Dan's Papers -March 27, 2009 - Hampton Subway Club Newsletter

This was a banner week for the Hampton Subway in terms of ridership. Nearly 7,000 people decided that instead of driving to the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Montauk they would park at the lot at our Shinnecock Station and take the subway instead. Big signs at the turnstiles told straphangers that no liquor would be allowed on the subway and to put what they had with them into the bins provided as they entered. Violators would receive a $5,000 fine and one year in jail. It worked. The busy subway trains were filled with people either sitting eyes forward with their hands in their laps or standing holding onto straps while discussing the comparative impact of Plato or Socrates. Parade goers repeated this performance on the way back too. We are proud of our riders.

On Monday, the day after the big parade, the subway system was closed so that our loyal employees could celebrate the birthday party of our esteemed commissioner, Bill Aspinall. The parties took place on every platform in the system and Bill was kind enough to ride his private car subway from platform to platform to thank everybody, even though, as he said, to great amusement, that actually his birthday was in August but this would do. The system remained closed until Tuesday morning so partygoers could have time with their family and friends to recover.

The $20 billion bailout received by Commissioner Aspinall will be used to build the long delayed subway tube between Sag Harbor and Foxwoods. The old construction, which went under the North Fork and ten feet beneath the seabed of Long Island Sound, had to be abandoned when the dig struck oil. The new route makes a big circle around the oil. It uses the old abandoned tunnel as far as the north shore of Southold, at which time it heads 50 miles to the east, goes north at Port Washington, then west along the Connecticut Shore at Darien for 60 miles, then inland to Foxwoods. It will take nearly two and a half hours to complete the journey, which is far more than the half hour it would have taken if it had gone straight, but the Subway has the money, and about 400 jobs will be created for the next year for this shovel ready project, which we hope will help fix the economy.

Our souvenir book One Year on the Hampton Subway goes on sale on April 1 in all four Bookhampton bookstores (Amagansett, East Hampton, Sag Harbor and Southampton.) It can also be bought either online or by telephone. Buy it at danshamptons.com or by calling 631-537-0500. The cost is $18.48 plus tax.

One Year on the Hampton Subway was intended to be given away free to the first 1,000 customers using the subway beginning on January 1, 2009. However, due to a poor communication between our general manager and our printer, 100,000 copies were printed and we can only get them out of the Patchogue warehouse where our printer is by paying for them one at a time as we sell them. Help us pay our printing bill. The book describes everything that has gone on in the subway system, the good, the bad, the promotions, the explosions and the subway races, during the entire prior year. Help us out. Get yours. $18.48 plus tax is only $20.00. It is a great book!