I signed up a year ago for weekend service change alerts on the 2, 3 and Q, but what used to be a weekly update has now become a daily blizzard of notifications. I suppose it's helpful in real time for people with i-Phones and Blackberries. But when I see it, at the end of a day, it paints a picture of variously and continuously disrupted service.Perhaps not coincidentally, the new notification system came in about the same time that service became more unpredictable - about two weeks ago, perhaps three. Since that time, trains on every line I've been on have been more infrequent, more crowded, and more likely to stop between stations. What's happening? The money's running out that's what. To keep the MTA running smoothly, with its 500+ stations and goodness knows how many trains, station attendants, subway cops, signal and trackwork people, etc., takes more money than the MTA has. It wants to raise fares again, and the governor's proposing East River bridge tolls and commuter taxes, too - and that would just keep service at current levels.
When "we all fall down," we do all fall down, huh. The American economy feels like a poorly built structure collapsing; the rotting hulk of our infrastructure only makes it worse.
