Oct 9, 2009 11:58 pm US/Eastern
Straphangers Brace For The Worst This Weekend
With Almost Every Subway Line Impacted By Heavy Repairs And A Lack Of Transit Agents Around, A Nightmare Awaits
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
It could be a nightmare weekend for subway riders.
A heavy repair schedule will disrupt service on almost every line -- and that's not all.
CBS 2 HD was on the A train on Friday afternoon and found out why you could say "it stinks to be a straphanger."
If you're a subway rider, this is one weekend you might want to be out of town.
The Transit Authority has put straphangers on notice. Out of the system's 19 subway lines that run on the weekends, a full 17 will be seriously disrupted due to a massive repair project. Transit watchdog, Gene Russianoff.
"The system has been under maintained for decades. Repairs needed are huge," transit watchdog Gene Russianoff said.
Of course, repairs are necessary, but weekend riders will take it on the chin.
"It's an inconvenience," one straphanger said.
"It's a serious pain. They should stagger it; see you later," another said.
The lines affected this weekend are an alphabet soup, with a few numbers thrown in: The 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, A, C, D, E, F, G, J, L, N, Q and R.
Free shuttle busses will be offered on some lines, and other lines will skip some stops -- like the 1, 2, 7, B, N, the J and the R.
"Weekends are when people run errands or do whatever they can't do during the week," commuter Shilpi Nagarsheth said.
The reason we must endure a weekend of commuter hell is that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said the work must be done before cold weather would make such jobs impossible to complete. The changes have been posted at stations.
And repairs will not be the only problems. Consider this:
Many token booths are now empty, in part because of the growth of MetroCard vending machines. Three hundred station agents recently cut from their jobs are awaiting reassignment.
"The clerks have been the eyes and ears of the system. 'If you see something, say something.' But to whom?" Russianoff said.
So now, when commuters or tourists are in need of directions to whom do they turn with their questions? The subway snack vendors like Harpreet Singh?
"People want to know where to go," Singh said, adding the questions come more frequently.
There is one ray of transit sunshine amid the weekend gloom. The 6 and M lines will be unaffected.
Service Advisories: Friday | Saturday | Sunday
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
World's Most Useless Facts
Click to enlarge
BLIZZARD WARNING IN EFFECT 18 mins ago 
Stumble It!
Reporting
Comments