She Lost Her Purse on the Q Train. Guess How She Got it Back

A heartwarming tale [View this email in your browser]( Remember: If You Have a Problem, Tweet at the MTA Plus: Alanis Morissette did some busking in a subway station. Tourists love taking Ubers to the Empire State Building. And the Holl🎄nd Tunnel decorations are in order this year. By [James Ramsay](mailto:james@wnyc.org?subject=We%20the%20Commuters) Lara Wechsler/Flickr A couple months ago, at day-long conference called Transportation Camp, I learned (and later [wrote in this newsletter]( that transit agencies are obsessed with Twitter. My takeaway: Even if you're not really a social media person, or you don't like the idea of posting things publicly, it's a good idea to have a Twitter account in case you want a transit agency's attention. And guess what. [On Monday]( after a commuter named Ashley Patrick got off Q train at Herald Square, she realized as the doors were closing that her bag was still onboard. So, she tweeted this: I just left my purse on the Q headed downtown. It has my wallet, headphones, and my son's new gloves. My husband just lost his job, and there's no way I can replace the things that were in it. If there was ever a time for an Xmas [@MTA]( miracle, this is it. She didn't expect anything to happen. "I’d never had more than a handful of friends, and friends of friends, engage with a tweet," she told NBC New York. But this time was different. She got over 5,000 retweets. Someone found her purse an hour later. She gave a shout-out to the Venmo account for [the samaritan who returned her bag]( who was going through a tough time himself. And he wound up getting a holiday bonus from a bunch of strangers. Great work, everyone. We The Commuters Had a Live Event This Week, and You Can Watch The Whole Thing Here! Janice Yi/The Greene Space Here's a [highlight]( from Gothamist reporter Christopher Robbins' onstage interview with City Council Speaker Corey Johnson: CR: Let's say, hypothetically, you were to run for mayor and win, and the state gives you the reins to run the subways and buses, what's the first thing you would do? CJ: ...The biggest problem right now, which is why I called for municipal control of the subways and buses, is the MTA board makes decisions on an annual basis ... and there are probably very few people here in this transit-educated room who could name multiple MTA board members. It's set up to deflect any level of accountability. In New York City, we have mayoral control of the school system. If the schools aren't doing well, you blame the mayor. The police are controlled by the mayor. Other transit systems around the world — London, and Los Angeles, and Chicago — these cities have municipal control of their mass transit. We used to have it, until [Governor] Rockefeller took it away from [Mayor] Lindsay in the late 1960s. We need that control, so there can be singular accountability. The buck has to stop somewhere. [Watch the entire event]( which also featured an opening trivia round, and a performance by the quartet Sterling Strings. (And if you came out in the snow on Monday night to see us live, thank you!) Best of the Week From Gothamist and WNYC Alexandra Moffett-Bateau/[Twitter]( A Thin Blue Line flag was spotted in a Harlem subway station and eventually removed, but not before the mayor suggested a photo of it published on Gothamist could've been photoshopped. The flag, which is seen by many as a racist repudiation of Black Lives Matter, was [photographed by CUNY professor Alexandra Moffet-Bateau]( at the police station house inside the the 145th Street A,B,C,D train station. A spokesperson for Mayor de Blasio apologized "for any wrong impression" that he accused Gothamist of fabricating photos. A woman was fatally struck by a driver while crossing the street in Downtown Brooklyn Wednesday morning. Just before 9:30 a.m., an 81-year-old who was driving north on Pearl Street [hit and killed a 40-year-old woman]( kept going, and then crashed into scaffolding at the end of the block. Earlier this year, that area around Pearl and Willoughby was redesigned with new traffic-calming measures, including an advisory 5 MPH vehicle speed limit. UPS and DHL are introducing electric delivery bikes for carrying packages in Manhattan below 60th Street. During the six-month pilot program for these bikes (which Amazon has already been using in the city to make Whole Foods