One Heck Of A Commute

Neither Construction Nor Closed Tunnels Nor Broken Elevators Nor Locked Doors Could Stop Matthew

It’s a good thing my colleague Matthew Scollante is physically fit. Because the final leg of his commute from New Jersey was the most physically arduous portion.

But before we get to that, let’s go back to the start of his commuting woes.

Matthew drives into work here in Manhattan every night. But tonight as he approached the Lincoln Tunnel which connects Jersey to the city, he got caught in gawd-awful traffic. Construction got in the way of his arrival here. Traffic wasn’t even stop and go. It was just ‘‘stop.”

So Matthew decided to adapt. Crawling toward an exit. Finding a side street. And heading south to the Holland Tunnel. Surely, he thought, traffic couldn’t be that bad there. Ah, but nothing’s a certainty when it comes to navigating New York City and its environs. Because, as Matthew found out the hard way, he made a bad choice. Jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

He arrived only to find the inbound Holland Tunnel closed for construction!

Feeling a little bit like Moses unable to cross the river into the Promised Land, Matthew thought he’d better double back. This time, though, using a circuitous route to avoid the construction which first delayed him.

He managed to find a lesser used approach to the tunnel and, wonders of wonders, moved fairly quickly into New York City. But his troubles were far from over.

Fox News headquarters is on Sixth Avenue just a block east of Times Square. And the cops had closed all east-west streets from Sixth to Eighth Aveneus through Times Square. So for our poor intrepid Matthew, driving up Sixth Avenue was like it used to be before the pandemic. Traffic moving at a frustrating crawl. Bicycles zipping up the bike lane making much better timing. It would even have been faster to walk, but there was no place to abandon his car. So he inched his way up and, fortunately, found a parking spot not too far away. But, as you will now see, Matthew’s problems were far from over.

When he walked into the lobby of our building he learned that the elevators were out of service for inspection and service. And the freight elevator, which was supposed to be available while the passengers were down wasn’t working. But this was no time to retreat. So Matthew asked a guard if he could take the stairs the 15 floors to work. The guard said, “sure, if that’s what you really want to do.”

So Matthew huffed and puffed his way up. Now very late for work, he was speed climbing. Like I said, good thing he’s in good shape. He finally got to the 15th floor and went to open the door. But guess what?

It was locked! So he called me to let him in. But of course, after all that, I couldn’t just open the door. Nope, I had to take the photo here to ‘‘document” his triumphant arrival.

The thing is, I’ve written many times about New York commuting woes. Sometimes people are stranded because the trains stop running for one reason or another. We’ve had ferries run aground or slam into docks. And traveling by car is always an adventure. You never know whether it will be smooth sailing or. as in Matthew’s case, absolute gridlock. Even at 11 pm where in any sane city traffic will usually flow nicely.

I know I’m poking a little fun at my friend here. But he deserves kudos for his tenacity. And now that he’s had time to catch his breath, he has a lot of work to catch up with!