Free Republic

Fast food giant McDonald’s will open 30 drive-thrus next week — with plans for all 900 stores to be back in business by early June. The burger chain is opening 15 stores tomorrow for delivery only with next week’s larger opening an opportunity for them to test safety measures before a widespread reopening in the summer. High Street rivals Subway are opening 600 eateries today for third-party delivery and takeaway; and Burger King announced on Monday a further 35 branches are set to offer drive-through collection or delivery. When the McDonald’s stores reopen, there will be a £25-per-car limit, and...

Thousands of homeless New Yorkers have continued to seek shelter in the city’s subways, avoiding an overwhelmed and crowded shelter system that poses its own dangers during the COVID-19 pandemic. On Tuesday, both Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio condemned the presence of the homeless in the subways, but they offered little in the way of solutions to the problem. Mayor Bill de Blasio is calling for the MTA to close ten subway stations so NYPD and homeless outreach workers can help get the homeless into shelters, and so the MTA can clean the stations thoroughly. “We'll devote...

A Reuters reporter and photographer spent several hours traveling under the city to talk to those with nowhere else to go. Afraid of the coronavirus in the shelters, many are sleeping on ghost trains and on platforms abandoned by almost everyone else during the lockdown. The lights still scream for attention, but on this night Times Square has the feel of an abandoned Hollywood film set. Gone are the hordes of tourists shooting selfies with Elmo and Wonder Woman. Instead, a lone SUV glides by and a passenger’s phone glows as she records the scene from the safety of the...

It's time to stop throwing money at an obsolete form of travel and focus on the transportation system that is already moving more than 80 percent of passenger travel in the U.S. When most of the nation’s governors shut down nonessential businesses and directed people to stay at home, they made the mistake of keeping urban transit systems running despite a 2018 study showing that mass public transportation systems expedite the spread of infectious diseases in communities. Further, a 2011 study found that people who ride urban transit are nearly six times more likely to suffer from upper respiratory infections...

Subway robberies are skyrocketing despite a plunge in ridership during the coronavirus crisis - forcing the MTA to call in outside contractors for backup, according to sources. March saw 51 robberies across the 472-station subway system - compared to 33 the previous year, according to NYPD stats. There was a mere 3.4 percent drop in overall major felonies on the system, even as ridership dropped by nearly 90 percent from pre-crisis levels. The surge came while the MTA and NYPD struggle with virus-induced personnel shortages, with 5,055 NYPD personnel still out of work due to the virus as of Sunday...

While face coverings are not required to ride Metro, we recommend all transit riders wear face coverings and/or masks on our buses and trains as well.

Michael Hertz, the man who helped design New York City's famous subway map, has died at the age of 87. His death was confirmed by his son Eugene, who announced his father died on February 18 at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, New York. His cause of death has not been revealed. Hertz is best known as the man behind the map of the New York City subway system, which is still used by commuters and tourists to navigate their way round the city today.

CHICAGO — The brutal beating of a 68-year-old man by 11 teens on a passenger train here Monday was captured in a disturbing, graphic video obtained by Fox News. The Chicago Police Department told Fox News the beating is under investigation, but no one is in custody because the victim “was unable to identify his attacker(s) due to his injuries.” A police source told Fox that the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office “wouldn’t touch” the case if the victim can’t identify those accused or is unable to cooperate.

Masked anti-cop protesters flooded Grand Central Terminal at the start of rush hour Friday in an attempt to shut down the commuter hub — but the whole thing soon fizzled out. There were two arrests following a skirmish between cops and demonstrators, who refused to remove their masks despite repeated orders from police. Some of the agitators attempted to approach a nearby subway entrance, only to find it blocked off. Others chanted loudly while holding signs with messages like “Money for elevators not more cops,” “F–k the police fight the power” and “No fare no cops.”

Transit officials said they pulled nearly 300 of the MTA’s newest subway cars after two door malfunctions — but records show the $600 million fleet’s recent woes go beyond the pair of incidents. Between Dec. 1 and Jan. 7, the new R179 subway cars recorded 16 incidents — including at least 10 involving doors, according to internal reports obtained by THE CITY. The reports cited repeated issues of “guard light trouble.” Guard lights are the red indicators that show whether doors are fully closed. In some cases, a door panel had to be locked, leaving passengers a narrow entry and...

