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Tags: Bridges / San Francisco Travel / San Francisco / Oakland / Oakland Travel / Public Transportation / Accidents / → All Tags
When Bridges Attack: SF's Bay Bridge Closes Indefinitely
Where you perhaps planning on driving over to Oakland from San Francisco to check out why we named Oakland as one of the Five Cities With A Bad Rap worth visiting? It's too bad you'll be cut off from the goodness for who knows how long, after steel cables snapped last night, hitting three cars on the roadway below and stopping up traffic for over two hours.
There were no injuries when the bridge cracked its metal whip, but repairs and general safety issues will keep the region's busiest bridge shut down at least through tonight. Granted, the pieces that snapped were themselves an emergency repair made over Labor Day weekend, but now we're generally worried about bridge fatigue; perhaps we should be putting pennies into boxes for "Save The Steel Bridges" instead of Ronald McDonald House?
Public transporation options, after the jump.
Tags: Public Transportation / Dubai Travel / Subways / → All Tags
Dubai's First Subway Opens, And Not Of The Cold Cut Combo Variety
Dubai is a city of many superlatives, and as a result of their trying to build for themselves a great entertaining metropolis, the city seems constantly under construction. At least one major product was finished this month however, as the Arabian Gulf's first metro system opened on 09/09/09, transporting more than 366,968 in its first week and some 60,000 people this last Friday alone.
The metro is comprised of 11 trains and two lines, green and red, and is already seeing congestion with passengers more than eager to leave their cars at home. The five busiest stations even have attendants wearing "ask me" buttons; they are: Al Rashidya station, City Center, Union Square, Mall of Emirates and Nakheel Harbour and Tower. According to PSFK, "Dubai has been attempting to diversify its oil-dependent economy for some time... [and] has come to be seen by many as a leader in forging the Gulf’s way to more sustainable infrastructural development."
Tags: Public Transportation / Strikes / The Tube / London Travel / → All Tags
London's Underground Expected to Come to a Halt as Strike Begins
If you're in London, you won't need to "Mind the Gap." You'll need to mind the underground strike that's threatening the city tonight. Thousands of London's unionized underground workers are expected to stay away from their posts for the next 48 hours as part of a protest over pay and disciplinary issues. And the timing couldn't be worse.
About 3.5 million people use the subway system, colloquially known as 'The Tube,' every weekday, and its closure is expected to cause disruption across the capital. It's also expected to cause problems for the thousands of fans coming to north London's Wembley Stadium for England's World Cup qualifying soccer match against Andorra on Wednesday.
Backup plans have been put into place such as extra buses, taxi-sharing at major rail stations and free river shuttle services. And of course, walking and cycling are encouraged.
Related Stories:
· London faces travel chaos as subway workers strike [AP]
· Underground strike begins as talks collapse [Times Uk]
Tags: Subways / Public Transportation / Fare Hikes / New York City Travel / Hotels / → All Tags
NYC Bus and Subway Rides Now Cost $2.25 Each Time You Swipe
You better bring a little extra spending dough when you come to New York this summer. After months of speculation, the NYC Metropolitan Transportation Authority has bumped up the price of a one-way bus and subway fare from $2 to $2.25. This is less than the initial proposal of $2.50 but still crappy all the same.
The new prices go into effect on June 28. And it's not just mass transportation that will be affected. There will also be a taxi surcharge increase of 50 cents.
Fortunately, one hotel is trying to take the sting out of the fare hike. The Wyndham Garden Hotel Manhattan Chelsea, a new property which just opened last fall, is offering guests who stay a minimum of two nights a complimentary one-day MetroCard and customized step-by-step (literally) subway and bus directions from HopStop.com. Although we suggest practicing your passback with your hotel roomie before you hit up the subway turnstiles, just so you aren't in our way when we're coming through.
Rates at the hotel start at $189 a night. Use the promo rate plan "SUBWAY" to book online.
Related Stories:
· Do Not Want: Possible New York Subway Fare Hike [Jaunted]
[Photo: phrenologist]
Tags: TripTrop / Travel Websites / New York City / Public Transportation / → All Tags
Red is Your Friend with TripTrop Travel Time NYC
Tired of trying to explain to visitors how long it will really take for them to reach LaGuardia without the aid of a taxi? Or perhaps you are a tourist yourself, vainly attempting to juggle a visit to a pizzeria in Brooklyn with an Upper East Side dinner date with old friends. No matter the circumstances, so long as you're pressed for time in New York City, new website TripTrop is your savior.
Combining the average length of time for a person to travel between locations in the Big Apple by both subway and walking, TripTrop displays this information via a fun, rainbow map where red is your friend and blue means you might as well take a helicopter.
In the map above, we've plotted travel times from Times Square, which then displays anything within 10 minutes in the happy red, which cools down in color as the travel time increases.
Sadly, this handy little web tool is only available for New York City right now, but we can totally envision the Google grids of public transportation-friendly cities like San Francisco, Chicago and London underneath its spectrum. Until other cities join in on the TripTrop fun, however, we'll just be over here a gas at how close yet how far away is Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Related Stories:
· TripTrop NYC [Official Site]
· TripTrop NYC: Visualizing Travel Time [PSFK]
· Travel Websites Coverage [Jaunted]
[Image: TripTrop]
Tags: New York City / Subways / Public Transportation / → All Tags
Do Not Want: Possible New York Subway Fare Hike
For once, the New York subway air is thick with a different stench. Today, the city sits on the edge of its seat and sniffs the acrid wafts of a rumor coming true: the transit authority is voting for a fare hike. Although we won't hear the official word until later today, when they've exhausted all options for bailout plans and tired of tap dancing around budgets, the proposed 25% hike will mean some serious shelling out for commuters and tourists alike.
