F***ed By the F Train on a Friday night

Image via Gothamist.comYou may have heard about the F train fiasco that occurred this past Friday night. Over 1,300 commuters were stuck underground for over an hour between the West 4th and Broadway/Lafayette stations. Friend of FIPS Michelle Paul gives us her first-hand experience of the shitstorm:

On Friday night I left work at 6:30 and got on the F train at 57th Street. I planned to exit at Bergen Street, go to Book Court, and then walk home enjoying the autumn evening. Instead I spent two hours underground enjoying the hospitality of the MTA.

A minute or two after the F left West 4th Street, we stopped. No one was particularly surprised. This was not out of the ordinary. I read my book. I eavesdropped on the conversations around me. I tried not to make eye contact with anyone creepy.

Eventually the voice of the conductor came on over the loudspeaker, with a surprisingly specific announcement: There was a broken rail on the track ahead of us, so we had to go back to West 4th. The train had not derailed, they were careful to say, but we couldn't continue on to Brooklyn this way. A ripple of exasperation spread through the car, coupled with preemptive exhaustion, as we all began to realize this would be a longer-than-usual commute.

Click to read more ...

This NYC Subway Circles Map is driving me crazy

[VIA GOTHAMIST]

Every once in a while, someone will get the brilliant idea to re-design the NYC subway map for shits and giggles. Usually, it's fun to look at for like 5 seconds. Until you realize that you've lived in NYC for so long that you barely use the subway map anymore 'cause you always go to the same places. (Unless you have to go to Queens for some birthday party, in which case you probably end up taking a car anyway and spend the whole time questioning why you have friends who live in Queens). 

ANYWAY,  the latest iteration of this redisgned map trend comes to us from U.K. psychologist Max Roberts, who according to Gothamist "focuses his studies on schematic mapping and wayfinding information, design[ing] maps and condut[ing] studies to see how useable they are." His signature style? A 'Circles Map,' which reinvisions your usual transport system using concentric circles. 

He's designed Circles Maps for London, Berlin, Paris, Tokyo, Washington DC, and Chicago. And now he's taken on NYC. 

You know what else has concentric circles? Hell.

Click to read more ...

Science-y Test Maybe Finds Old Locomotive Under Atlantic Ave...Maybe Not.

Photo from Locomotive Engines Upon Railways by DePambour, 1836

The Brooklyn rumor mill is reporting mumblings of a large, local cavernous tunnel filled with an unknown object, and no, I’m not talking about Kim Kardashian’s recently-announced pregnancy.

Special science-y tests have detected a large, 20 foot metal object, rumored to be a 19th century locomotive, far inside a half-mile long tunnel near Hicks Street. “It’s like finding a giant hoard of gold,” said Bob Diamond, founder of the Brooklyn Historic Railway Association. “That locomotive has been sitting there since the outbreak of the Civil War — it’s like a living piece of history."

Click to read more ...

WELP, WE FINALLY HEARD BACK ABOUT METRO CARD REFUNDS

When the MTA closed the subway systems down at 7PM the night before Hurricane Sandy, we all collectively wondered the same thing: Will holders of unlimited Metro cards get some of their money back?

The answer, as it turns out, is a big fat NO.

Click to read more ...

Jay-Z Rode The R Train To His Own Concert

For his final, first-round concert at The Barclays Center this past Saturday, Jay-Z got to the venue the way most people probably did: he took public transportation. Mr. Knowles rode the R train, replete with a team of security guards, from Canal to Atlantic. My guess is that the traffic was so backed up going over the bridge by people trying to get to the concert that this was the quickest way for J to get there on time. 

(I love the woman he sits down next to on the train at the 1:04 mark, who clearly has no idea who he is.) 

[Via Daily Dot]