If you've ever ridden the F train when it goes above ground

Then you know why I will off myself if this ever happens.

If you haven't, then imagine a train filled with people testing their ringtones, shouting into their cell phones, and worst of all, utilizing the walkie-talkie feature on their phone and ignoring the blatant irony that the point of owning a cell phone is really just to make sure you never need to carry a walkie-talkie again.

From our city's only new source.

Pols want MTA cellular service

by michael rundle / metro new york

AUG 13, 2007

MANHATTAN. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority was urged to move forward on introducing cell phone coverage to subways yesterday, with city politicians claiming recent transit chaos should act as a wake-up call.

Wireless coverage could have allowed the MTA to inform riders via text message about delays and other emergencies during last week’s storms, said City Councilman John Liu and U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner at a press conference outside Penn Station. Introducing underground service also increases ridership and improves safety, they added.

“It makes no sense that there is no minimal means of communicating with riders,” Liu, head of the council’s transportation committee, told Metro. “The MTA have bumped it off their agenda.”

Under current proposals, wireless service would be introduced into 277 underground stations, but not tunnels. The MTA began accepting bids for the project in 2006, but delays have slowed progress. NYC Transit President Howard Roberts said recently that a decision would be made in September, but Liu expressed skepticism.

“The real root of this problem is that the MTA does not see communication as a core competency that it must have,” Liu said.

Liu projected the cost of introducing cell phone coverage at around $300 to $500 million — no small amount considering the budget shortfalls and expensive capital projects on the MTA’s plate already — but said improving communications was “not an optional extra.”

Weiner reintroduced a bill in Congress last month that would require cell phone companies to provide access to emergency telephone numbers while customers were underground.

The MTA did not return calls for comment.