An employee at a Subway sandwich shop in Florida got so enraged at a fellow employee in a fight over a sandwich that he ended up firing a handgun at the co-worker’s mother, a report said. The fight kicked off when Destin Garcia, 18, was with his fellow employee at the sandwich shop in Palm Springs the day after Thanksgiving, NBC South Florida reported. Because the sandwich outpost was busy with Black Friday customers, the employees were allowed to make themselves a free sandwich, according to the report. Garcia’s co-worker ended up making herself a wrap instead of a sandwich,...

New analysis of projected provincial gas tax revenues in Ontario has revealed that that source of provincial funding will fall much more dramatically than predicted just five years ago due to increased use of electric vehicles and other factors. And so, concludes Trent University professor emeritus Harry Kitchen in a new report titled Ontario’s Downward Trend for Fuel Revenue: Will Road Pricing Fill the Gap?, the provincial government must look for other sources of revenues to build transportation infrastructure. Kitchen recommends road pricing, such as tolls and HOT lanes, with funds raised earmarked for future transportation improvements, and dynamic parking...

“He was either climbing up or down between cars” before falling, an MTA employee at the scene told The Post. NYC Transit issued a statement via Twitter later in the evening, saying “We’re sorry to report that the person killed at Queensboro Plaza had been surfing on top of the train. 7 and N trains continue to bypass Queensboro in both directions while NYPD continues their investigation.”

The New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) flooded the Broadway subway station in Williamsburg this morning to test a new "flex gate" that's designed to seal off MTA stations from flooding, Business Insider reports. When a MTA user asked about the flooded subway station on Twitter, MTA replied jokingly "We're pivoting to submarines." In its next tweet, MTA explained what was really happening. "We were testing a new 'flex gate,' which is a flood barrier that would allow us to seal off a subway entrance," MTA tweeted. "We 'test flood' the entrance for four hours to make sure it...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., on Saturday gave her backing to a New York City anti-police protest, in which demonstrators jumped subway turnstiles and yelled anti-cop slogans to protest a crackdown on fare evasion and allegations of police brutality. “Ending mass incarceration means challenging a system that jails the poor to free the rich,” the left-wing freshman congresswoman tweeted, retweeting a video of protesters jumping subway turnstiles in Brooklyn Friday night. "Arresting people who can’t afford a $2.75 fare makes no one safer and destabilizes our community." "New Yorkers know that, they’re not having it, and they’re standing up for each...

Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in Brooklyn on Friday night to protest police violence after a teen was seen in a viral video being punched by an officer in a subway brawl. Video of the incident posted on social media showed an altercation breaking out on a subway platform in Brooklyn late last week, with an officer seen punching 15-year-old Benjamin Marshall. Marshall and his parents say he was not part of the fight and was instead looking for his backpack on the platform when he was punched. Protesters responded by swarming streets in Brooklyn on Friday night,...

SHELBYVILLE, Ky. — Shelbyville police are investigating what led someone to shoot out a drive thru window at a KFC restaurant Monday afternoon. Witnesses say it was over a fork and a napkin. Shelby County dispatch confirmed Shelbyville police were called to the KFC for a report of a shooting, but so far, the department hasn't released any details. A message was taped to the door Monday evening saying the restaurant was closed but offered no explanation. Witnesses tell WLKY a female customer shot through the window after she didn't receive a napkin and fork. Charlene Witt is the manager...

...on the uptown R train in New York City. As the subway pulled into Times Square I thought it was a joke. Then he launched into a verbal assault. He called me a white nationalist, a Nazi and a fascist. He blamed me for starting wars and then some. ...I am an art critic. I didn’t know how to respond. ...“Dead children in the street because of people like you! That is your legacy! Dead children!” he concluded in parting. I was relieved to be in one piece. ...My appearance alone upset him, in particular the tote bag I was...

A man holding his 5-year-old daughter jumped onto subway tracks in the Bronx during Monday's morning rush, killing himself but thankfully only leaving the child with minor injuries, police said. The man had the girl cradled in one arm when he jumped in front of the train as it rounded a curve and slowed at the Kingsbridge Road station just before 8 a.m., police said. The man, identified as Fernando Balbuena, was killed by the Manhattan-bound train — but the girl lived, getting trapped underneath. With the help of two strangers, the little girl crawled her way to safety. One...

A praying mantis ensured there were no flies on commuters as it hopped aboard a New York Subway train Tuesday and caused quite a stir. City Councilman Keith Powers was traveling Uptown on the 6 train, when another rider told him that his head was dangerously close to the long-legged insect. He snapped a picture of the mantis as it clung onto the metal inner frame of the subway cart and stared at passengers. Captured in its synonymous 'praying pose,' the bug seemed unfazed by worried people around it all eyeing up its sizable green and brown torso and black...