M.T.'s Blogger

The F train

mlblogsmatt7 — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:45:26 +0000

This is one of my favorite subway lines, The F train.

The
F train is the 6 Avenue Local. All times it travels from 179 Street
Queens along Queens Boulevard via the 63rd Street Connector to
Manhattan. It goes along 6 Avenue and underneath the East River to
Brooklyn. It then travels along the Culver Line to and from Coney
Island Stillwell Avenue.

Here’s the (F)’s photos.

A note about US Dollar bills.

mlblogsmatt7 — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:21:13 +0000

I just thought I would leave an interesting note here about the
currency of the United States. I’m sure everyone here has used it at
some point to make trades and purchases, (unless you are one of those
credit card or debit card users). Dollar bills are probably the most
popular way to carry large sums of money, that doesn’t have to do with
computer memory, (via a plastic card or computer chip) We carry these
“notes” in our wallets and purses. The dollar bills are rarely
collectors’ items because they are constantly traded all the time, for
private and public transactions. Dollar bills can be used up to a point
where they can start to wear and tear down and then they have to be
replaced.

I will now discuss the four most common dollar bills
used in the United States. They are the one dollar, five dollar, ten
dollar, and twenty dollar bills.
Let’s begin talking about the one dollar bill.
The
one dollar bill has George Washington’s photo on the middle. This bill
is the most commonly used bill in the United States and lasts about
12-18 months before it needs to be replaced. These dollars are
generally the only ones accepted at vending machines, (for snacks, and
drinks) It is currently the only dollar to display the federal bank in
which this bill is based from.
Here is the back side of the bill.
This dollar bill unlike most others is not color coded. They make up 45% of today’s existing bills.

Now for the five dollar bill:
This
dollar bill has Abraham Lincoln’s photo on it. This bill has been the
most recent bill to be color coded, to combat counterfeiting. The five
dollar bills have an image that must be seen through light. The main
purpose is to verify it’s authenticity. The great seal is to the right
of the image of Lincoln.

Here is the back side of the five dollar bill:
What
really stands out is the large purple “5″ in the lower right hand
corner, probably another anti-counterfeit tactic. There are small
yellow numbers near it too. The Lincoln Memorial is on this side.
Despite having a higher value, the five dollar bill lasts about 10-18
months, sometimes not lasting as much as the one dollar bill. They make
up 9% of today’s rolling currency.

The ten dollar bill has Alexander Hamilton on it. He was the first US secretary of the treasury.
The
torch from the Statue of Liberty is to the left of the image of
Alexander Hamilton and to the right are the words “We the People” from
the words of the constitution. The 10 on the lower right hand corner is
golden and for counterfeiters, that would be very difficult or nearly
impossible to duplicate. Like the five dollar bill, this one is color
coded as well.

Here is the back of the bill:
This
side has the US Treasury on it, with a large 10 on the right hand
corner. The bill has small yellow 10s on the right side. I believe
there is also an image that you must see through light as well. The 10
dollar bill lasts about 15-24 months before it needs to be replaced.
This bill makes up 11% of today’s currency.

Here is a bill that is used frequently in large numbers: the twenty dollar bill.
Andrew
Jackson is in the front of the bill, and the Eagle is to the left and
USA print on the right. There’s also a golden 20 on the lower right
hand corner. These bills are generally the largest accepted
denomination in many stores, generally because 50 and 100 dollar bills
are not that common anymore. The 20 dollar bill is also color coded.
Today the 20 dollar bill makes up 22% of today’s total currency.

Here is the back:
The
back of the White house is pictured here. The big 20 is to the lower
right hand corner. Small yellow 20s surround the White House. The 20
dollar bill usually lasts about two years before in need of replacement.

To add to this, here are three different bills that are rarely used by consumers and traders:
The 50 dollar bill:
The
50 dollar bill has Ulysses S. Grant on the front and the US Capitol
Building in the back. The red stripes are to the right of Grant on the
front side, and a golden 50 as well. This bill generally will last
about 2 to 3 years before it needs replacing. They only make about 5%
of today’s currency.

