large mid-afternoon ridership had already begun to make their way toward the rain-slicked stairs for their unforeseen transfer.

My own train was delayed about 10 minutes, but when a Manhattan-bound V train finally did pull in, I stepped on.

-- Max Dickstein

Update: MTA spokesman Paul Fleuranges sets Tracker straight on what went wrong. The problems were mechanical, not water related. Tracker stands corrected.

Photo: April 2007 photo from 34th Street and Sixth Avenue via Lab2112's Flickr stream

Snow did not blanket the city this morning, keeping the commute smooth except for a few bumps.
Trains did not experience any weather-related delays, but mechanical problems slowed lines in Queens during the early part of the morning commute. Switch problems at the 36th Street station in Queens forced E and F trains to run local from Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Avenue to as far as 47th-50th Street/Rockefeller Center Manhattan until about 7:30 a.m.
“It kept stopping between stations,” said Mariana Nika, 22, a Kew Gardens E rider who was running 15 minutes late to her work in Midtown. “But it’s usually like that—maybe it’s just the time I come in.”
A No. 7 train with mechanical problems also held up the commute from Queens to Times Square for about 15 minutes until just after 7 a.m. But riders on that line had other problems to worry about today. Scheduled signal and track upgrades knocked out weekday express until the end of February.
“I hate the 7 train,” said Rosanne Castis, a Flushing resident headed to work in Midtown. “Other than the construction making it local … it wasn’t that bad.”
Many Queens commuters were happy snow storms didn’t add to a commute they expected to be affected by the 7 train work.
“I thought that it would be overcrowded, but it wasn’t,” Roger Rivera said of the E train. “I probably would have left early if it had snowed.”
--with Newsday

After New York City Transit finished collecting rider report cards for the No. 7 line, and just beginning doling out cards for the L line, Transit opened up grading for all lines on the MTA Web site. Straphangers are invited to grade their line in English, Spanish, Chinese or a selection of 10 other languages. Transit has only officially opened two lines for grading--one is now closed--but they'll hold your vote on the other 20 until voting for those lines begins.

--Marlene Naanes

Few readers of this blog should have been surprised by the subway meltdown from last Friday’s deluge.

I lost a good chunk of the afternoon stuck on a Queens-bound E train that was finally diverted along the C line. Finally, I and dozens of other riders just gave up and huffed across Central Park to get over to the East Side.

But, the subway just can’t cope with the rain. Many people still remember the storm in September 2004 that completely shut down 5 subway lines. A similar system washout also happened in August 1999.

The MTA is in the process of updating is 300 sewer pumps but it just can’t handle huge amounts of rain. Without the rain, it pumps out 13 million gallons a day. A little over $125 million was budgeted for upgrades in the latest capital plan.

Even so, some of the system’s pumps are century old -- they were actually used to build the Panama Canal in 1904 before seeing service in the subway.

At least, the MTA is got its money’s worth for those pumps.

-- Chuck Bennett

It's not unusual to see musicians playing in subway stations. It's not unusual to see musicians--even small bands--playing on the subway cars themselves. But this morning, I saw something I'd never seen before.

Three men and two women got on the E line heading into Manhattan from Queens. Two of the men played guitars and sang, while the women had cowboy hats to collect any donations.

The third man? He was playing a double bass.

It wasn't a packed train, but even so I marveled that this group was seemingly so dedicated to an authentic sound that they required one of their members to lug an instrument whose girth rivals that of a portly man through subway car after subway car.

Or maybe they were on their way to a gig and wanted to pick up some spare cash.

--Jamshid Mousavinezhad

I bet against the snow last night, and I lost.

Visiting my parents last night out on Long Island, I thought for sure I could stay over and just catch the LIRR to work in the morning, as I had many times before. The ride started out fine, but once we got past Jamaica, the train slowed to half speed. We stopped at Woodside, and never got started again. They kept us on the train for about 20 minutes, periodically making announcements, while the passengers were furiously making calls to the people they were supposed to meet up with, or their friends in Queens who might be able to pick them up.

Finally, they accepted that the train just wasn't going anywhere, so they sent us off to the 7 train. Which wasn't running to Manhattan because of a stalled train at Hunters Point. At first, they were advising passengers to catch a 7 to Queensboro Plaza, but shortly afterwards they announced that no 7 trains were going any further east than Woodside. We had to get on a Main St-bound 7, going further into Queens, and switch 2 stops later for the E, F, V or R. Once on the E, my ride went pretty smoothly.

All told, my trip from Speonk to Woodside: approx 2 hours. From Woodside to Penn Station: 1 1/2.

-- Emily Hulme

The city’s a mess this morning but my commute went without a hitch.

Hiking up to the 96th Street 6 train subway station this morning there was an M 101 bus stuck in the snow on the corner. It seemed like a bad omen.

I expected to spend the rest of the day staring down the tunnel waiting in vain for the 6. But I lucked out. It was just a two minute wait. At 51st Street the connecting E was less than a five minute wait. It was like there wasn’t any storm.

Not everybody is so lucky.

The TA said the R train is canceled and all buses are running with official 15 minute delays -- which translates into a lot longer than a quarter of an hour.

The outer boroughs got hit hardest:

• Elevated and outside Stations are running with delays.

• 5 train is suspended in the Bronx, between Dyre Ave  and East 180th Street.

• E and F trains run local from 71st Cont. to Roosevelt Ave.

• New Lots Ave L train is suspended between Rockaway Parkway and Broadway Eastern Parkway.

• M train is suspended between Myrtle Ave and Metropolitan Ave.                                                                           

For most people, I gather, this is just a lazy Sunday. The real test will be tomorrow.

-- Chuck Bennett

The Blizzard of '06, which is dumping much more snow than had been forecast, is snarling service on several lines, with suspensions or difficulties on portions of the No. 5 in the Bronx, the E and F in Queens and the L in Brooklyn. And factor in more time to get to your destination on lines that are elevated for even a part of their runs. Buses are running with delays of at least 15 minutes. Check in with amNY.com throughout the day for continued coverage, and here's the latest from the MTA.

--Rolando Pujol