deliveries), a few trucks will be taken off the roads. In addition to being able to park in commercial loading zones, [the bikes will also be allowed to pull up onto the sidewalk](. We used to have loads of vending machines in the subway system. Candy, ice cream, cigarettes, your fortune — you could buy it all on a subway platform, back when the system had [as many as 11,700 vending machines](. Now, after decades without the things, we currently have CVS-branded machines at two stations: Union Square and Chambers Street. The chic Redbird subway cars, which were in service from 1959 through 2003, are the subject of a new exhibit at the New York Transit Museum. They also [weren't all red]( — some were blue, or olive, or "platinum mist." Alanis Morissette and Jimmy Fallon threw on disguises and busked in the 50th Street subway station for a Tonight Show segment. Many moons ago, before Morissette made it big, [she busked for real in Los Angeles](. And two different subway animals got in the mix this week. We had [a duck]( on the tracks, and [a rat]( on a platform with a coffee cup. What Else We're Reading The MTA and the Transport Workers Union Local 100 have reached a tentative contract agreement. Though neither side has shared details about what's in the deal, TWU President Tony Utano said he thinks union members — who've been working without a contract since May — will ratify the contract "in overwhelming fashion." ([AM New York]( The Empire State Building was the most Ubered-to New York City tourist attraction in 2019, despite being next to almost every subway line, and two major commuter rail stations. Come on. ([Jalopnik]( One of the guys who redesigned the subway map rode every line with his eyes closed to sketch out the curved path each train takes. A psychological study found that riders were disoriented by all the straight lines on New York's old subway map, so in 1979, Nobuyuki Siraisi — a trained sculptor and painter — redrew the lines based on the feel of the ride. ([The New York Times]( Christmas music is [so damn corny](. This week's Classical Commute playlist from WQXR is so damn refined, and it's [streaming for free on Spotify](. Remember This? [tonnel] Julio Cortez/AP The Port Authority seems to have learned its lesson from last year, because [the holiday wreaths are back up]( at the Holland Tunnel entrance, and not in the "OCD nightmare" arrangement pictured above. After the Great Tonnel Mishap of 2018, the Port Authority launched a public poll to determine how to place the wreaths this year. [Option 3 won](. Weekend Service Changes: Night of December 6th – Early Morning on November 25th This is a partial list of major service disruptions scheduled for the weekend. For a complete list of the MTA's Weekender updates, [check here](. train service between E 180 St and Dyre Av in the Bronx will be replaced by free shuttle buses. train service between Euclid Av, Brooklyn and Lefferts Blvd, Queens will be replaced by free shuttle buses. Norwood-bound trains will skip 155 St, Manhattan, 161 St, 167 St, 170 St and 174-175 Sts, the Bronx. On Saturday and Sunday, train service between Broadway Junction, Brooklyn and Jamaica Center, Queens will be replaced by trains and free shuttle buses. [Check here]( for complete details about the Long Island Rail Road. For NJ Transit, [check here]( for the latest service advisories. Upcoming Meetings and Events Monday, December 16th Joint Metro-North & LIRR Committee Meeting — 8:30 a.m. NYC Transit / MTA Bus Committee Meeting — 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, December 18th MTA Board Meeting — 10:00 a.m. Registration for two-minute public speaking slots opens 15 minutes before the start time for official MTA committee meetings. To speak before an MTA board meeting, you must register 30 minutes early. All meetings are held in the MTA's Board Room at 2 Broadway, on the 20th Floor. James Ramsay (and Shumita Basu) really appreciate everyone who came to the event on Monday! (Photo by Janice Yi) Support WNYC + Gothamist Make a donation to support local, independent journalism. Your contributions are our largest source of funding and pays for essential transportation coverage and more. [Donate]( Copyright © 2019 New York Public Radio, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: New York Public Radio 160 Varick Street New York, NY 10013 [unsubscribe]( [update preferences]( [privacy policy](