MTA confirms that ‘disabled train’ announcement was really for a bathroom break
Photo via Flickr cc
In the summer of 2017, the MTA implemented a new policy to get rid of stock recordings (“we are delayed because of train traffic ahead of us” or “we are being held momentarily by the train’s dispatcher”) and “give more detailed announcements” when trains are delayed. And it looks like they have now taken their honesty campaign to Twitter, correcting a rider that his train was not delayed by another disabled train but rather because “one train crew member had to make an emergency pitstop to the restroom.”
The train is not disabled. One train crew member had to make an emergency pitstop to the restroom. That train is now on the move. ^JP
— NYCT Subway (@NYCTSubway) December 11, 2018
As the New York Times reported last year, the MTA’s shift came after an F train broke down two months earlier and left riders stuck for 45 minutes in dark and hot cars. The entire time, they only received the “train traffic ahead of us” announcement, when clearly there was more going on. The next morning, the Daily News called this line, “the biggest lie told in New York City each day.”
In other delay-related efforts, the MTA recently announced that it would double the speed limit on parts of the N and R lines in Brooklyn from 15 miles per hour to as much as 30 miles per hour, with plans to do the same at 100 locations by the spring. And last week, NYC Transit President Andy Byford announced “the appointment of an internationally renowned signaling expert to lead the comprehensive modernization of New York City’s subway signal system.” But at the end of the day, we all need a bathroom break sometimes…
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