Your Terrible NYC Commute Could Win You A Prize

NEW YORK, NY — Ever think you have the worst commute? Now you can win a prize if you're right. The transit advocacy group Riders Alliance launched its "Worst Commute of the Week" competition Thursday to pressure lawmakers to fix the subways and give straphangers some consolation for their daily struggles.

Riders Alliance wants commuters to share their particularly terrible commute stories on its website and on social media. The group will announce each week's "worst commute" every Monday until Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Legislature pass a long-term funding plan for the beleaguered Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

As a bonus, each week's winner gets a MetroCard made of chocolate.

Riders Alliance has already received several dozen submissions and will likely announce the first winner Tuesday, spokesman Danny Pearlstein said. The group hopes the contest will paint a detailed picture for state legislators and Cuomo — who controls the MTA — of just how bad the subways can be, spokesman Danny Pearlstein said.

"They don’t have the same experience of a lot of New Yorkers and this kind of helps bring home to them what their constituents are going through," Pearlstein said.

Straphangers can share their hellish commute stories in 100 words or fewer on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #WorstCommute, or at ridersny.org/worstcommute.

The competition launched on a morning when signal problems delayed eight subway lines, sick passengers hampered three and mechanical problems slowed three more. Subdway delays tripled from 2012 to 2017 and trains move slower now than they did in 1950, Riders Alliance says.

Cuomo, a Democrat, put the MTA in a state of emergency last summer. MTA Chairman Joe Lhota has started work on an $836 million plan to stabilize the subways. But long-term funding for overdue fixes is mired in political debate over a congestion pricing plan, which would toll cars and trucks entering Manhattan below 60th Street.

Riders Alliance plans to air the subway grievances until the state Legislature passes congestion pricing or some other long-term plan. That means the contest could last until the legislative session ends in June — or even longer if nothing gets done.

Asked to comment on the contest, MTA spokesman Jon Weinstein said the MTA is putting its efforts toward getting New Yorkers where they need to go.

"Today, 50,000 New York City Transit employees moved nearly 6 million people on the subway and 2.5 million bus riders," Weinstein said in a statement. "They operated trains, fixed signals and switches, repaired track, navigated the clogged streets of New York City and helped customers find their way – that’s what we’re focused on."

(Lead image: Riders Alliance launches its "Worst Commute of the Week" competition Thursday morning outside the Canal Street A/C/E subway station in Manhattan. Photo courtesy of Riders Alliance)