The 100 dollar bill with Benjamin Franklin
on it. So far he’s the only non-US President on the bill along with
Alexander Hamilton who is on the 10 dollar bill.
I’m
assuming this dollar bill is color coded as well, this is from the 1996
circulation. About 7% of today’s bills are worth 100 dollars.
Independence Hall in Philadelphia is featured in the back.

Here’s a dollar bill that Thomas Jefferson is on, he is on a two dollar bill:
This bill is rare, and not many stores accept it as currency.
The declaration of Independence is in the back of this bill.

That is it for this post!

My bus ride in Brooklyn

mlblogsmatt7 — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:28:17 +0000

I took two buses on my way to class. I just missed my northbound B68
bus along Coney Island Avenue and decided to hop on the next one. It
looked like this

Next bus came and this is what it looked like.

I
rode it and decided to take some photos of the interior. I am sitting
on the rear section of this bus, which is higher than the front section
of the C40 Low Floor bus.

I didn’t disturb anyone so far on this bus. I guess nobody liked to sit on the back.

The five seats on the back, facing forward, the seats are so high, most people’s feet don’t even touch the ground.

I decided to move to the back where the “high back seats” were and sat on one of them and photograph some more.

Some buses traveled the opposite way, I decided to shoot some of them. The Semi-low floor C40LF.

Oh, a Orion V bus, with all high floors.

I finally get off at Avenue J.

Time for more bus photos!

I tried boarding this B6 bus using a RTS-06 model, but it was packed!

I finally get on the next B6 bus to Midwood. This bus would get packed quickly too.

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And going to class, I took more bus shots! This is the B11 bus using a C40LF, going to Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

I hope you enjoyed the ride!

The aftermath of the storm

mlblogsmatt7 — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:08:37 +0000

The storm that has hit Brooklyn, New York and the rest of New York City
and the region has subsided. On my way to classes I decided to ride the
B train headed towards Manhattan from the Brighton Beach section of
Brooklyn. The snow is still bright white the day after. However the
conditions have made it slippery and people’s feet are wet. Of course
if you aren’t wearing boots, just somehow and someway, your feet are
bound to become wet from all that slush formed by the melted snow
puddles in the sidewalk.

Transportation in New York City has
returned to normal. The subways and buses, (NYCT, Bus Comp, and Long
Island Bus) were running on or close to schedule. Some snowplows and
garbage trucks were still removing and setting aside some snow that had
struck the streets a day earlier.

Here are some photos.

I am entering the subway station in Brighton Beach and boarding the B train using R68 cars. This is along the Brighton Line.

Next up is the boarding of the train.

Soon
enough, the B train leaves for Manhattan. I decided to snapshot some
photographs along the elevated section. The tracks are still covered in
snow.

Here comes Sheepshead Bay.

And we are leaving that neighborhood, only sticking there for about 20 seconds. Another Brighton bound B train passes us by.

The covered tracks at Cortelyou Road.
That is all for the B train.

Later
in the day, I would take the F train bound to Coney Island coming from
Manhattan. Snow is everywhere still. I am traveling along the Culver
Line, passing the neighborhoods of Borough Park, Midwood, Gravesand,
and Coney Island.

Now just waiting for the bus after leaving the F train at Neptune Avenue.

The winter storm of 2010 part 2

mlblogsmatt7 — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:14:43 +0000

I have just completed my walk in my neighborhood and I’ll tell you it’s
really treacherous out there. Buses and subways are being affected in
NYC big time. The snow still hits hard. Here are some of my other
photos from today’s events.

The streets along Brooklyn, well actually Brighton Beach were a bit hard to navigate around with…

A person blows the snow away along Brighton 6 Street.

My walk towards the boardwalk is adventurous.

I am looking around the boardwalk. It is bright white and the sky is dark.

I am looking south towards the ocean.

