I now have one more reason to love September.
Hooray and hallelujah it is now working through ya — goody, goody for the MTA, goody goody for me, I’m taking it for a ride, and I’m certainly satisfied you rascal, you!
As of Sept. 15, the Montague Street tunnel re-opened, allowing the R trains to flow from Brooklyn to Queens like the waters of the East River.
Thank you MTA track workers, tunnel fixers, electricians, and transit personnel: thank you from the bottom of my very painful knee joints for finishing the tunnel under budget and earlier than expected.
When the tunnel was closed for repairs some 14 months ago, my only thought was “How the heck am I going to get to work?”
My trek since the great move of 2009 (Sheepshead Bay to MetroTech) consisted of a ride on the Toonerville Trolley on Staten Island, a sail on the Staten Island Ferry, and another ride on the R train into Brooklyn. Hence two trains and a boat.
Thanks to Superstorm Sandy and a flooded tunnel, my commute from bucolic southern Staten Island to the hustle and bustle of Downtown Brooklyn went from a shade over one hour 10 minutes to almost two hours.
Sure, I could take the train to the boat to the train, but it wouldn’t be the same old R train and it certainly wasn’t the same old R station.
My excursion to work after August 2013 rivaled Hannibal’s trek over the Alps — my options included a drive into Brooklyn with my husband Bob, where I would pick up a train that was near a tower he was stationed at, all at ungodly pre-dawn hours of the morning — or drive to the S79 bus stop in Staten Island and ride the long and winding road over the bridge into Brooklyn where I would pick up the R train at its southern terminus (train speak) at 86th Street and Fourth Avenue — an ungodly, really, really long ride.
The return at night was no better. No matter what time I arrived, a long line for the bus always awaited me. There with the other weary travelers I would impatiently wait to hop aboard a select bus and pray that a seat would be available. Many a night I stood a little while longer and waited for a second bus to arrive just for the comfort of a seat.
But as of this past Monday, the odyssey of the last 14 months ended and my lengthy commute returned to a blissfully manageable one hour and 10 minutes.
Not for Nuthin™, but when I stepped onto the R train at the Whitehall Ferry station that beautiful sunny September Monday morning, it added another great moment to celebrate the month — my daughter’s birthday, my anniversary, being able to buy a box of Mallomars, and the re-opening of the Montague Street tunnel. Ah sweet, sweet September.
Follow me on Twitter @JDelBuono.
