Think you know what a crowded subway platform looks like? Think again.
Hundreds of agitated, sweaty New York subway goers squeezed into narrow hallways, stairways and turnstiles unable to even get to the platform since five lines stopped service from a fire at 145th Street that injured 9.
The fire delayed lines A, B, C, D and 4, leaving the rush hour passengers to use the 1.
The city’s fire department received a call of a fire at 7:24 a.m. Monday morning and the flames persisted as of 9 a.m., FDNY told Gothamist. The MTA also cut power and instructed riders to remain in the trains.
Absurdity caused by subway delays and dilapidated infrastructure is the new norm for New Yorkers. Just last week a filth-waterfall plagued the Bryant Park stop, and reports found Governor Andrew Cuomo curiously gave dwindling MTA funds to bail out upstate ski resorts.
Tweets from riders at the station say the lines keep growing, as trains come every five to seven minutes with only a handful of people able to get on and off at each door.
Having children and the elderly crammed into small spaces inches away from a train track isn’t the first time Cuomo put his subway riders in danger. A Manhattan train derailment caused 34 injuries last month, and riders trapped underground for nearly an hour had to literally disrobe from the sweltering summer heat.
Two weeks passed since the governor begrudgingly declared a state of emergency on the MTA, yet since then he’s said nada and the relief money is nowhere to be seen.
One man can’t fix a hundred-year-old transit system, but, funnelling funds into fixing it would be a start, right? Or at least publically recognizing its a problem? Showing up to the stops? Speaking to his constituents? No? Okay. If Cuomo’s subway-strategy is waiting until shit hits the fan, he hasn’t seen anything yet.
Updated 1:54 p.m. EST: The fire caused nine riders to go to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, a FDNY spokesperson told Jalopnik. The department ruled the cause accidental, resulting from accumulated trash on the tracks.
A MTA spokesperson did not yet respond to a request for additional comment.