|
|
| Lack of sign posts, recent (N) Astoria El shutdown (1286231) | |||
 |
|||
| Home > SubChat | |||
|
[ Read Responses | Post a New Response | Return to the Index ] |
|
||
|
Lack of sign posts, recent (N) Astoria El shutdown |
|
|
Posted by Gold_12th on Thu Apr 17 15:00:12 2014 Officials at the Dutch Kills Civic Association (DKCA) are questioning methods used by city transit officials to alert local straphangers of changes in subway service along the elevated N line.Straphangers, some of whom were patrons at hotels in the Dutch Kills community, were left shaking their heads after they climbed the stairs at subway entrances on 39th Avenue and 36th Avenue on April 6, only to find the turnstiles cordoned-off with yellow tape, civic leader George Stamatiades said. “The MTA taped a few small signs to the street level entrance on the N line,” Stamatiades said. “Of course, some of the signs fell off, and some straphangers didn’t realize the line was shut down until they got all the way upstairs.” “Instead of just putting the tape on the street entrance, the MTA put it on the turnstiles. And they had a clerk sitting in the token booth, telling people they had to go back downstairs to wait for a shuttle bus,” Stamatiades said. Stamatiades said patrons at some local hotels were baffled by the way the city handled the subway suspension. “The people that spoke English were able to figure out what to do,” he said. “But visitors to New York who were staying at local hotels had no idea what was going on.” Officials at the Dutch Kills Civic Association said MTA officials could have done a better job posting signs on the 36th Avenue entrance, where they were strewn on the sidewalk by midmorning on April 6. Transit officials could also have reached out to management at the Dutch Kills hotels to let them alert their guests of the subway changes, the civics said. Local residents argued that the city invited the hotels to build in Dutch Kills in an effort to improve the local economy – and add much-needed cash to city coffers. “Does anybody think overseas visitors will go away with a positive image of the city after they were put through this?” a local resident said. “And after they wait for the shuttle bus, they find they can’t get on because it’s too crowded.” A spokesperson for City Council Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer said the lawmaker reached out to the MTA to correct the snafu. MTA officials did not return a call from the Gazette by press time.  http://www.qgazette.com/news/2014-04-16/Features/Straphangers_Stranded.html One small sign is not enough. |
|
|
|