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Today In The Bronx |
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Posted by Michael549 on Thu Jul 14 23:32:58 2011 On Thursday, July 14, 2011 at about 2pm I was at the 174th Street elevated subway station for the #2 and #5 trains. I had to take my niece for a medical appointment on East 24th Street at 3pm, and was drafted for the task. Usually the trip lasts about 45 minutes, and today was a day I wanted to be early.During that time of day, the uptown #2 and #5 trains were by-passing all of the local stations between 149th Street-Third Avenue and East 180th Street due to a G.O. When we entered the platform a #2 downtown train rolled through the station, but since we were headed toward the Eastside, we let it pass. The "next train" indicator showed at a downtown #5 train was 3 minutes away. After the #2 train passed, and while we waited for the #5 train, there was an announcement over the loudspeakers that due to police activity / investigation at the Intervale Avenue station, all downtown train service was suspended. Passengers were advised to go to the streets and to take a bus to Manhattan. I had a feeling that I should have taken that #2 train. Of course, I did not have a single bus map with me at the time. At first only a couple of people on the platform moved, but the announcement was repeated. Upon reaching the subway booth, the station agent had no further information to give, except to say to the riders to take the trains on the uptown platforms. However since the uptown platform is being by-passed with all uptown trains on the express track, it might be a little hard to catch any trains there at that point. He had to be persuaded to hand out block tickets, at which point he contacted a supervisor by phone. I needed two block tickets, but the station agent wanted proof that we just entered the subway, so we had to produce out Metro-Cards so that he could scan them, before handing us two block tickets. As my niece and I started down the stairway there was a Bronx #19 bus, that just pulled out of the bus stop, but a couple of minutes later a Bronx #21 bus pulled in. We ran for that bus, and upon entering I asked the bus driver what was the nearest subway stop that bus made. It turned out to be the 149th Street-Third Avenue station. We had to surrender our block tickets, which made me wonder if we had to pay an extra fare to get back on the subway? The bus driver said that yes - we have to pay an extra fare to get on the subway to complete our journey. While on the bus I contacted the MTA Customer Service number to find out about that extra fare question, and the options available. The customer service agent said that yes, #2 and #5 trains were serving that station, a statement that turned out to be not true. Upon reaching the Third Avenue-149th Street station, Manhatan-bound platform was blocked off, with subway workers telling everyone that they had to take any bus to 149th Street-Grand Concourse. Needless to say the buses were packed with people. The 149th Street-Grand Concourse station was packed with people at about 3pm, both entering and leaving the station, especially leaving station. Of course, we'd be late for her appointment. Yes, we had to pay an extra fare to enter the station. On the #4 platform, there were a couple of #5 trains, one parked on the center track, and a newly relayed empty #5 train coming in on the downtown side. I'm assuming that #2 trains were terminated and relayed on its usual tracks. From that point downtown, the trip was uneventful, except that along the way at certain stations I could hear announcements that #2 and #5 Bronx service was suspended, but few statements of alternatives travel methods. At about 10 minutes to 4pm, we were able to get to her appointement, and yes very late. I don't know what actually happened at Intervale Avenue. I don't know actually how long the MTA wrestled with this problem, and / or how long it took to restore service back to normal. I don't know what better advice or travel methods that could be suggested when the trains crap out. We had to wait a while for her to be seen, everything is alright, but we did check out Best Buy to use their online system to check the MTA website to see if service had returned to normal. I might have to look at getting a tablet computer, it might come in handy at these moments. Mike |
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