Hamptons Subway Newsletter: Week of November 3–9, 2018
Week of November 3–9, 2018
Riders this past week: 16,822
Rider miles this past week: 74,899
DOWN IN THE TUBE
Author Colson Whitehead was spotted traveling on the subway from Bridgehampton to Sag Harbor on Tuesday morning, reading a book. Hillary Clinton was seen carrying a Suffolk County absentee voter ballot on the subway heading from Georgica to East Hampton last Monday. David Koch and his brother Charles were seen traveling from Southampton to Mecox on Friday morning, talking shop.
HALLOWEEN CANDY SLOWDOWN
As always, any kid under the age of 12 in a spooky costume on Halloween was allowed to use the subway system for free October 31. With all the holiday decorations subway management puts up on the platforms and through the tunnels, it was quite the day: little ghosts, goblins and other creatures pranced about. We do hope that the parents who lost track of their youngsters were ultimately reunited. We had chaperones on all the platforms to help with this.
As in past years, all the Halloween candy the kids spilled as they walked around with their candy bags was swept down onto the tracks so nobody would slip and fall on the platforms. And, as in past years, the subway trains were in slowdown mode the next morning as the candy on the tracks all got crunched down into a sweet mash by the train wheels.
We apologize for the slowdown—so it took a few more minutes for a train to get from one station to the next—and we also apologize to the people of Water Mill, who suffered incorrect decorations. All the company’s decorations are removed from storage during the fall and winter holidays and it was just unfortunate that our crew in Water Mill put up the Christmas decorations rather than the Halloween decorations. What were they thinking?
SANDY REPAIRS NOT EVEN BEGUN
As was reported in Newsday yesterday, the single repair that needed to be made after Hurricane Sandy roared through has not even been scheduled. Sandy was six years ago. And what was to be done? Hamptons Subway has a simple anti-flooding system to deal with flooding from storms such as Sandy. The alarm sounds and the system, which consists of a giant rubber plug six feet in diameter sitting on the tunnel floor at the lowest point in the subway system—the floor of the curve that goes under Trout Pond—is put into effect. As a hurricane nears, the plug gets pulled up (it’s kept nearby with a huge chain attachment).
So any floodwaters flow out like they would when you pull the plug on a bathtub. In the event, six years ago, workmen sent down to remove it found it was jammed into the drain—and it was only because Sandy floodwaters never got up to the tunnel under Trout Pond that no flooding occurred. This plug today is still jammed into the drain. Money was allocated for the plug’s removal, cleaning, trim and re-installment, but paperwork has held things up. There has been a delay in paperwork to get the job done. Hamptons Subway officials say it will all be done next week.
NEW PROMOTION
Hamptons Subway management is taking reservations now for those who wish to hold their weddings in June of 2020. We are booked on every platform until then. Wedding ceremonies can be held from 2 a.m. when the system shuts down for the night, and must be over by 5 a.m.
COMMISSIONER ASPINALL’S MESSAGE
Hamptons Subway is pledged to providing proper service without any delays for November and December, 2018. We’ve made this pledge every year. This time we mean it.
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