Ridin' the MTA

Photo: Eggnog Publications. It was bound to happen. Those groovy newfangled subway cars (which I have so enjoyed on the IRT and 6 Train) have made it to the N line. Instead of a live conductor announcing the stops (at varying levels of intelligibility) there is a pleasant electronically reproduced voice and a digital sign in each car letting you know where you are, what's coming next, and what time it is.

The other night I was coming home from work (quite late, mind you) and the automated system was botched up so that it was about four stops behind. An unfortunate gentleman to my left was trying to get the 42nd Street/Times Square and made the mistake of paying attention to the announcements rather than looking out the window. Sure enough, he was still on the train in the tunnel under the East River--the voice was saying The NEXT stop is...Forty-Ninth Street when in reality we were leaving Manhattan and approaching Queensborough Plaza, the first stop in Queens.

Somebody kindly clued him in, and the poor guy had to get off, walk up to the Manhattan bound platform, and wait OUTSIDE in freezing temperatures for a train back into the city.

I was mainly annoyed that he hadn't gotten off when he wanted to, because he was squished against me the whole way...