Enjoying that fare hike that went into place over the weekend? ($2.25 per ride now, hooray!) Here’s another reason to be annoyed with the MTA:
Not surprising, but still troubling: A new study from the University of Washington and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health shows that subways are the loudest forms of mass transit in the city. Some of the noise levels recorded in the subway exceeded 100 decibels, which is loud enough to cause permanent hearing loss for regular straphangers if they’re exposed to it for even as little as two minutes a day.
Lovely. Oh, by the way, if you’ve noticed your weekend commute feels longer than usual, it’s not just you:
[A]ccording an internal memo from NYC Transit President Howard Roberts, straphangers probably won’t notice too much—he said they’re already used to the longer waits because of the weekend construction they already put up with. [I]t turns out that all the feet dragging that led to the eleventh-hour bailout may be to blame since MTA officials say transit workers had already locked in their summer schedules under the original proposal. Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign told the News, “Instead of aiming to improve things, transit officials want to make it official that weekend service stinks!”
Pissed off about the dismal state of the MTA and other transportation-related issues in NYC? Join MYD’s Transportation Issues Committee and get involved today.