This is looking west. Hardly anyone is walking around here.
The boardwalk restaurants are closed.

I found this quite interesting.

And here’s a team of snow enthusiasts.

That is all from the boardwalk. Time to get off.

Just walking down the street. The snow has piled on big time, but the buses still run.

That
is it for this trip. I hope you are warm if you are in the northeast.
If you are reading this from California, Florida, or anywhere else
that’s not affected by the snowstorm, I hope you’re safe and sound too.

The winter storm of 2010

mlblogsmatt7 — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:37:56 +0000

While I was running some errands, I decided to take some photographs of
my neighborhood. It was really windy and a mix of rain and snow
occurred along my walk. The buses and subway aren’t affected too much
in NYC except that services will end early just to make sure other
services run smoothly.

All of these are taken in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn.

I
was supposed to be at school today but they decided to close, despite
only a few inches of snow falling. It’s still snowing as of this post.

These buses are still running, the B68 along Coney Island Avenue.

The Taxis of New York City are covered in snow too.

The snow has gathered a bit and puddles are around the corners.

A garbage truck lays there and takes the role of a snow plow.
A garbage truck taking the snow plow role instead of the garbage pickup. They were supposed to pick up garbage today.
This is the Brighton Beach subway station for the B and Q lines.

That’s all I’ll show for now. I hope you New Yorkers and those in the Northeast aren’t too cold.

About the subway line blog entries…

mlblogsmatt7 — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:57:29 +0000

I hope I didn’t bore you to death if you don’t like me blabbing about the subways too much, of course I’ve been doing that the last few weeks. Thanks for your support and your feedback I really am grateful and you are a true help.

There’s not really much going on in terms of baseball.

I hope you enjoyed watching the Super Bowl 42′s festivities. I sure did.

If you want to read more of my transit adventures I have a blog dedicated for that:

It is called: M.T. Traveler. Here is the url: http://mattbus.blogspot.com/

I won’t be uploading those entries like I did here any longer.

Thanks for your support!

The D train

mlblogsmatt7 — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:37:21 +0000

I hope everyone’s hanging in there. This is going to be a long ride. Anyways I will talk about the D train. No this is not the reference to Dontrelle Willis the pitcher.

Here it goes:

The
D train is the 6 Avenue Express. It runs from 205 Street in the Norwood
section of the Bronx, traveling along the Grand Concourse Line. It runs
through Central Park West and 6 Avenue Manhattan (running express) and
crosses into Manhattan Bridge to/from Brooklyn. It runs express between
Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street and 36 Street in Brooklyn along the 4th
Avenue segment and then branches off along West End Line to and from
Coney Island.

The C train

mlblogsmatt7 — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 05:05:11 +0000

This is my third blog about a NYC subway line, it is the C train.

The
C train is the 8th Avenue Local and travels from 168 Street in
Manhattan via Central Park West and 8th Avenue, and into Brooklyn via
Fulton Street to Euclid Avenue. It makes all stops to compliment the A
express service. It runs all day, but not during nights. The A replaces
the C during late nights.

This is the only good photo I had that day.

The B train

mlblogsmatt7 — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 02:27:18 +0000

For this month, I’ll be talking about all the individual subway lines that run in NYC. I have to give you the links to the NYC Subway map just to give you readers some idea on where the subway lines pass. I should have done that at the beginning, I’ll do it now.

Here’s the link for the NYC subway map:

http://www.mta.info/nyct/maps/submap.htm

And now for the (B) train.

The
B train is the 6 Avenue Express. It runs weekdays only between 145
Street Manhattan and Brighton Beach Brooklyn. In Manhattan the (B) runs
local along Central Park West. It is express in 6 Avenue. It crosses
the Manhattan Bridge to and from Brooklyn and runs express via the
Brighton Line to Brighton Beach.

The B is extended Rush Hours (6-9am and 4-7pm) to and from Bedford Park Boulevard in the Bronx via the Grand Concourse line.

Here are some images: