From: grammatim@verizon.net   
      
   I arrived at the Port Authority Bus Terminal at 1:25. Entering the tunnel to   
   the   
   Times Square station, a noticed a sign saying "This ramp not wheelchair   
   accessible."   
   That must refer to the quite steep segment more than halfway through, because   
   there are elevators down to the 1-2-3 platforms and presumably up to the upper   
   mezzanine. The way to make the trip is to go down to the 7 platform and take   
   the escalator at the east end, because there's a mountain of stairs from the   
   tunnel to the upper mezzanine.   
      
   After a short wait, the Q was the first train to arrive, at 1:45; the computer   
   lady said "This is the Q to 96th Street Second Avenue." Eight minutes later we   
   had arrived at the Lexington Avenue station. the uptown Q and F are across the   
   platform from each other; I suppose the downtown Q and F are on the lower   
   level.   
   (When I went to Roosevelt Island I had no reason to suppose that the track   
   across the platform wasn't the other-direction F.)   
      
   The conductor overrode the automatic announcement to say that the next stop   
   would be 86th St. That threw me and my fellow passengers into a tizzy -- me   
   because I intended to look at all the art, an elderly couple because they   
   wanted to get off at 72nd.   
      
   The next stop was 72nd. As we got off, we heard the conductor say "Next stop   
   82nd, er, 86th Street." The mosaics on the mezzanine are life-  or over-life-   
   size figures, called "Perfect Strangers," by Vik Muniz. They're in groups of   
   two or three, studiously avoiding looking at each other. I especially liked   
   the rabbi with a globe. The southern exit is at 69th. There was no down   
   escalator. There was only a 7 minute gap between trains.   
      
   At 86th, the Chuck Close portraits -- the only one I recognized was Lou Reed   
   -- are done in differing mosaic techniques; only two of them are in his typical   
   style of gridded color circles, interestingly imitated with non-round-edge   
   glass pieces. There is a down escalator.   
      
   The next train was coated in the multicolored logo with the letters of TH E   
   SE CO ND AV E   SU BW AY in circles the colors of some of the lines. A railfan   
   at 96th said that only two of the Q trains have that livery, and that it was   
   paid for by Governor Cuomo personally, and will stay on the trains for 30 days.   
      
   The only disappointing art is at 96th: the walls of the mezzanine are simply   
   dark blue with white sheets of paper as if blown in a gale. Only at the upper   
   level (the tracks are surprisingly close to the surface at 96th) is there   
   something recognizable occupying the entire wall, a blueprint-style white-on-   
   blue drawing of something architectural.   
      
   The booth agent gave me the Q leaflet, which shows the new route and has the   
   four neighborhood maps of station exits and nearby bus lines that haven't been   
   added to the Neighborhood View map at the web site yet, and a gaudy "Second   
   Avenue Subway GrandOpening" map, which has -- surprise! -- the updated Vignelli   
   map (yay!) on the front (they also used the Vignelli style for the special   
   Super Bowl Service map the other year), and on the back construction photos   
   and details of the artworks (from which I learned that Lexington-63 apparently   
   also has new art).   
      
   I then took the M96 and M104 to Columbia's library, and at 116th I asked if he   
   had a new map with Second Avenue, and he did -- and as I expected, not the   
   souvenir Vignelli map, but the regular map. One curiosity: there's no date on   
   the front. I expected it to say January 2017 -- but it's just barely possible   
   that when the map was being updated and printed, they weren't entirely sure   
   the segment would be open before  February (at the earliest). He didn't have   
   anything for the revised Q.   
      
   The End.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)