“F” Is For “Fucked” On The F Train

the other morning,
well the morning i first started the temp job,
i was early af and the mta decided to play me.

“There is train traffic ahead of us”

it had us stuck in a tunnel for about 15 minutes.
by that point,
my anxiety started to get the best of me.
it wasn’t the type of train we could walk between cars.
it felt like i was in a packed steel box.
i had to turn on the “brilliant idiots” podcast to keep me focused.
thank God for charlamagne and andrew.
so i’m surprised no one sued yet with this following story.
the “f” train in new yawk stalls in a tunnel,
the lights shut off,
the a/c goes out,
and panic ensues.
sounds like a horror movie.
well this is the story via the ny times

On Monday evening, passengers were stranded without power between the West 4th Street and Broadway-Lafayette Street stations, a 45-minute ordeal in which the cars became overheated, causing some riders to panic and one woman to strip nearly naked as they waited in the dark to be rescued, passengers said.

“It felt like a greenhouse. It felt like we were going to suffocate,” said Michael Sciaraffo, 36, an analyst for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. He was on his way home to Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, when the train slowed to a halt and suddenly went silent and black. “We were trying to keep cool. We were coming close to the point where people were ready to start flipping out,” he said. “We were teetering toward that.”

Adding to the anxiety, passengers said, was a long pause with no announcement from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority about the cause. Mr. Sciaraffo said the first announcement said their train was held up by traffic delays.

“Then we got word that the train broke down,” he said. “How could you lie to us and keep us like this, uninformed?” he asked, referring to the transit agency. “That’s when it really turned up, people started getting anxiety, claustrophobia.” He said a woman in his car removed her shirt and pants to avoid overheating, and other passengers shielded her with their coats for privacy.

A train supervisor arrived at the southbound F train at about 6:30 p.m., 10 minutes after the power went out, and entered the rear of the train, Kevin Ortiz, a spokesman for the transit agency, wrote by email. At that time, riders were informed that the train “was unable to take power,” Mr. Ortiz said.

About 6:45 p.m., the train was recharged and was able to inch into the Broadway-Lafayette station. The train operator was instructed to pull the front of the train past the station platform so that the train behind it could enter and let passengers off, Mr. Ortiz said, explaining why the doors on the first train could not immediately open.

The doors on the train “were opened within five minutes of pulling into the station, and customers were discharged” about 7:05 p.m., he said. The first announcement to customers by the train crew is under review, he added.

During that 45-minute wait, riders tried to claw open the doors for air, said Chris Ebelhar, a passenger. A person chanted, “‘Find your happy place, find your happy place,’” he said. Panic increased when passengers realized that the doors at each end were locked, he said. “If there was a fire, we would have all died or just burned up,” he said. “We couldn’t open windows. It was insane.”

Mr. Sciaraffo said that when the train rolled into the station, “The conductor said, ‘Do not open these doors at all until further notice.’ And everyone started going crazy.”

Videos posted on social media by passengers waiting on the platform captured fingers shooting through the rubber strips between the train doors. When the doors opened, the sweaty passengers escaped.

40 minutes tho?
someone(s) could have died.
that is enough to make someone go crazy down there.
i’m sure someone is cooking up a lawsuit as we font.
hopefully,
that will get the mta’s entire shit together with the fuck shit.

article cc: the new york times

read the entire ordeal from a passenger on: facebook

13 thoughts on ““F” Is For “Fucked” On The F Train

  1. Damn, I went to NYC last year in September and it was unusually hot from what I was told by some natives. I stayed in Harlem on this trip and utilize the Subway quiet a bit. On the first night there after leaving Times Square we were told we would have to exit the train at an exit that was a couple of miles from our destination due to construction on the train line, mind you it was 11pm at night. My crew sort of panicked because we barely had learned to ride the train earlier that day, we are not from NYC and we had no idea what the hell we were going to do. Thank God for Uber. I cant imagine living here and having to depend on the subway to go everywhere. Riding the subway had my anxiety on 10 every time I took it. I kept playing in my mind that it was going to be a terrorist attack or something crazy.

    I cant even imagine what these people went through, I hate to get hot and to be hot and trapped is a nightmare scenario that I would rather not even think about. It gets so damn hot in that tunnel, and its no air down there, I was sweating horribly and this was at night due to the heat outside. It is not that bad above ground but night or day when its hot outside its almost unbearable waiting for that train to come. The first time I came to NYC was a couple years before 9/11 and I was naive and thought the Subway was fun and of course terrorist attacks were the furthest thing from my mind but now I get paranoid on any form of public transportation, even in my own city. Life in NYC is already no joke and to constantly have to put up with the Bi-Polar subway system will drive even the most sane person crazy. I love New York, but no thank you about having to live there and rely on public transportation.

    1. Normally, they provide shuttle buses if the train is not completing its stops due to construction.

      1. ^They do use shuttle service when service goes out…but that’s even worse sometimes.

  2. This is why I don’t fuck with the subway system! Aside from the whack jobs that are down there, the oppressive heat during the summer and constant breakdowns are enough to keep me away.

    LOL. My brother told me that when he used to drive the bus, some drivers from his depot would purposely leave the air off on their bus, because they had little air units/fans where they sat..so they would be cool. That is just wrong on so many levels.

    1. Christian, pray that you never live in a city that is virtually devoid of decent public transit. I’m back in New York and I made a vow that after the ordeal I went thru in FL, I would never complain about the MTA.

      1. I am grateful that there are MANY ways to get around. The subway system is antiquated, and because of that, it leads to problems all over the place.

        I used to ride the LIRR into Manhattan for many years, straight into Penn Station. MANY nights, and DAYS, we were stuck trying to get home (as I’m sure you’ve seen on the news lately) and if you’re paying close to $300 a month…that’s just unacceptable. You look for alternative methods, but as cheap as the subway is…it’s not worth the hassle. I’ll jump my ass on an Express bus and call it a day.

        Getting back to the MTA and its antiquated system. If they utilized their capital spending mre wisely, we might be able to get a better transit system going. Yeah we have outdated stations and payment methods (which they’re updating) but put the money into the EQUIPMENT first. We will always have issues though because Manhattan is an island. It’s tunnel systems leak badly, one serious storm (and Superstorm Sandy was a glancing blow) and it’s a wrap! They’re STILL trying to repair the salt/erosion damage from that storm.

  3. The trains should have those emergency knobs right?

    Something like that happened to me on Monday where a I had to go through 2 hours of breakdowns and maneuvering around them. It also doesn’t help that my phone is really bad right now.

      1. -Train was stuck for 30 minutes at first because a train ahead of us broke
        -We had to get off and take the opposite train back to the end of the line.
        – Slowing move (because it was so crowded) to the proper part of the platform to get on another train.
        – Made some progress but had another delay that too 10-15 minutes.
        – Finally got off the train at about 9:30. I initially boarded on at 7:30

        But the next day it was a nice empty ass train.

    1. ^those emergency knobs don’t work once the train is off.
      that is to alert the conductor.
      i bet his ass was up in his seat cooling while those folks suffered and panicked smh

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