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A perfect storm of problems on the subway led to truly awful commutes for thousands of New Yorkers on Thursday morning. Just after 7:30am, the MTA reported that track debris at 72nd Street led to extensive delays and service changes on the 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 trains. Shortly after that, a sick passenger at Union Square caused 4 and 5 trains to temporarily stop running. An hour after that, the MTA announced that switch problems at Queensboro Plaza were causing delays on northbound N, Q and W trains. All of this was happening while mechanical problems at 34th Street and Herald Square caused delays on F and M trains, and signal problems at Brooklyn Bridge and City Hall gummed up service on the 6 train.
Get all that?
What followed was rampant platform overcrowding that brought the commutes of straphangers across the city to a frustrating, grinding halt.
New York City's subway system has been the center of debate this year. Today's delays were just the latest in a long run of problems that have left more than six million frustrated and have caused employees across the city to miss thousands of hours of work. The MTA released an emergency plan to fix the subway over the summer, but this commute was a blunt reminder that remedies for many of the system's issues are still a long way off.
But hey, at least we've started getting countdown clocks (sort of).