I mean, the CTA is getting ready to close all Red Line service to the South Side for half a year, which is going to be a disaster for a huge number of people.

Could this have any effect on the White Sox if they reach the postseason, or would CTA wait until play at the Cell is complete?

McCoy, of course it's only $4 for those within the center city. $4 will get you to Fort Totten and back from Silver Spring (or Farragut West - Ballston) - and that's off-peak. And that doesn't include money for parking at the suburban metro stop or a taxi. So it's $4 round trip for 11% of the metropolitan population for two days of a ball playing week. For the record, I have no problem with asking fans taking the bus home or leaving early from a delayed game. There is no promise that you will be able to watch the completion of the game.

My point is this city is a den of liars and thieves set upon a swamp. Its public transportation system is fit for a town of its virtues. The only thing that sustains the terrible transit system is the lavish benefit paid out to the liars and their employees to use it. Absent that, no one would use it. The system would be abandoned by all but the tourists and libertine trust-fund hipsters who think dependence upon corrupt public 'services' is 'progress'. I'm almost happy they gentrified me out as to not have to put up with the latter on a daily basis.

Paying for parking at the metro and traveling in (or busing to the metro) is still cheaper than driving into the city everyday and paying for parking within the city.


Saying no one would use it is obviously hyperbole. Tons of people use it and their fares are not further subsidized by the government anymore so than the standard subsidization all mass transit systems get.

I forgot to ask, McCoy: How many folks standing outside Nats Park after midnight can squeeze onto a single Metrobus bound for Van Ness? How frequently do they arrive late at night?

By the way, I would rather stand on an Acela for the entire DC to NY trip than have to swing from a bus straphandle during a 30-minute ride through town.

Some platforms have fans, I've heard rumors that some have AC (the 4/5/6 lines- which I don't take).

The IRT taps into the Grand Central AC at that stop, but otherwise doesn't have any. You can't really air condition stations, at least NYC stations, for what I assume are obvious reasons.

The typical NYC subway station hasn't been cleaned in a century, and the infrastructure of the system is cobbled together from so many different eras of technology that there's no logical reason it should work at all; the dirt is pretty much what's holding it together. And yet it's in better shape than it was 30 years ago: better cars, better service, fewer breakdowns, safer stations and platforms, less general malaise and despair. It's a wonder.

I've only used the Metro once: 4th of July several years ago, 95 degrees, waiting for the train, underground, packed in like sardines. For half an hour.

Heh, only half an hour? I did Metro from the mall back to DuPoint Circle one 4th and we waited about 90 minutes (with the ash from fireworks that had rained down upon us embedded in our hair).

If you want to take the CTA to see the White Sox in 2013, just transfer from the Red to the Green Line downtown at Roosevelt, and take the Green Line to the IIT stop. That walk is not much further than the Red Line, and you get a good view of the neighborhoods as you wind your way south. (It's also the way I usually get to the Cell anyway, so the Red Line construction won't change my commute.)

I forgot to ask, McCoy: How many folks standing outside Nats Park after midnight can squeeze onto a single Metrobus bound for Van Ness? How frequently do they arrive late at night?

How many people are going to Van Ness at midnight? There are at least 5 buses that leave after the last 11:40 train leaves Navy Yard that can get you to Van Ness. There are 8 bus stops around the ballpark that service 18 different lines. Or you take a taxi and it will cost $15. Hell, you can ride a bike. It's 7 miles away. You can even take a taxi or walk part of the way and then catch a bus if you want.

How many people are going to Van Ness at midnight?

If trains are no longer departing the Navy Yard station when a game ends, then the buses are going to be pretty full.

FWIW, Tracee Hamilton weighs in on the issue here.

Over the weekend I tried Red Rocks and Meiwah, as well as having to go to Great Waves-but I did win the mini golf skins tournament, and found both to be meh. Red Rocks is a great looking building with good ambiance but the food and pizza I had were so so. I had the RedRocks Sausage pizza as well as the meatballs and the meatballs kind of reminded me of spaghetti-o's and the pizza crust was oddly formed. It was like the pushed up all of the dough to the outer rim and left a paper thin center. So most of the crust was neither crispy nor cakey while the rim was obviously doughy and nice.

Meiwah, to me, kind of feels like it got lost between two food categories. It is Chinese fast food since it is more expensive than takeout but it isn't sit down Chinese food since the quality level is about what I'd expect from a takeout joint. I got the roast pork appetizer and the twice cooked duck. They used cheap flavorless button mushrooms with the duck and the pork was dry.

