NJ Transit, NE Corridor, 5:43 outbound

Today on this rush hour train I was in a car that was maybe 20% full. Now, lots of people stayed out because of snow (and the scarcity of transactions) and I had to walk back a car to get to the one I was in, but all that notwithstanding, that's an empty car. In general, the trains are hauling fewer people. Today on the 7:43 inbound I had the seat next to me free for my bag and papers. On the 6:46 inbound earlier in the week, same deal. For either of those trains in 2004-2007, you woulda had to have been queued up precisely and asserted your way into the boarding passenger flow to get a seat at all.

No doubt about it, macroeconomic shit is fucked up here in the metro area.

At the Olive Mays market on Nassau St, shelves are freakishly bare. OK, the store kind of sucks, but they've got a buit in walkable customer base, it shouldn't be hard to make money there, and here they are unable to fund inventory. That's just not good.