| Subject: more skit lines revised* |
Author:
christina
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Date Posted: 17:27:11 04/22/02 Mon
Scene 1
Times Square Christina: yawn* I’m so tired from last night …I was up doing my bio homework
Helen: Well.. I was up last night till 1 for science, too… I have a test today
C: do you think you’re going to do good on it?
H: not sure… I forget stuff when I cram.. and it doesn’t help that I have to wake up so early lately
C: What do you mean?
H: since the 911 thing.. like the subways
34 Penn Station C: Oh you mean like how the 1 and 9 stations under the WTC collapsed?
H: yea.. and that’s why we can’t ride the express here anymore
C: I mean the 3 goes express but only to 14 st, and the 2 is completely local-
H: along with the 1, which replaces the 3 in Brooklyn. Its end stop is now New Lots.
C: that’s true.. I think the changes might remain in effect indefinitely and that would be bad coz it takes about 12 minutes longer now..
28th Street H: laughs* so precise..pause* so what train do you take before switching to the 2?
C: me? I take the 7 train
H: let me guess.. you live in Queens?
C: yea
H: so many people come from there… pause* I come from Brooklyn so I ride the N
C: oh.. are those trains affected in any way?
23rd Street H: well, the N was closed –along with the R- until late October. It had been replaced by extending the J, M, Q and W trains. But now it’s back in service and it’s better because they skip a stop and it saves me about 4 mins..heh
C so you have to wake up earlier because of the 1 and 2 local trains but you get 4 mins coz of the N?
H: yah
C: what stop is that?
H: Cortlandt St.
18th Street C: oh.. what happened to it? The stations are blocked up?
H: well, some sections of it are damaged beyond repair and its exits lead to Ground Zero…
C: oh.. well that makes sense then.. I’m guessing they would put a lot of security around there to make sure no one gets in and messes everything up
H: speaking of security, have you heard about the airports?
C: oh yea.. and the layoffs, too.
14th Street H: holds up newspaper* **need newspaper for prop** yea.. I read in the newspaper that the parent company of American Airlines lost $1.76 billion for 2001 and United Airlines' parent company lost $2.1 billion.
C: whoa.. that’s plenty of money brief silence* hey look at that ad up there points* **need ad for prop, as well** reads aloud* Houston Street The world's airlines may have lost a record $15 billion last year, largely as a result of the terrorist attacks on the United States. Lend a helping hand. Call 18009618732 to donate money. …I heard that in general, the major airlines carried 6 million fewer passengers in January than they did in 2001.
H: let me guess.. they’re lowering prices to get passengers back on the planes.
Canal Street C: yep.. it says in this consumer report **need consumer report as prop** that the Air Transport Association mentioned passengers paid, on average, 16.1 percent less to fly within the United States in January 02 than they did in January 2001…
H: oh I see..
Loudspeaker: We have traffic ahead of us and as soon as the signals clear we will approach Franklin Street. This is a number one train going to Chambers Street, a number one train, last stop Chambers St. Thank you for your patience.
C: you know, I think all of downtown traffic is messed up in general –not just the subways.
H: yea, I think so too…I remember waking up in October or something and watching the news at 6 in the morning.. and they would be saying how downtown carpool laws are in effect.
C: ohh.. last term, my parents didn’t want me to ride the subway to manhattan just yet, even after returning from Brooklyn tech! But there were like restrictions on one passenger vehicles
In lower manhattan and I had ended up having to ride the subway anyways.. J
Franklin Street H: haha.. did you want to ride your dad’s car?
C: ehh.. it didn’t matter to me because on one hand I could get a comfortable ride and alternatively I would have been going to school with friends.
H: oh.. I see.. so what exactly were the restrictions?
C: um.. I think it started on September 27th. The city issued a ban on vehicles with only one passenger from entering Manhattan south of 63rd Street via any bridge or tunnel. And since I live in Queens, I need to come via the Queensboro Bridge.. and they would have stopped us.
H: thoughtful nod* I wonder what will become of the transit system here downtown..oh wait, it’s Chambers.. let’s go.
-------
Scene 2
T: I want to take this time to acknowledge MTA chairman Mr. Peter S. Kalikow for coming.
