Penn-sanity

(Note: I am done catching up....we're live folks!)

Ok, raise your hand if you’ve ever traveled on the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) from Penn Station. Keep your hand up if you were successful in purchasing a ticket without the help of a local. Keep your hand up if you were able to find the correct track for your train without the help of a local. For those of you with your hands still up…may I suggest a career in transportation psychology?

See, I think I have a pretty good sense of direction and I also have significant intuition when it comes to the transportation in New York City. And still, Penn Station at 5pm last Friday threw me for a total loop. I’d like to describe it for you.

I arrived at Penn Station via the M34 bus. This was my first bus experience in the city and I have to say that unless its 100 degrees outside (it was) or raining, I would avoid the bus because walking is probably faster than driving in city traffic. Anyway, the LIRR terminal was an absolute zoo. Due to the fact that you can only pay with credit card at the few automated machines, each machine had a line of approximately 10 people. I got in a line that moved relatively quickly, only to remember that I have no idea how to use the machine. I tried to watch how the people in front of me were doing it, but apparently they were all world-record-holding ticket buyers because they hit the buttons so fast I had no idea what they were doing! Anyway, I was smart enough to ask the lady behind me for help and managed to purchase a Peak/Off-Peak roundtrip from Penn Station to Ronkonkoma for $22.50 in just over a minute.

Once I had the ticket in hand, I realized that I would need to find out where, exactly, this train boards…which would prove to be more challenging than you may think! When I was in line for the ticketing machine, I had noticed everyone hovering around this screen with the names of various destinations, and I wondered what they were doing. Well, after watching them for a minute I realized what was happening.

Trains at the LIRR are not assigned to a track until approximately 7 minutes before their departure. Therefore, everyone must stand around watching this really old-fashioned looking screen, waiting for their train and its corresponding track to appear on the board. This leaves the afternoon commuters looking much like the little green alien gumball machine toys in Toy Story….

So, as soon as the gate number for a train pops up, all of the people who are taking that train simultaneously detach their eyes from the giant track sign in the sky and SPRINT for their gate. This is especially funny because half of these people are men with giant briefcases and they nearly tackle the poor, innocent souls who are still riveted on the screen. After seeing this a few times, I realized that I have no idea where any of the gates are, thus I would probably get run over and miss my train once it popped up. So I did what any clueless tourist would do, I waited for my gate to pop up and just started chasing the hoarde of people who started moving at that moment. Of course my plan worked and I ended up on the train to Ronkonkoma with no trouble.

But if you’re ever in New York on a Friday afternoon in the summer, I suggest you take a quick jaunt to Penn Station to watch the Penn-sanity ensue!!