Metro-North Commuter Railroad Company

New Year's Eve Guide: Wild Card

MTA's "Hurricane Plan" Calls For "Orderly Shutdown" If Frankenstorm's Winds Top 39 MPH

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) just sent us its plan for what it will do if the storm that's predicted to basically be the storm to end all storms hits New York City.For now, the MTA is suspending construction on almost all subway construction projects it had planned for the weekend ... More >>

The Rise and Fall of Westchester Punk

Anarchy in the 914

Medical Marijuana Comes to Connecticut

For our Northeastern neighbor, it's a shame 4/20 was two weeks ago. This morning, after 10 hours of debate, the Connecticut Senate voted 21 to 13 on a bill that will legalize marijuana for medical usage. After already being cleared in the House, the "green" legislation heads to the desk of Gove ... More >>

Rapping Train Conductor Plays His Heart Out on the Harmonica

Who said train conductors were mean, boring stickler-ish types shushing you in the quiet car, punching your tickets through a thinly disguised veneer of hatred, and kicking you off the train after you pee drunkenly in the vestibule? Train conductors are fun, too! Some of them are even sort of comedi ... More >>

Holiday Guide: Heat-Seeking Victuals

A five-borough tour of winter warm-up meals

How to Use Your iPhone in Westchester

Here is a fellow casually talking on his old-world landline, which is attached to his new-world iPhone. Remember landlines, how good they felt next to your ear, how solid and sturdy and there? We were so young and innocent then! Don't you want to relive those days? This guy does.

Smoking On Outdoor Train Platforms Now Banned

​Governor Cuomo signed a bill today that will ban smoking on outdoor train platforms operated by the MTA, including the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North. He said, "It is important that commuters are not unwillingly subject to the dangers of second-hand smoke while waiting on train platforms." ... More >>

The Wassaic Project is Happening This Weekend

​The Wassaic Project, the third annual art festival that fills a meadow with campers, turns a barn into a movie theater, and stuffs and a seven story silo with art, is happening this weekend. We went last year, and had about as much fun as you can have at a camping/art festival this side of Bl ... More >>

Irate iPhone Asshole Goes on Tirade Against Bus Driver [NSFW]

Well, every MTA rider has, at one point or another, been too close to a temper tantrum, but now thanks to the internet, we can all experience the unpleasantness together from the comfort of our own computers. Whereas the haughty NYU girl on Metro-North was laughably arrogant but unthreateningly angr ... More >>

Comments of the Week: Village Voice T-Shirt Giveaway, Round Two!

​And we're back. Once again we're offering a snazzy Village Voice t-shirt to some of our notable commenters. This week, we even had a local celebrity weigh in. If your comment was picked, email web editor Francesca Stabile to claim your prize.

Metro-North Conductor Screeched At By 'Well-Educated' Woman

The award for most insufferable person of the week goes (not without a challenge) to the woman yelling at her Metro-North conductor, who calmly asked the customer to "keep it down and stop using profanity or to take it to the vestibule," according to the YouTube description. "Do you know what school ... More >>

One Metro-North Train Car Has Secret Wi-Fi

​There is, apparently, one train car on the New Haven line of Metro-North that has a secret. A secret called "Wi-Fi." Via Second Avenue Sagas, the MTA is keeping mum about which car it is because service is "not ready for prime time." Of course, it would be easy enough for a person to identify ... More >>

The MTA Can Text...Sort of

​If you're a Metro-North commuter, the MTA will now text you train schedules and other important information as to the status of your ride. Well, not the MTA, exactly: A technology company named CooCoo is providing the service updates, which are already available for Long Island Rail Road cust ... More >>

Central Park Gets 9 Inches of Snow; There's Snow on the Ground in 49 of 50 States

via @DevonGrandy/Twitpic​The snow count is in. We got 9.1 inches last night (according to numbers in Central Park, via NY1). That does not a blizzard make, but it's pretty, for the moment! No major public transport delays, though the MTA has issued a Winter Weather Service Advisory. In related ... More >>

The Blizzard of 2010: We'll Be Telling the Grandkids About This One!

Tompkins Square Park, through the snow.​Is there a name for this thing yet? Snowmaggedon? Thundersnow? Blizza-palooza? That day people were trapped outside of New York City, while those (okay, one or two) inside it actually skied to work? And the rest of us hunkered down and tried not to have ... More >>

Snow Blows MTA's Timing on New Subway House Ads

​Late December probably wasn't the best time to roll out those new MTA house ads. Cars on this afternoon's much delayed A trains carried a new credo that made you stop and ponder a bit: "A city is only as good as its transit system," reads one sprawling card, part of the new "Improving, Non-st ... More >>

Skyy Vodka's New Ad Features Woman-on-Bottle Sex; $80 British Navy Rum Now Available in NYC

​Skyy vodka is sexing up its image with a new ad that features a woman in red shiny tights and spike heels appearing to have sex with a giant Skyy vodka bottle. [USA Today] White Dog is all the rage these days, but people aren't just drinking it. They're also making it at home, despite the fa ... More >>

What You Drink, When You're Commuting

​The New York Times has offered up a rather fascinating exploration of what commuters drink while traveling on New York's various booze-serving transport options. And while we can only assume these stats on the $9 million bar car industry pertain to the commute home and not to work, we won't j ... More >>

Breaking: Track Fire on Metro North (With Pictures!)

