Time for a bike!
Friday, March 18, 2011
Wheels
Last Saturday, as every weekend when the weather invites one outdoors coatlessly, service on the 1 train ground to a cumbersome halt, due to "important track work", "station reparation", "improvements", or some other such rubrik. My alternative route, the A, had a fire at Fulton Street and was experiencing "delays of unknown length". While being thanked for my patience, I decided a cab was the only chance at punctuality - only to be foiled by traffic along the entire West Side Highway, and then again along Broadway as we tried to evade it. It cost me half and hour and $26; I could have walked to work almost as quickly, and for free.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Track 2, Take 2: Impressions at 163rd Street
February 23, 2011. 5am.
As the subway begins to fill with passengers, and I am carefully cradling my cat-in-carrier en route to the airport, the humble 163rd-street A-train station catches my eye. Suddenly my usual vehement distaste for this transit system, and disorganized (money-grabbing) company that runs it, fades away into marvel. Perhaps it's the lack of sleep? But I'm struck first by the colourfulness of the station, which we express-train riders usually bypass at more normal hours, it being the first local stop on the way downtown. Then, even more saliently, I become aware of the implied rhythm: since the line's local component, the C-train, starts at 168th street, how is it possible that we are on a single track at here? It must be a feisty feat of scheduling in the daytime, especially rush hour, to send the slower Cs to make their stops at 163 and 155, in time to get out of the way at 145 for the speedy A to zip from 168 to 145. Hemiola-esque is the wrong term but comes to mind - two different steady rhythms lining up in one coordinated dance. A complicated feat, to succeed!
Either that, or, I've overlooked a track. Which, my daytime skepticism tells me, seems more likely. (Else, couldn't we please, please, please have my dream come true: an express from 207 to 175???) I'll have to keep an eye open next time I'm trekking through!
As the subway begins to fill with passengers, and I am carefully cradling my cat-in-carrier en route to the airport, the humble 163rd-street A-train station catches my eye. Suddenly my usual vehement distaste for this transit system, and disorganized (money-grabbing) company that runs it, fades away into marvel. Perhaps it's the lack of sleep? But I'm struck first by the colourfulness of the station, which we express-train riders usually bypass at more normal hours, it being the first local stop on the way downtown. Then, even more saliently, I become aware of the implied rhythm: since the line's local component, the C-train, starts at 168th street, how is it possible that we are on a single track at here? It must be a feisty feat of scheduling in the daytime, especially rush hour, to send the slower Cs to make their stops at 163 and 155, in time to get out of the way at 145 for the speedy A to zip from 168 to 145. Hemiola-esque is the wrong term but comes to mind - two different steady rhythms lining up in one coordinated dance. A complicated feat, to succeed!
Either that, or, I've overlooked a track. Which, my daytime skepticism tells me, seems more likely. (Else, couldn't we please, please, please have my dream come true: an express from 207 to 175???) I'll have to keep an eye open next time I'm trekking through!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)