Subway scare?

[trinityvixen]

So those ads that let you know that some randomly assumed number of people saw something and said something? Anyone actually been on a train where they effected a sweep and clear as a result? Informal poll!

I'm thinking of writing something--OMG not related to my on-going series of short stories, wtf?!--about such an encounter after having one myself. I'm interested to see if the procedure is the same, what the reaction of the passengers was, and, if you can remember, when abouts it happened. It doesn't have to be date-and-time specific, but month and year would be interesting to know if only just to see how the response has changed since the see-it-and-say-something campaign started.

My own experience was rather dull. I was on the D train, which pulled into 59th street and lingered a moment. People started to get up, and I assumed it was because of the negligible delay. Two men wearing orange vests over their transit authority uniforms came in and started to peer around. Someone sitting across from me kept trying to point them to the seat perpendicular to where I was sitting. They waved me away and retrieved a black plastic bag that looked to contain no worse than someone's garbage from take out. I sat back in my same spot, and we were gone. All of this didn't take five minutes.

Okay, f'list--your turn.

Comments

[thekit.livejournal.com]

I was on the london underground back in 2006, and they had three stations closed because of suspicious packages. Fortunately the underground is set up like a grid, so you can bypass closed stations by going sideways for a few stops and then going back to your line.

I mostly remember having to study the map with a bunch of other lost commuters trying to get around the latest obstruction, while a voice came over the PA telling us that the next station was closed... and to mind the gap.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Sounds like the tube has a better way of doing things than just holding up the line entirely. Although having to re-route is always painful.

Thanks for the international perspective. I can use that!

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

My cynical response to those "50,000 New Yorkers saw something and said something" posters: "Since none of those people found anything those are 50,000 New Yorkers who wasted everyone's time." Kind of uncharitable, I admit. (Could be because I've never been afraid of terrorism. 9/11 depressed me, but didn't freak me out.)

Right after 9/11 I was stuck on a subway for two hours while they looked for a bomb or something. I slept through it, so I don't remember seeing bomb squads or anything.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

There was an article about this that moonlightalice sent me, but I couldn't find it in my e-mail. Basically, they questioned where in the hell the 1,944 number came from, as there were, as you say, tens of thousands of calls or in-person reports about mysterious packages. No significant event--arrests, truly suspicious packages, etc.--matches that number. The reporters were stymied.

I'm sorry to hear about the delay, but it's good there were no bombs to report.

[moonlightalice.livejournal.com]

This is the article TV is talking about.

Basically of all the reported crimes none of them were threats. In did, however, encourage dozens of false reports that resulted in arrests.

Oh, and lot of people reporting Muslims who were counting prayers.

[wellgull.livejournal.com]

I like to combine that 1,944 figure with the 8,250,000 NYC census (from 2006) to rewrite the whole ad:

"Last year, 1,944 New Yorkers saw something and said something. The other 99.998% of you are not gleeful minions of the police state. Keep up the good work, New York!"

[wellgull.livejournal.com]

Well, I have had trains taken out of service by the cops that wound up making me horribly late to various meetings.

But it's not like they ever tell you anything, so it could've been a routine minority-harassing operation or whatever it is NYPD does when they shut down a train.