AMNY Subway Tracker

Straphangers gave the F train a C-minus grade overall in the latest rider report card results. The line recieved its lowest grades, two D-pluses, for dirty stations and uninformative train announcements. It garnered its top grades, two B-minuses, for its easy-to-use turnstiles and plentiful MetroCard machines. Straphangers ranked their top-three improvements for the line as: less train delays, shorter wait times and more room on trains during rush hour. Results for other lines can be found here.

The Kensington (Brooklyn) blog reports that councilmen Simcha Felder and Domenic Recchia sent a letter to the MTA, asking why F express service can't be restored in Brooklyn. Then comes the kicker:

At a time when the city's leadership is attempting to convince more New Yorkers to step out of their cars and into mass transit, a fare hike without tangible improvements would severely undermine this effort, the letter says.

After New York City Transit finished collecting rider report cards for the No. 7 line, and just beginning doling out cards for the L line, Transit opened up grading for all lines on the MTA Web site. Straphangers are invited to grade their line in English, Spanish, Chinese or a selection of 10 other languages. Transit has only officially opened two lines for grading--one is now closed--but they'll hold your vote on the other 20 until voting for those lines begins.

--Marlene Naanes

The city’s Department of Small Business Services launched a new promo Next Stop: NYC -- a guide to local biz along the subway. The shops along the F train gets profiled first. Check it out.

Photo via Nootrope

-- Chuck Bennett amNY.com

This is actually a bit of a false image. I took this photo with a passenger seated behind the boxes whom I assumed was the owner of what looked like a suspicious package. But, to my surprise, she followed me off the F train at the next stop, leaving, well, no one..  (at least nearby that is)

I did once see a subway passenger "say something" about a suspicious package. He stopped the doors from closing on a train going uptown at Union Square and hollered for the police. The subway conductor pounded him with the doors while two NYPD officers sauntered (and by saunter I mean I could hear an audible shuffle) toward the door. They waved at the conductor to hold up, but the conductor just kept pounding away. At long last, the officers collected what turned out to be trash and threw it away.

--Lane Johnson

On the Brooklyn bound F train on Monday night there was a guy on my car who made sure he put on his new boots before trekking into the snow. So this guy took these new boots fresh out of the box and changed them on the subway. One problem, though, they were still tied  together in the back by this plastic string. So unable to get the plastic off, the guy kinda had to hop off the train like he was in a potato sack race.
Yeah, that should make it easy to walk through the snow without falling.
— Pete Catapano

I bet against the snow last night, and I lost.

Visiting my parents last night out on Long Island, I thought for sure I could stay over and just catch the LIRR to work in the morning, as I had many times before. The ride started out fine, but once we got past Jamaica, the train slowed to half speed. We stopped at Woodside, and never got started again. They kept us on the train for about 20 minutes, periodically making announcements, while the passengers were furiously making calls to the people they were supposed to meet up with, or their friends in Queens who might be able to pick them up.

Finally, they accepted that the train just wasn't going anywhere, so they sent us off to the 7 train. Which wasn't running to Manhattan because of a stalled train at Hunters Point. At first, they were advising passengers to catch a 7 to Queensboro Plaza, but shortly afterwards they announced that no 7 trains were going any further east than Woodside. We had to get on a Main St-bound 7, going further into Queens, and switch 2 stops later for the E, F, V or R. Once on the E, my ride went pretty smoothly.

All told, my trip from Speonk to Woodside: approx 2 hours. From Woodside to Penn Station: 1 1/2.

-- Emily Hulme

The Blizzard of '06, which is dumping much more snow than had been forecast, is snarling service on several lines, with suspensions or difficulties on portions of the No. 5 in the Bronx, the E and F in Queens and the L in Brooklyn. And factor in more time to get to your destination on lines that are elevated for even a part of their runs. Buses are running with delays of at least 15 minutes. Check in with amNY.com throughout the day for continued coverage, and here's the latest from the MTA.

--Rolando Pujol

At first glance, it seemed that the rodent was transporting a pair of women’s panties — for what purpose I could not imagine. Then the rat dropped the object momentarily and indeed it was a pair of skivvies. Nothing fancy. Just a sensible pair of white cotton underwear.

The rat then picked the undies back up and went on its way.

-- Michael Clancy

On a recent F-train ride towards Brooklyn, I saw one man along with two kids entertaining the passengers with a tightly choreographed hip-hop dance routine.

I'm guessing one the kids was 10 and the other 5 of 6. They were incredibly acrobatic, doing flips and tumbles down the aisle.

But there was a scary moment when the older man pulled up the youngest kid to flip him over his head. The kid hit the ceiling with a loud thud, sparking a gasp from many passengers.

Amazingly, the kid shook it off like a paper cut and immediately did this really cool psuedo-somersault thing. I think I pulled a muscle just by watching it.

--Pete Catapano