Transit's No Good, Very Bad Day

Transit commuters in New York and Washington, D.C. were understandably frustrated yesterday. One wonders when enough will be enough, and what happens then?

2 minute read

June 28, 2017, 10:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


New York Subway

stockelements / Shutterstock

"At least 37 people were injured Tuesday morning in a subway train derailment in Manhattan," report Paul Berger, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, and Melanie Grayve West for The Wall Street Journal.

"The derailment occurred after the morning rush hour around 9:40 a.m. on an A train traveling between 135th Street and 125th Street stations in Harlem," causing "crippling delays throughout the city’s subway system, affecting at least the A, B, C, D, E and F lines."

The political fallout took a surprising turn throughout the day, as both New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo kept the derailment at arm's length—their absence was conspicuous enough to warrant news coverage by Jillian Jorgensen and Aaron Holmes for the New York Daily News. Cuomo and de Blasio are currently in a well documented scrap over control of the MTA—for all the background on that ongoing controversy, start with an article by Amy Plitt that links to a lot more resources on the subject.

Meanwhile in Washington, D.C., there was no derailment to report, but the Red Line ran on a single track for much of the day, and the delays were prodigious. Dana Hedgpeth documented the drama in real time, gathering reactions to the snarled commute from social media and updating the story with reports from Metrorail.

Tuesday's was the second nightmarish transit commute in three weekdays, after two "arcing" incidents on Friday "clobbered" the morning commute. Martine Powers and Rachel Siegel provided reactions to those events by posing a question on the minds of many D.C.-area commuters: what exactly had the year-long maintenance program going by the name SafeTrack accomplished, and would the system's scheduled fare increases (going into effect today, June 25) and reduced services be a death knell for ridership.

Tuesday, June 27, 2017 in The Wall Street Journal

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Aerial view of town of Wailuku in Maui, Hawaii with mountains in background against cloudy sunset sky.

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly

Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

July 1, 2025 - Honolulu Civil Beat

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

July 2, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

White and purple sign for Slow Street in San Francisco, California with people crossing crosswalk.

San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths

Citing “a challenging fiscal landscape,” the city will cease the program on the heels of 42 traffic deaths, including 24 pedestrians.

July 1, 2025 - KQED

Google street view image of strip mall in suburban Duncanville, Texas.

Adaptive Reuse Will Create Housing in a Suburban Texas Strip Mall

A developer is reimagining a strip mall property as a mixed-use complex with housing and retail.

2 hours ago - Parking Reform Network

Blue tarps covering tents set up by unhoused people along chain link fence on concrete sidewalk.

Study: Anti-Homelessness Laws Don’t Work

Research shows that punitive measures that criminalized unhoused people don’t help reduce homelessness.

4 hours ago - Next City

Aerial tram moving along cable in hilly area in Medellin, Colombia.

In U.S., Urban Gondolas Face Uphill Battle

Cities in Latin America and Europe have embraced aerial transitways — AKA gondolas — as sustainable, convenient urban transport, especially in tricky geographies. American cities have yet to catch up.

6 hours ago - InTransition Magazine