Weekend Subway Service Almost Delays Education

New York City subway riders know service stinks on weekends. Throw in some financial cut backs and construction and you have the elements for a miserable commute. NYC Transit released figures showing more than half of all weekend subway trains are delayed, and almost all of the delays are due to construction. My last weekend subway trip almost delayed my college education.

Metropolitan College of New York (MCNY) had scheduled an open house for August 15, 2009 11am-1pm. Perfect I thought, I could get my necessary immunization (MMR booster) for the Fall 2009 semester for free and wouldn't be burdened with submitting proof. I live in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. I am a 5 minute walk from the J train and a 15 minute walk from the C train. MCNY is in lower Manhattan on Canal street a block over from the A/C.

I woke up Saturday morning at 8am. I wanted to make sure I didn't miss the immunizations. My plan was to be there when they started, get the shot, get out and get back to Brooklyn. It was forecast to be one of those unbearably hot humid days. I wanted no part of it. I left my house at 10am. I arrived at the college at 12:35pm. Did I mention it was the weekend?

The ride on the Manhattan bound J train from Gates Ave in Brooklyn to the A/C train connection at Broadway-Nassau/Fulton Street is approximately 35 minutes. The Canal street station is two stops away on uptown A/C trains. It turns out that the J train was only going as far as Chambers street. No problem. I decided to get off J train at the Essex Street and switch to the uptown F train. I could take the F train to West 4th street and switch to a downtown A/C train. I was wrong. The F trains were running Uptown from Essex Street due to construction. So, I took the downtown F train back to the Jay Street-Borough Hall station in Brooklyn and switched to what I thought was a downtown A train. It was actually an A train on the F line making all local stops until West 4^th Street where it would again become an A train again. I won't make you any dizzier by sharing the details of the return trip.

It wasn't so much the diversions, garbled inaudible announcements and unbearable heat in and out of the subway stations. It was the fact that there wasn't a single sign anywhere around the J train entrance at Gate Avenue in Brooklyn, where this arduous journey began. Maybe if there had been I could have evaluated another route and not arrived for my shot sweating like a heroin abuser. Maybe not. I got there in time and received my shot. I will be in class September 2, 2009 bright and early.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't as serious as I originally stated. The worse that would have happened is I miss the shots. I could after all have gotten shots at a clinic or on another day. However, speaking to Metro NY Newspaper on July the 27th, 2009, Subway boss Howard Roberts said there will be weekend work "after everyone is no longer around." Thankfully my classes are on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Sources:
http://www.metro.us/us/article/2009/07/28/04/4117-82/index.xml

http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/