J: Gives a little acknowledgement*
T: Clears throat* So, I’m from Port Authority Trans-Hudson, Director and General Manager Michael DePallo. Takes a seat* Shifts folders* Due to the tragedy of September 11th, many of our subway riders have been affected drastically. Our objective today is to reach an agreement on what to do about downtown traffic. Specifically, the subway systems. Okay, let’s start this meeting. Would you care to proceed?
[[J: Well, I would like to address what already has been done to improve our circumstances, if we can elaborate further on those particulars. For example, the MTA has ]]
T: Well. [[let’s start with what has been achieved]] PATH has been concerned with many of the same things; confronted with similar problems. What we did in December was to vote to allocate $544 million for the construction of a temporary station at the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan. . So basically what we’re looking to do within a two year period is return service, on a temporary basis at least, to the old World Trade Center station site while we work on a permanent solution for PATH in lower Manhattan.
J: That’s to deal with the large numbers of Garden State commuters coming in to New York, correct?
T: Yes. See, what we’ve been thinking is that the old Hudson and Manhattan Railroad station, which had been formerly used by us and had been later shut down when the WTC complex was built can act as a permanent replacement for the damaged terminal. Yet, to renovate it would take four to five years alone.
J: What do you estimate all your expenses to add up to be?
T: Total system repair and renovation costs for PATH are estimated at $1.7 billion.
J: Hmm..
T: Our current efforts are on handling the thousands of displaced commuters who go through congested stations situated closest to lower Manhattan. Many travel patterns have changed in the region and losing some of our stations has accounted for dislocation of a third of our passengers.
J: Anything you’ve tried to do?
T: Yeah, sure. We’ve added in through-train service between.. thinks* Newark and 33rd Street, I believe. More service during certain a.m. and p.m. peak periods provides some relief for the crowdedness.
J: Seems reasonable. Pause*
T: I do believe that something should be done about financial matters, however. Shouldn’t we be concerned about managing our budget? Revenue for September 11th to 300 was 14.6 below forecast and October’s revenue was approximately 9 million below. Gestures at graph*
J: I don’t think a fare change will better the situation. Perhaps we should wait. I do not plan to write up any layoffs as of now, either.
T: nod* Well, according to this graph of compiled statistics, the number of passengers were originally down but have recovered to about 5% down for October. Points at 2nd graph*
J: I see. Well, for us, the New York City Transit, to recover our system from this whole tragedy, it all comes down to whether or not to rebuild, or perhaps to relocate. We have always said since September 12th that once we gained an understanding of how much damage was done it would take years, without quantifying the years, to rebuild. So much goes into making the decision and we have yet to make it. I mean, we’re still pondering the direction we will take –they’re so many choices! Creating a totally new tunnel for the 1 and 9 line is an option while alternatively, to rebuild the collapsed portions of the existing route underneath the World Trade Center is another option. If we go ahead with the replacement tunnel, it would curve further west in lower Manhattan and terminate in Battery Park at the island’s southern tip. Cortlandt Street, Rector Street and South Ferry would cease to exist and one intermediate station would be built, most likely near Liberty Street.
T: Anything that needs to be taken into consideration that can help the NYCT in deciding?
J: There is always the World Trade Center site to think of. We have to take into account what might or might not be built on the site and how to accommodate it. The recovery effort is ongoing and we, too have to be flexible in response.
T: Hmm…I predict the PATH has planned other changes as well, but to go into detail, some of them include --yet are not limited to-- the fact that there will be improvements made to our E and F tunnels. They go under the Hudson River from the World Trade Center into Jersey City, you see, the interior infrastructure of the tubes is going to be reconstructed. There will also be significant work done at our Exchange Place station, where we’re going to extend the platform there to accommodate 10-car trains. We’ll also put a crossover in at the western end of the station in order to reopen it as a terminal.
T: Let us continue next time, shall we? Meeting adjourned.
PROPS
Subway background Colored chalk draw on board
Pole
Sign for the stops Jesse
Stops Jesse
Subway ad Helen
Newspaper Helen
Consumer Report Helen
Meeting table and chairs Found in room
Folders Helen
Big graph showing ridership info Christina
Big graph showing revenue info Christina
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