by STrRedWolf
Or alternatively titled "First impressions of the subway from that mook in Baltimore" (see my Chicago CTA L first take).
As some of you know, I was going up to NYC to see Weird Al. That was this weekend (Sept 24th), and I took the subway when possible. I mainly was around Manhattan, with a side-trip to Brooklyn (MicroCenter visit). My impressions mixed with my itinerary. Note, I'm more used to DC and Maryland MTA's subway cars.
As some of you know, I was going up to NYC to see Weird Al. That was this weekend (Sept 24th), and I took the subway when possible. I mainly was around Manhattan, with a side-trip to Brooklyn (MicroCenter visit). My impressions mixed with my itinerary. Note, I'm more used to DC and Maryland MTA's subway cars.
- Took the 1 from Penn Station to Times Square to transfer to the S. FFS that's a long convoluted maze of a walk! Down and up and down and up... Geesh, can we get some underground reconstruction going on? So.... much... walking...
- The cars. Okay, apparently someone in Chicago ripped NYC MTA's designs off, chopped the car in half, made two cars with transverse seating(for obvious reasons up there), and called it modern. Roomy this is not. I think this is a legacy problem.
- As much as I wanted to use the free wifi, I'd rather use LTE... so why is NYC behind DC in providing repeaters? You'd think with how much track work they do, adding repeaters would be a cinch. Maybe they need a Congressional Mandate...
- Took the S to Grand Central, to get lunch (try looking for a half-decent hamburger, and McD's is quarter-decent; ended up with full decent Shake Shack) and trade an old iPad Mini 2 for cash off a new iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. Basically paid for the Pencil.
- Headed to the Jane hotel off of Jane Street, taking the 4/5 to the L and then to 14th & 8th. Ugh, what a walk to the hotel (my comments on the hotel are best reserved for another forum). The signage to get where you're going is 90% good... but I kept ending up having to cross streets when signs saying "SE corner of 14th and 8th" really meant "NW corner of 14h and 8th" and I wanted the "SW Corner" but there's no signs there.
- After some time to set things up (mainly hook the iPad Pro to the Jane's free Wifi and start upgrades/restores), I "Uber"ed to MicroCenter. That was a $42 and 50 minute mistake (traffic, as usual, was awful inside of Manhattan). I probably could of gotten there in 2/3rds of the time if I took the L to the R and walked from 25th R in Brooklyn.
- Took the N (which was running local on the R) back up and transferred to the F at 4th & 9th... and had forgotten that the F was elevated. 4th and 9th is deceptive!
- I was able to transfer again at West 4th to an E and get off at 14th street, in time to drop what I got, lighten up my load a bit more.
- Headed back up, L to the F, to Radio City Music Hall for the concert. Even was able to get a bite to eat at Subway.
- After the concert (did I say it was AWESOME?) took the F back down to the hotel. It skipped 23rd and the 14th street stops, but West 4th it stopped on. Easy enough, grab an A up... OMG TRANSVERSE SEATING! IT DOES EXIST! I must of gotten an older R-order car.
- Today was my return trip, so I took the E back up to Penn Station. Got seating. Decent ride.