Better way to keep trains clean
A train stopped in one of the stations of London's tube. Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto/MarioGuti
Anyone who has traveled around Europe’s major cities like London or Paris and used their transit systems may have realized that they shut down for a few hours a day. They are closed from about midnight to about 5 a.m. This allows for cleaning and ongoing maintenance of the system.
In New York, almost daily we see and hear news telling us of major delays due to maintenance failures in our system. The man who was in charge, Andy Byford, had a lot of knowledge in this area. However, he recently quit. To make matters worse, police are often bullied by New York’s mayor, causing morale to be low and that makes them less effective.
If our system would shut down at midnight, people working the midnight shift could use buses, hail rides or drive their own cars to get to work. If we duplicate Europe’s transit system, we could have a much-improved traveling experience and there might be less crime in our subways.
George T. DeSpirito,
Williston Park
We need more rest areas on the LIE
After performing at a blood drive today, I was driving to another job on the LIE. I felt my eyes closing, and planned to stop at the rest stop area. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it. With the windows open, the radio blasting, I suddenly found myself scraping the right lane divider and totaled my car.
While following the tow truck in my wife’s car, I saw the sign (after the rest stop) proclaiming “you snooze, you lose.”
True, but there are no “cut-out areas” to stop. In the United Kingdom, there are clearly marked areas to pull over if you’re tired. They are numerous on all types of roads. If you pull into the breakdown lane on the LIE to snooze, you risk getting a ticket.
I snoozed. I lost — and found out I didn’t have collision on my policy, so I really lost. Had there been an area to pull over, I would have done so instead of trying to make it to the rest stop.
Yes, it was entirely my fault. But perhaps we can emulate the United Kingdom and provide more places to pull over safely on the LIE.
Russell Alexander,
Brentwood
