Via Garibaldi 8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YeZjLV0LNg

Okay, I see... Have you ever tried doing something or better yet one thing w/o the headset...? lol

Who would be on voice and use data at the same time anyway??? Maybe that's a good thing. Today's society is too overwhelmed w/gadgets anyway. The other day while in Whole Foods, I observed several people just to see if any of them were actually paying attention to what they were doing... One was pushing a shopping cart with her head down texting away on her phone. Another had headphones on w/music blasting in another world.... Both had shopping carts and had no clue where they were going since they already distracted. I'm in favor of technology as I'm big on it also, but at some point there needs to be a balance. These gadgets are just leading to more people spacing out. It's amazing that they're aren't more car accidents and the like. No one can hear anything because they've got the music blasting to block everyone out. No one can see anything because they're zoned out with the iPhones, Blackberries and other smart phones. We've become a society obsessed with gadgets and obsessed w/zoning out, which quite frankly baffles me. I'm actually one of the people responsible for getting folks out of my office in the case of an emergency. It's impossible to get anyone to pay attention when building management gets folks out for training drills because they can't stop texting on their phones. Really ridiculous. These tech companies are so greed and interested in turning a profit. They should be doing more to see that folks are using their products in a responsible manner. Me personally, I only use my gadgets on the express bus at a level where I can hear so that I can be alert should an emergency occur.

lol... I don't know... I think Verizon has always prided itself on having good service. I actually used them for a while when I was back in college and never had any problems with service or billing. I use them now for FiOS and same thing... They have a different set up than AT&T and I don't think they'd take on the iPhone if they couldn't handle it, but I'll wait and see because I actually want to switch my data card and smartphone over to them now that they have a good provider in Europe and some decent World phones. I'm done w/AT&T. :mad:

And now the real work begins... I don't envy you. Very rough finding a job for college grads right now... :eek:

In Europe, I used Nokia which was great and didn't have any problems. When I came back to the States, I started off w/a Sony Ericsson, then moved to a Nokia, both of which were smart phones and I've only used smart phones. I am not big on touch screens for many reasons and I just find Blackberries to be practical for my needs. However, I too am becoming a bit bored with them and of late they have not met my expectations for browsing, etc. I also think the quality has gone down in terms of durability. My first Blackberry was "Made in Canada" and it was a real work horse... :cool: I currently have AT&T for my Blackberry and have not been that impressed. Verizon has decent coverage, but subpar phones and up until recently outrageous overseas "packages". I believe they've partnered w/a European carrier, but I'm sure who, maybe Vodafone.... I've heard stories about Sprint, so I'm in limbo for now. My hope is to get some sort of package w/Verizon once I settle on a decent smart phone (whatever that is) and then go from there since I believe they offer better overseas options and world phones last I checked. I have FiOS w/them currently and it's been great and we use Verizon in my office also. I will say this though... In terms of cell phones, Europe and Japan are years ahead of us. I started using cell phones in Europe and was surprised at the crap they were selling here in the States at such juiced up prices. I hope that we will come up to speed in terms of coverage and phones soon, but I'm not holding my breath.

Do you think many people would use it from Staten Island?

The folks in Yorkville don't want to deal w/the subway nor the SBS on the M15 and they can afford $5 - $6 each way. This X40 sounds weird... Why Union City????

But it was axed... I was hoping to get to ride it too since I go up by the Upper East Side/Yorkville on occasion for the eateries there, but never got the chance

Extend it at least until Richmond Avenue on Staten Island and run it to 57th street in Manhattan. It's first/last stop would be the service road and Targee St. on Staten Island.

I know we went off of the rails... It's a crazy train mate.

Spring Creek Depot keeps very clean express buses, as does Eastchester Depot and most of the MTA Bus Depots in the Bronx. Staten Island is another issue though. I hope that will change now that Charleston Depot is open.

You are right, but I also know that their idea of cleaning is sweeping in most cases at best. I have only seen the subway cars get half mopped on occasion, so yes, people are nasty here no question, but cars aren't cleaned that thoroughly either. The express buses that I ride are fairly clean because people tend not to be as filthy, but even those can be dirty at times. It's my understanding that the buses aren't cleaned during the winter (outside or inside)...?

And I don't dispute any of it... I just asked when do they get a good scrubbing? The MTA has previously stated that subway cars are in a good state in terms of cleanliness, but looking at some of them, I would beg to differ on that. The fact that they move so many people as to why the subway cars are filthy (even the new ones) is a poor excuse. Look at other countries that move large amounts of people and look at how clean their subway cars are... You'll have to do better than that.

And I remember when the MTA came up with this ridiculous number in terms of how much it would cost to actually keep the subway stations and cars clean as they should be... I know I know... It's a large system and blah blah blah... Having the new subway cars are great, but clearly they're not being cleaned. In fact when do they actually give these subway cars a good scrubbing? I know they are cleaned when they overhaul some of them, but how often is that? Maybe every few years at best?

I rode the 7 train last year to see a client out in Flushing and those trains need to be cleaned up. I certainly wouldn't sit down on them.

And this will allow them to add more trains and have the spaced closer together. Well it would suck to have the R62s go back to the 6 line. I like them, but it's time for those cars to be replaced. Besides I think most passengers agree that the newer cars have far better lighting, climate control and announcements that that are actually audible.

Why the need to do all of this shuffling? I mean they spent some cash (maybe not a ton of cash, but still had to spend something) moving those trains over to the 7 line to replace the red birds and now they're going to move them again? Why exactly is it so vital for the 7 line to have these new cars? In other words, aside from the new trains, automated announcements, etc, what other benefits would these trains give 7 train riders?