Robert Stolarik for The New York Times Are you missing the R train?Updated, 7:02 a.m. | When officials announced that the tunnel used by the R train between Brooklyn and Manhattan would be closed for 14 months for repairs, 65,000 riders let out a collective groan.
After a week without the tunnel, how is it going so far?
Depends. More than half of riders who filled out an online survey for the Straphangers Campaign reported that their commute was longer. Of those, more than a third said it was more than 10 minutes longer.
Ten minutes may not sound like too much, but underground, when you’re trying to get somewhere, it can feel a bit eternal.
(The repairs, by the way, stem from damage caused by Hurricane Sandy.)
Cate Contino, a coordinator for the Straphangers Campaign who is a regular R commuter, said her new route along the N is actually faster, but much more crowded.
“I would take slower over crowded any day,†she said. “Someone else might feel differently.â€
We’d like to know how the R line disruption has affected you, whether you use the R or one of the lines absorbing its refugees.
Tell us in the comments or via Twitter, with #NYToday.
Here’s what you need to know for Monday.
WEATHER
Moody skies with a 30 percent chance of showers, possible thunder in the afternoon and a high of 84. Umbrella decision depends on your risk tolerance.
TRANSIT & TRAFFIC
- Mass Transit [6:30] O.K. so far. Click for latest M.T.A. status.
- Roads [6:32] No major delays. Click for traffic map or radio report on the 1s.
Alternate-side parking is in effect.
COMING UP TODAY
- The mayor, along with the federal interior and housing secretaries, announces the formation of a research center focused on restoring the ecosystem of Jamaica Bay.
- Anthony D. Weiner’s first TV ad hits the airwaves. He says he remains “focused like a laser beam fighting for the middle class,†even as “powerful voices†oppose him. Mr. Weiner has a live interview with Ben Smith of Buzzfeed at 6:30 p.m.
- Joseph J. Lhota’s first broadcast TV ad makes its debut, too. He says the Democratic candidates are turning the race into a circus as photos of Christine C. Quinn wearing bunny ears and Bill de Blasio in handcuffs flash by.
- Other mayoral candidates: William C. Thompson Jr. tours sewage-damaged apartments in a Bronx housing project. Mr. de Blasio gets endorsed and serenaded by the musicians’ union.
- The comptroller candidates Scott M. Stringer and Eliot Spitzer debate again at 7 p.m., with Brian Lehrer of WNYC and Errol Louis of NY1 moderating. Both outlets will broadcast the debate.
- Free waffles and ice cream and Sears jeans at the Central Park bandshell from 5 to 8 p.m. It’s all related, somehow. [Free]
- Toni Braxton sings at Wingate Park in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, at 7:30 p.m. (Warning: at least three mayoral candidates are expected to attend.) [Free]
- The “blackly funny†short-story writer Amy Hempel reads at the Franklin Park Bar and Beer Garden in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. 8 p.m. [Free]
- Outdoor movies at dusk: The original 1939 version (with Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russell) of “The Women,†at Bryant Park. “Fame,†at Coney Island. “Saturday Night Fever,†in Astoria Park. [Free]
IN THE NEWS
- After a 22-year legal fight, the city agreed to pay $12 million to families whose children contracted leukemia after living near an illegal toxic dump in the Bronx. [New York Times]
- Slow down: There Is a statewide crackdown on speeding and aggressive drivers this week. [Syracuse Post-Standard]
- Ms. Quinn leads her Democratic competitors in one important category: money raised. [New York Times]
- Mr. Weiner, meanwhile, has achieved, if that’s the right word, the lowest voter-approval rating in the history of the Siena poll. [Daily News]
- WBAI-FM, the radio bastion of liberalism, laid off most of its staff. [New York Times]
- With Lyme disease increasing in and near the city and some ticks now carrying the deadly Powassan virus, Senator Charles D. Schumer urged New Yorkers to check for ticks after visiting city parks. [Fox 5 News]
- An Upper West Side woman boating with her businessman husband in the Hamptons fell overboard and drowned. [New York Post]
- Three people were arrested at a flash-mob dance party on the Manhattan Bridge. [CBS 2 New York]
- Yankees beat Tigers 5-4 in walk off. Mets outslug Arizona 9-5.
AND FINALLY…
Mary Jane West was born in Bushwick, Brooklyn, 120 years ago this week. You may know her as Mae.
In addition to strutting her overstuffed self across the big screen, she wrote three plays â€" “Sex,†“Pleasure Man†and “Diamond Lil†â€" that were judged unsuitable for film production. (The entire cast of “Pleasure Man†was arrested at its Broadway opening.)
To celebrate her birthday, the New York Public Library is staging an adaptation this afternoon of West’s most successful (if least salaciously named) play, “Diamond Lil,†about a well-kept dance-hall girl on the Bowery of the Gay Nineties.
“Lurid and Often Stirring†wrote The Times in 1928. What will audiences think now?
Judge for yourself, at 4 p.m. at the Hudson Park Branch, 66 Leroy Street in the Village.
Nicole Higgins DeSmet and Matt Flegenheimer contributed reporting.
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