Courtesy Is Contagious…and These Clowns Are Immune

Coffee-carting commuter with coat on seat?  I’m talking to you.

Woman bound for airport with luggage across four seats?  You, too.

Here’s the deal.  Simply hogging seats and averting your eyes until the pregnant lady passes?  Doesn’t cut it.  And having the stones to suggest this line when asked by the pregnant lady to move your bags:  I can’t lift them, but you can, if you like. Are you kidding me?  And guys… nobody thought about getting involved here?

Is everyone so self-absorbed they don’t notice?  Or so turf-protective they’d rather send the seven-months pregnant woman wandering to the next car rather than–Heaven forbid–get stuck sitting next to her?

Snow Changes for Friday Morning

Here’s the full list of changes for Friday morning on the New Haven Line:

· The 6:11 AM train from Stamford, due GCT at 7:07 AM, is cancelled. Customers will be accommodated by the 6:17 AM train from Stamford, due GCT at 7:19 AM.

· The 7:07 AM train from New Rochelle, due GCT at 7:44 AM, is combined with the 7:06 AM train from Harrison, which will make all stops of both trains, and arrive at Grand Central Terminal at 7:52 AM.

· The 6:17 AM express train from New Haven, due Stamford at 7:04 AM, is canceled. Customers will be accommodated by the 6:23 AM train from New Haven, due Stamford at 7:14 AM.

· The 6:40 AM train from Fairfield, due GCT at 7:51 AM, is combined with the 6:31 AM train from Bridgeport, which will make all stops of both trains, and arrive Grand Central Terminal at 8:01 AM.

· The 7:24 AM from New Rochelle, due GCT at 7:59 AM, is combined with the 7:18 AM train from Harrison, which will make all stops of both trains, and arrive at Grand Central Terminal at 8:07 AM.

· The 7:37 AM express train from Port Chester, due GCT at 8:20 AM, is combined with the 7:25 AM train from Stamford, which will make all stops of both trains, and arrive at Grand Central Terminal at 8:26 AM.

· The 7:23 AM train from South Norwalk, due GCT at 8:28 AM, is combined with the 6:55 AM train from Bridgeport, which will make all stops of both trains, and arrive in Grand Central Terminal at 8:28 AM.

· The 8:15 AM from New Rochelle, due GCT at 8:49 AM, is combined with the 6:47 AM train from New Haven, which will make all stops of both trains, and arrive at Grand Central Terminal at 8:49 AM.

· The 8:29 AM train from New Rochelle, due GCT at 9:03 AM, is cancelled. Customers will be accommodated by the 8:27 AM train from Harrison, due GCT at 9:13 AM.

Service Resumes to 125th Street

Metro-North’s back in business at 125th Street after “police activity” forced trains to bypass the stop.  According to some reports, a suspicious package was found at the station, though it’s nowhere in sight in this snowy TwitPic posted by @mediadarwin this morning.

We’ll keep an eye on it.

Metro-North Service Normal For Now: Comfy Cozy, In Fact…

Rain to the east and big, slushy snowflakes toward the City, but so far, no schedule issues on Metro-North.

@diheartyou reports a “surprisingly cozy” ride as the big flakes fall outside her train this morning…

Send in your pics and keep us updated on any issues out there…

Photo: @diheartyou

“Snow Hurricane.” Seriously?

The fantastic folks at 1010 WINS had a unique way of describing the snow in the forecast for tomorrow into Friday:  ”snow hurricane.”  Oh, for crap’s sake.

So far no alerts, warnings, or service advisories for this next round of snowmisery, but stay tuned.

Mysteries of Metro-North: Under-Seat Fluids

Fluid Spill, as Documented by @heyfairfield

You platformers know full well what I’m talking about. You’re sitting on a reliable red or blue seat, minding your own business, reading the Times on your way into the City. Suddenly something catches your eye. It’s something wet…moving…around your feet.

Now you don’t want to jump on the table like a cartoon housewife who’s seen a mouse, but at the same time, what the hell is that?

So you do the sensible thing and sort of lean into the aisle or stretch to look over the seat in front of you in the hopes of seeing an obvious explanation, like a commuter fiddling with a coffee cup that’s lost its lid, maybe even apologizing to a seat-mate for the spill.  But often, there’s nothing.

