Photo Courtesy of Riders Alliance
Worst Commute of the Week winner will be awarded a chocolate MetroCard.
By Michael V. Cusenza
A leading straphanger advocacy group that in recent months has become a gadfly of Gov. Andrew Cuomo did little to endear itself to the Empire State executive branch on Thursday, launching what it characterized as “a new way to highlight the disaster that [subway] riders are experiencing every day: a weekly competition for ‘Worst Commute of the Week.’”
“Yet again this morning, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers had what could well be the worst commute of the week,” Danny Pearlstein, Policy & Communications director of the Riders Alliance, said on Thursday. “Governor Cuomo’s subway system suffered signal problems on eight lines, sick passengers on three and mechanical problems on three more, grinding service to a halt across the city. As a small consolation, the Riders Alliance will reward New Yorkers with a chocolate MetroCard for the worst commute of the week until the governor enacts a sustainable, progressive long-term plan to fund the modernization of the subway.”
Using the hashtag #WorstCommute, transit riders are now invited to submit their own “infuriating experiences underground” in 100 words or less to RA, which will select a weekly “winner” and share the worst tales of transit—every single week—with Cuomo and members of the State Senate and Assembly, “until the governor leads the Legislature to passage of a long-term plan to fund and fix the transit system,” the group said.
Riders Alliance on Tuesday announced the first Worst Commute winner.
“I was in a hurry to get home and didn’t use the bathroom, figuring my 30-minute commute from Manhattan to Queens wasn’t going to be so bad,” Jennifer Tang, a City University of New York librarian, wrote in her contest submission on Friday. “I was one stop away from home when the R train came to a complete halt. The conductor said ‘signal problems’ at 71st-Continental Avenue (Forest Hills) were to blame. The last five minutes became TWO HOURS, as the train was stuck in the tunnel between the 63rd Drive and 67th Avenue stations. By the time the train pulled into the 67th Avenue station, I had to run to a nearby Starbucks in order to [relieve herself]. It was unbelievable and I still have post traumatic stress syndrome from this incident. Now, before boarding the subway, even if it’s for one stop, I use the bathroom before I get on the torture chamber that is the MTA subway.”
Subway riders can submit stories via Facebook, by tagging @RidersNY on Twitter, or on the website ridersny.org/worstcommute.