If there's one major benefit to such price increases in public transportation, it's that more people consider biking and walking, but as everyone knows, New York has this problem with erratic drivers and terrorizing taxis. Then there are the tourists, who thrive on the single ride cards and yet jump around the city in tune with their guidebooks. With the subway prices going from $2.00 a ride to $2.50, a family of four would do well to budget $50 for a day of sightseeing. To calculate how this will impact everyone underneath the blue skies of the five boroughs, Gothamist has arranged a neat list:
Tags: Charlotte Field Trip / Public Transportation / Train Travel / Light Rail / → All Tags
Say Meow To The Charlotte LYNX
On your next layover in Charlotte, don't be afraid to check out the city if you have the time. There’s a lot more to do than to just chill out on those rocking chairs between the terminals. Here are some tips for getting around quickly.
Late in 2007, Charlotte cut the ribbon on its new light rail system. The LYNX Blue Line connects Uptown (which non-residents would think of as downtown) with a portion of the outer 485 beltline to the south. Of course the initial response was positive, but as things moved forward the criticism began to roll in. Some even wondered if the whole project was worth it and questioned its profitability.
Tags: Street Art / Artists / JR / Public Transportation / → All Tags
Art Not Just For Art's Sake in Kenya
Not all art is strictly about the aestetic, some pieces provide an important function in the community like the large black and white photographs installed this week on rooftops across Kibera, Kenya. The intimate photos, taken by photographer JR, act as a second roof, protecting the village’s delicate structures from water damage, a vital job in one of Africa’s worst slums.
Over 2,000 feet of rooftops were covered with pictures of the faces of the women of Kibera. As part of the installation JR also covered a train that passes through the village twice a day with images of the women’s eyes and then plastered the bottom half of their faces on a slope just below the tracks.
This way, when the train passes through it completes the women’s faces. A gallant effort considering the only things wrapped around buses in America are advertisements. The collection of rooftop faces is the artist’s most grandiose project to date, so large it can be seen on Google Earth.
Tags: Train Travel / Public Transportation / Travel Woes / → All Tags
Worst Week Ever
The past week has not been the best week ever for train travel. London’s worst snow storm in nearly 20 years caught the city off guard and left most railways at a standstill or delayed at best. Yesterday, several Tube stations were closed, the Circle line was fully suspended, and there was a partial suspension on the Central, Bakerloo, Jubilee, Piccadilly, Metropolitan and District lines. In addition to the trains, Heathrow Airport cancelled all flights and authorities urged residents to stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary.
On the other side of the world in Melbourne, Australia, trains were halted over the weekend as a heat wave buckled tracks and caused havoc on the power grid, leaving nearly 100,000 people without power. Balancing out London’s rare snow fall, Melbourne’s temperatures reached a record breaking 40 degrees Celsius. Crews worked around the clock to repair the aging train tracks but still left thousands without transportation.
Tags: Weather / London Travel / LHR / Public Transportation / Travel Hell / → All Tags
London is Closed for Business
What the Blitz and terrorists have failed to do, the weather has done. London is on its knees today (or at least buried up to its knees) under a whole seven inches of snow.
Three of the five London airports are shut, mainline trains are down, only two of the 11 underground trains are running properly and all 5 million buses have been taken off the roads.
And because of (read: thanks to) that, there’s barely anyone about. Ever diligent, we made it into work this morning, to be confronted with tumbleweed blowing around the office. London Underground staff were using commuter paper Metro to mop up the water this morning, while afternoon paper thelondonpaper* reduced its print run from 500,000 to 150,000 to compensate for the lack of readers about.
Tags: Travel Health / Public Transportation / Fitness Travel / → All Tags
Walk, Don’t Ride, London's Underground
You might think that the London underground train system--also called the tube--is a convenient and fast way to get around the city. But in fact, it's making you fat.
What you really need to know is how many calories you can burn by walking between stations instead. So an insurance company has released a map of the subway that shows how many steps there are between each station.
That means next time you want to get from a shopping expedition at Harrods (Knightsbridge station) to meet a friend at oft-photographed Piccadilly Circus, this nifty map can tell you it'll take just 2,989 steps. That's 90 calories burned, and your tube fare saved. See, we’re lookin' out for your health.
Related Stories:
· Keep Fit Tube Map Unveiled [Business Traveller]
· Subway Travel: London's Oyster Coming to Cell Phones [Jaunted]
· London Travel Guide [Jaunted]
Tags: Public Transportation / Crime / CSI / Gerald McCullouch / Subways / → All Tags
Do Not Do: Travel With CSI's Gerald McCullouch
A high-profile mugging on the New York City subway, on one of the lines leading from JFK, is splashed all over the news today as an example of the city's dangerous public transportation system. But we say the NY media is just being their usual sensationalist selves, fueled by a publicity-hungry actor. Here's why we're not worried about riding the subway.
First, some background. Gerald McCullouch, who plays Bobby Dawson on "CSI: Original Flavor," was taking the A train back towards the city from the airport at 2am Saturday when he was allegedly attacked by a knife-wielding passenger. As the train pulled into the Utica Avenue stop in Brooklyn, McCulloch had his laptop open, on which he was editing a YouTube video and charging his iPhone. Cuz that's what we all do on a train from the airport at 2am, right?
Suddenly, a man approached him and and tried to snatch the laptop. The two men got into a fistfight, because, as McCulloch said:
I didn’t want to give up my computer after working on my video all that time.
Also McCullouch just happened to be boxing about eight hours before this incident so he was all punch drunk anyways. McCullouch said he managed to fend off his attacker, who was holding a 10-inch blade, until other passengers alerted the conductor to stop the train. Police boarded and arrested the alleged assailant on the spot.