Just liquid running under the seat and around your feet.

And that’s when your brain kicks in with some horrifying possibilities. Oh sweet mother of the rails, has someone had an accident on the train?

So what do you do?  Move your feet and get back to the paper?  Drop your paper and try to soak up whatever it is?  What’s the uber-cool commuting move?

MTA Proposing Service Cuts for Metro-North

Okay, if You Had to Guess: Which Comes First: These Long-Awaited New Cars, or the Just-Proposed Service Cuts?

The axe is being sharpened at the MTA, and Metro-North’s slated to feel the pain.  We’ve just gotten our hands on the proposals, and here’s a quick look:

Reduce “Car Consists and Increase Train Occupancy”:  the MTA will reduce the length of trains “wherever possible” up to the current Loading Standard of 95% of available seats.  (forget about the empty middle seat in the three-across, folks)  The MTA estimates 12,000 daily customers would be affected by this, as a “number of trains” will have their occupancy increased–bringing them to 93%-95% capacity.  This proposal would be implemented in June, and save $2.8 million.

Reduced Service for New Haven Line:  2 weekday PM peak trains combined, and one weekday evening (off-peak) train discontinued.  The trains affected include the 1:34 PM express to New Haven and 2:33 PM express from New Haven, and one late night train seven days a week:  the 1:15 AM to Stamford.  The proposal would affect about 605 platformers every weekday and 265 on the weekend, and save about $1.6 million.

New Haven Line service would shake out this way:  with cut train service, 500 commuters would lose half-hourly service between 1 and 3 PM, and 105 commuters (weekdays) and 265 (weekend) would go from 45 minute frequency to 60+ minutes frequency.

Thoughts?

There will be a series of town hall meetings starting in March.  Read the full proposal here.

Here’s the MTA Prez on the proposals:

Times Takes a Ride on Metro-North’s “Love Line”

Finding Love on the Train: "Come Here Often?"

Would falling in love on Metro-North fall into the meet-cute category?  Or is more like a bar hookup?  (Yeah, I know… a bar car hookup, though those tend to almost universally end in disaster, heartbreak and financial ruin)

Well, whatever it means, it’s happening.  How do I know?  The damn New York Times says so, that’s how.  And this story got platformers positively buzzing aboard the rails this morning:

“This month, the Metro-North Railroad, best known for spiriting New York suburbanites on their daily quests, presented an additional service: dating tips. ‘Identify a potential significant other just by observing their behavior on our train,’ read a blurb in Mileposts, the cheerful four- to six-page pamphlet published every month for Metro-North riders.”

What makes a good potential mate–based on Metro-North standards?  “If they use their smart phone sparingly; clean up and take their trash with them; keep their feet off the seats — then they are definitely ‘date material.’ ” Later, Mileposts threw in a reference to the Bee Gees’ “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart,” noting, “We are almost certain the answer is with large quantities of chocolate.”

Not to put any of you on the spot, but we do read your Tweets.  And we know a surprising number of you talk about the “cute guy on the 5:17,” or–and this comes up a lot–the repeated rumors of an ultra-hot conductor out there.

So be honest.  Are you mixing your commuting with your connecting?

Open Thread Thursday

C’mon commuters…dish the dirt and have your say. We’ve heard rumblings of a “hot conductor” along the line. Tell us all about him/her. What’s the most disgusting thing you’ve endured this week? Best moment?

Spill, platformers!

Danbury Line Service Suspended After Fatal Accident in Norwalk

Norwalk Scene: Photo via The Stamford Advocate

Service on the Danbury line is suspended after a 7:20 a.m. accident at Commerce Street in Norwalk.

UPDATED–Metro-North says the person hit and killed by a Danbury line train this morning in Norwalk was a woman who may have deliberately stepped in front of the train. Police are investigating the incident as a suicide.

Service on the Danbury line remains suspended.

According to the MTA, a person on the tracks was hit and killed by a Metro-North train, and MTA Police–along with Norwalk Police and Fire–are working the accident site. Shuttle buses are being deployed to get Danbury line commuters around the scene.

The person killed has not been identified, and no other injuries have yet been reported.

We’ll keep you posted, and for breaking tweets, follow @CTplatformer on Twitter.

And if you were on the train or have a pic of the site, let us know and we’ll post away.