BY WILLIAM HARRIS
A 2 1/2 hour commute after a 12-hour work day full of parent-teacher conferences has one Forest Hills teacher furious.
Laura Taylor, a second-grade teacher at Borough Park, Brooklyn, endured her subway odyssey last week due to a signal malfunction at the Bergen Street subway station in Brooklyn, according to Riders Alliance as part of its weekly “Worst Commute” series highlighting terrible commutes across the city.
The normal commute from Borough Park to Forest Hills usually takes just over an hour, but the signal malfunction affected the F and G lines and added almost 1 1/2 hours to an already drawn-out and strenuous day for Taylor. In order to get back home, Taylor had to switch to a D train in Manhattan and finally onto the E train, bringing her to Forest Hills.
“On Thursday, it took me 2 1/2 hours to get home after working a 12-hour day. I am a second-grade teacher and on Thursday we had parent-teacher conferences. I got to work at 7:40 a.m. and left at about 7:30 p.m. I live in Queens and work in Brooklyn. I finally got home at just about 10 p.m. I got in bed, ready to wake up again at 5:45,” Taylor said.
Trouble on the subway is nothing new for New Yorkers. According to the Riders Alliance, subways are on schedule less than 65 percent of the time, while delays have spiked dramatically over the last few years. Studies from the Independent Budget Office have shown that subway riders lost about 35,000 hours a day because of delays in only the month of May of last year.
In order to get the government’s attention on the issues that subways cause, organizations like Riders Alliance have voiced their displeasures and have constantly demanded for changes. In Taylor’s case, Riders Alliance declared her as this week’s #WorstCommute winner.
Every week, the organization shares a story about a problem that a commuter had that week. For the frustration that Laura Taylor had to deal with, she was given a MetroCard and some traveling money.
More recently, organizations like Riders Alliance have boosted their efforts because of an upcoming state budget being due. These organizations will continue to voice their displeasures until there is a plan in place to fix the subways that cause commuters so much harm.
Anyone willing to share their own horrific commuter stories can click here to learn more.
