BJC Posted July 19, 2009 Share #51 Posted July 19, 2009 Areas to be careful in.... East New York (Brooklyn) Bed Stuy* (Brooklyn) Brownville (Brooklyn) Flatbush (Brooklyn) Caransie (Brooklyn) Far Rocaway (Queens) South Bronx (Bronx) Harlem (Mantthan) 125th street is 100% safe, just north of there its shady.. Queensbrige (Queens) Jamaica (Queens) Hempstead (Long Island) The bus station there is safe, as well as the little downtown area around it. Just when you go into the "hood" thats when you gotta watch your back. Why you pick Caransie? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Concourse Posted August 2, 2009 Share #52 Posted August 2, 2009 I just want to add my 2 cents on this thread. I've visited every single station over the years, and granted I usually stay within the stations than to venture out into the neighborhoods. But generally if you are going out in the day even 'certain areas' in Brooklyn are still generally fine. I've been to New Lots and a few of those stations on the 3 and have never felt I was gonna get jumped or such. Most of the platforms were pretty empty anyway. Also I've been on stations along the J like Broadway Junction, Alabama, etc. Same thing, no issues at all. Aside from those loud school kids [which is to be expected anywhere], I never felt any danger either. Just use common sense and always look around your surroundings before focusing on taking pictures and you should be safe. Just don't make yourself out to be a target. Because the instance you show fear, you make yourself a target. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EE Broadway Local Posted September 25, 2009 Share #53 Posted September 25, 2009 Some good tips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B35 via Church Posted September 26, 2009 Share #54 Posted September 26, 2009 I realized I never responded to the original post of the thread. That's exactly what I'm going to attempt to do here.... It's like, I'm reading this... and I can't come to grips w/ agreeing w/ some of these.... I'll do this one by one.... - Show up! I can't stress that enough, that's why it's the first one. What good is the trip if the person who planned it doesn't even go?lol... This is the numero uno reason I don't do fantrips w/ other people anymore... don't like the feeling of waiting on people, or being waited on..... - Give notice in case you do have to cancel. By notice, I mean, at least the night before. What good is putting out a trip cancellation notice the morning of if the people who need to read it are already on their way to the trip? planning trips on the internet (on a forum or w/e), people are more apt to doing this (giving notice).... which is good. offline, this is more of a problem... people assume just because you know them ("in real life".. hate using that term but I want to get my point across), they feel as if you're just "supposed to know" if they dont arrive @ a certain time, chances are that they're not coming... - Plan sensible connections. 5 minutes or less is pushing it for a connection. Additonally, what fun is a trip where you are constantly running from train to train or bus to bus? Nice layovers give time for photos, or grabbing a snack. I'm on the fence with this... for me, part of the fantrip experience is having to run to catch a train/bus... the question becomes, how much of a distance... If you're running to catch dam near every mode of transportation you need throughout the fantrip, you can chalk that up to poor planning, or not having one (a plan) to begin with (which, again, can add to the experience).... - Trips involving NYCT should not be scheduled using intervals, but instead length of time. Example... We are going to take the 5:14 G train out of Court Square and connect to the 5:45 A train to Far Rockaway at Hoyt Street. No! Here is the right way... We are going to board a G train by 5:15, and get to Hoyt by 5:45 to get on an A train to Far Rockaway. I can agree w/ this, for the simple fact that trying to catch a specific subway train is moot, especially when there are many factors which can make a train late (and, another train can be a minute right behind it !).... hell, the train coming at "5:14" could be the 5:08 that was supposed to arrive @ court sq.... just to use the example... again, for me, When it comes to buses/subways in the boroughs, I NEVER plan to catch a specific run... Not once in any of my many fantrips have I ever done this... When you've ventured to areas outside of NYC, you come to realize that a 5-10 min. between subways (for example) isn't squat, compared to 1/2 hour to an hour plus waits b/w trains/buses outside of town.... - Keep the price reasonable. I aim for $20 or less including the $7 fun pass. You'll attract more people with a trip that gives bang for the buck. True... I mean, everyone doesn't have the same budget as others.... There's been times where I shelled out a couple bucks just so that the person I went fanning w/ some while back, didn't have to sleep out in the woods.... lol.... - Plan trips around interesting GO's, service advisories, new equipment deliveries, or other transit events of interest. Normal railfanning is fun to a point, but then you have to make it interesting. I find none of those things'll add any increase of interest, or enjoyment when I railfan/busfan... to me, if those things happen, they just happen... I chalk that up to my luckiness if I'm on a train/bus w/ which those occurrences happen.... - Do your homework! Sometimes things don't appear as they will on the map, and then you will be scrambling to find a bus stop or train station. Additionally, scout out nice places to take photos, and places to eat lunch. Yep yep.... When I first started fanning, I felt like I knew EVERYTHING about an area just by a} looking at a map (this was before the era of google maps, mapquest, etc) & b} making judgements on hearsay.... foolish right.... I could sit here & name 25 connections w/o hesitation, in the tri state area that a map may appear to show, but isn't the case. - Design trips so that people can meet en route. We don't all live near your home station. If the trip is going east into Queens, have a place for people from that area to meet you, so they don't have to come into Manhattan to go back into Queens anyway. This is up there with the major deterrent(s) of me even wanting to fan with people anymore (the more people there are, the worse of a problem this can be).... I've had people ask me (both of which lived in staten island) if they wanted to fan every JG route in a single day {I still want to do this btw}... I declined b/c they wanted me to meet them in Eltingville (which is more than an hour & a half away from me... but a 5 minute SIRR ride away from them)... to come back to brooklyn & start at JG itself.... all that would've taken for me is a straight B35 ride to the depot; about 40 minutes.... but I didn't suggest that.... long story short, I declined.... reasonability was a concept they refused to consider.... - Saturday is preferred, but days where there is universally no work or school are good too. When you schedule a trip on a Tuesday morning, you get the turnout that you deserve. You would think this is obvious when planning a trip w/ multiple people.... - Do a little bit of politicking. If you have someone with a request, accomidate them if possible. I suppose... but then again, I'm not gonna do too much politicking when they agreed to venture on a fantrip that had a certain itinerary.... don't tell me you want to take the B44 to williamsburg bridge plaza b/c you feel it's "safer" than taking the B46... when the original plan was to take the 46... if you have to bounce early for w/e reason, by all means... w/e you have to do to tend to a certain situation... however, don't try to persuade everyone else that we should end the trip b/c you don't want to miss out on an experience that we would have went on otherwise... that's a selfish way of thinking & acting.... my comments are in red.... you know the drill.... Maybe I should start posting my fantrip reports/recaps here on NYCTF... not sure how many people would be interested though.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Concourse Posted September 27, 2009 Share #55 Posted September 27, 2009 I'll also add, that if I plan a trip, it's really more or less 'spur of the moment'. I rarely stick to any set plans. I just do whatever I want, so for me it's very unlikely I would plan for a secondary or more points for others to join up later in the day. The people interested would post with a definitive 'Yes', so I know who's going to show. Show up at the time and place as posted and I usually give like a 30min leeway and then start the trip. So that's my 2 cents on this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BM5 via Woodhaven Posted April 30, 2012 Share #56 Posted April 30, 2012 You should plan very wisely, especially if you take SCT or Bee-Line or any service that most service ends at 8:00 PM or has 60+ minute headways. Sometimes transfers don't work, and that wouldn't be good when your stuck for the night over there. Always stay next to Railroad operating until late at night if you are bus fanning. I just saw this as the first thread in this section so I thought I could give my opinion. Sorry if I bumped. Didn't realize it until after I posted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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