10-20 minutes. I wish my personal Metro delay experiences were limited to a paltry 10-20 minutes; if that were the case I would probably still be using the system. And I'm not talking about Independence Day or New Year's Eve or Inauguration Day or anything like that either.

Also, I think Radius is now closed. Or at least according to Yelp it is.

Meiwah, to me, kind of feels like it got lost between two food categories. It is Chinese fast food since it is more expensive than takeout but it isn't sit down Chinese food since the quality level is about what I'd expect from a takeout joint. I got the roast pork appetizer and the twice cooked duck. They used cheap flavorless button mushrooms with the duck and the pork was dry.

Jeez Louise, McCoy, other than Strasburg, we really are polar opposites. Thanks to generous helpings of duck, Meiwah boasts the most flavorful hot-and-sour soup on the planet!

Tell us the truth: Did you endure agonizingly long delays on the Metro this weekend but instead chose to take out your frustrations on the poor restaurant? ;-)

Tell us the truth: Did you endure agonizingly long delays on the Metro this weekend but instead chose to take out your frustrations on the poor restaurant? ;-)

Didn't use the Metro this weekend. Did drive a Uhaul truck.

Nothing wrong with the duck itself but I thought the button mushrooms were a poor choice.

For me if I'm getting chinese takeout I'm going to the chinese restaurant on the corner of 18th and Florida. It's always piping hot and consistently good plus their dinner sizes are under 10 bucks.

Also the line should read "It isn't Chinese fast food since. . ."

And yet it's in better shape than it was 30 years ago: better cars, better service, fewer breakdowns, safer stations and platforms, less general malaise and despair. It's a wonder.

Well they have actually spent money on maintenance the last 30 years.

A woefully short and not wholly inaccurate history of NYC's subways:

1904- 1940: initially the subways were privately developed, IRT and BMT, later the city was behind developing the IND, no fare increases during this period.

1940-1970, City buys out the IRT and BMT in 1940, shuts down most elevated lines, still no fare increases, alter tiny increases, by 1970 a subway ride was far cheaper than in 1905 when adjusted for inflation- it's easy to hold down fares when no money is spend on maintenance.

By the 1970s EVERYTHING was old and dilapidated, the tracks, the tunnels, the platforms, the trains, the ticket windows, the token run turnstiles, by 1975 less people rode the subway than in the 1930s- no the cars were not less crowded- they were at capacity, but capacity was shrinking due to the maintenance issues-

so the City had a simple choice, either start spending money to fix what could be fixed, and replace what couldn't be fixed, or the whole system was going down- given what I know about NYC politics and inertia, it is actually somewhat surprising that the city took action before the system actually completely failed...

of course one negative is that whereas in the past fares were kept unchanged out of inertia irrespective of need, now it seems they increase out of sheer inertial momentum and irrespective of actual need

For me if I'm getting chinese takeout I'm going to the chinese restaurant on the corner of 18th and Florida. It's always piping hot and consistently good plus their dinner sizes are under 10 bucks.

Loved that place! Use to live right there. I'm a vegetarian, and they have excellent options available. I also really like Duccini's for standard takeout/delivery pizza. It's not amazing or anything, but I think it beats all of the other delivery options in that area.

Meiwah, to me, kind of feels like it got lost between two food categories. It is Chinese fast food since it is more expensive than takeout but it isn't sit down Chinese food since the quality level is about what I'd expect from a takeout joint. I got the roast pork appetizer and the twice cooked duck. They used cheap flavorless button mushrooms with the duck and the pork was dry.

I went on one of the worst dates of my life at Meiwah, which does rather bias me against it. I've always found it be pretty good otherwise.

I also really like Duccini's for standard takeout/delivery pizza.

Yep, nothing beats Duccini in the slice to go category. Everybody loves that place. Everybody I've brought there has absolutely raved about it afterwards. Granted whenever I take anyone there we're always drunk so that helps.

Meiwah, to me, kind of feels like it got lost between two food categories. It is Chinese fast food since it is more expensive than takeout but it isn't sit down Chinese food since the quality level is about what I'd expect from a takeout joint. I got the roast pork appetizer and the twice cooked duck. They used cheap flavorless button mushrooms with the duck and the pork was dry.

They have good Mongolian lamb or beef.

Eat First in Chinatown has an extensive menu for anyone who likes to get adventurous with Chinese dishes.