​Here's how New Yorkers are starting their week: with a huge fire on Metro North at Harlem River Drive and Park Avenue. Via the Wall Street Journal: "Metro-North identified it as the 138th Street lift bridge on the Harlem River. Train service was suspended at 11:45 a.m." Someone must've had an ... More >>

Your "Wait, What?" of the Day: NY1 Can't See Their Heads in Front of Their Own Faces

​Blockquotes! Those magical parts of blog posts bloggers use to fill space with information they're too laze to re-purpose themselves: they happen. And sometimes, when bloggers like this one throw a paragraph in blockquotes, they're too blithe to notice the intensely "WTF" part of them they mi ... More >>

MetroNorth and the LIRR Have Spent $300,000 Repairing People's Pants

Howard Stevens leans on the same type of armrest that snagged his pocket a few months ago.​In 2002, the LIRR installed new train cars. Two years later, MetroNorth installed the same M-7 cars on the Hudson and Harlem lines. Everyone likes a shiny new train car, except...these "new" trains have ... More >>

Your Unlimited Metrocard Is Going to Cost You $130 (Or More)

This is suddenly a very expensive way to travel.​We knew it would happen, and it did: Subway fares are going up early next year, according to a plan introduced today by the MTA. One proposal might mean your actually unlimited (a/k/a, no caps on number of rides per month, a/k/a, unlimited) metr ... More >>

Styles P Wrote a Novel

The hard-boiled NYC rapper has found a new artistic medium for his badassness

The Many Thankful Screw-ups of Broadway Bomber Faisal Shahzad

​ There are a slew of new details today on klutzy failed car-bomber Faisal Shahzad's many missteps. Each one is deserving of a separate prayer of thanks that our latest attacker may have held an MBA, but apparently fell well short of the threshold for a Boy Scout preparedness badge. First the ... More >>

Coming Soon: Cell Service Literally Everywhere ... Starting With Grand Central

​If your dream of the future involves constant wireless connectivity and the ability to Tweet or text or update your Facebook status from, like, anywhere, your dream is nigh. The MTA has approved a licensing agreement to construct "a state-of-the-art, multi-carrier wireless commercial network" ... More >>

Last Call for Bar Cars on Metro-North; Bill Gates Launches a Food Fund

​The bar car on the Metro-North may be going the way of the in-flight meal. A new fleet of cars will soon replace the 1970s-era models, but budget constraints may force the railroad to forgo a fresh set of bar cars. [NY Times] Kobe beef lovers, beware: Japan has suspended beef exports for thr ... More >>

Morning Links: Apple Making Serious Bank, Doorman Strike Averted, Shepard Fairey Begins

​Here's what's on our minds (and in the news) this morning: • Apple posts its best non-holiday quarter in history. The company said net income in the quarter that ended March 31 rose 90 percent, to $3.07 billion. (Which is not quite what Goldman Sachs made, but getting on up there.) • Ai ... More >>

MTA Wants High-Speed Wireless Internet on Metro-North and LIRR Trains

​According to the Post, the Metropolitan Transit Authority is asking for bids from service providers to make high-speed wireless internet available to riders on Metro-North and LIRR commuter trains serving Westchester, Connecticut and Long Island. The final plan may or may not be free to non- ... More >>

More about the snow

Queens in the snow​According to the National Weather Service, the snow is over (until Christmas, when we can expect rain, snow and sleet). After this, it's just going to blow around. Their last official accumulation numbers were 6" at LaGuardia, 11.1" at Kennedy, and 9.1" in Central Park as of ... More >>

The City Moves Forward With Plans for East Harlem Kitchen Incubator

The city has put together some innovative plans to help people grapple with the recession in recent months -and at least one of them will please foodies all over the city. By the year's end, the city's Economic Development Corporation says it will outfit a 4,000 square-foot commercial kitchen in Eas ... More >>

iPhone App-Maker Publishes Train Schedules; MTA Demands a Cut

​Plucky commuter Chris Schoenfeld made an iPhone app called Station Stops that tells you when Metro North trains are scheduled to arrive and depart. He enters and updates the info manually from Metro North's timetables, which we thought was public information. But he says MTA, which runs Metro ... More >>

Weekend Special -- Street Food

All hail the lonely cotton-candy vendor, his wares umbrella'ed above him in pastel, particolored splendor. A harbinger of spring, he waits for the first children to arrive in the park across the street in Richmond Hill, Queens (click to enlarge). At 113th Street and Park Avenue in Ma ... More >>

Happy New Year

Peter McManus', Chelsea, shortly after midnight We'd been warned that Times Square could be hit with a "Mumbai-style attack" on New Year's Eve, so only about a million people showed up. (The celebration in Aspen, Colorado didn't fare so well, but they sure had fun in New Orleans.) On TV Kathy G ... More >>

Yanks, Mets Demanding Even More Cash Than Rod Blagojevich

Pinsky Says New Yankee Stadium "A Home Run"; We Cry Foul

More Advertising for Your Morning Commute

How Much Is That Stadium In The Window?

Elevator Diplomacy

Yankee Stadium gets a walkway, a politician gets a big donation, and you get a fat bill

An Election Surprise ... in New York?!

'Satellite'

May Day: Yes, They Could (Almost)

Theeeeeeeeeeee Yankees Win!

What If You Threw a Contingency Plan but. . .

Cozy Commuting on the Metro North

MTA Strike: Long Treks and ($10) Dollar Vans

Sound Check

On the streets and in courtrooms, convention preliminaries are under way

Close-Up on East Harlem

Mind Body Spirit: Walk on the Mild Side

Enjoy the outdoors, preserve trails, visit historic sites, and relax!

Train Runs Over Rudy

Mayor Stands Up For City, Gets Clobbered By Runaway Commuter Tax Cut