What sort of person reads the New York Times? The comments section from a post about this morning's commuting issues on the paper's City Room blog might provide a clue. Since the Times doesn't seem to do it, we've gone ahead and picked out Gold Star recipients from the wealth of worthy insights the paper's readership provides. Enjoy!

Its a good thing we've spent all that money after 9/11 to fix up the communication system on the subways.Nobody at Atlantic Ave. knew what was being said.Were they speaking Chinese,its a joke !

Oh,yes, plenty more where that came from.

Everyone is screwed. What I really hate is that they were not talking about subway service on any of this morning's news programs. It was all about how LIRR and Metro North was severely backed up or canceled. Nothing was mentioned that nearly half the subway lines in the city were shut down! I walked to the 1 train to find the station was closed. Of course the MTA woman there was completely useless. Me: "Excuse me, what's going on? Are the trains running?" Her: *rolls her eyes, with attitude* "I don't know. I guess the trains are messed up. I can't help you." *rolls eyes again* I walked to the 23rd Street ACE and the uptown tracks were open (downtown side was completely closed). An F train rolled into the station so I hopped on and it hit to local stops on 8th Avenue. It stopped at 59th/Columbus Circle and I walked crosstown from there. So glad I don't live in Brooklyn, like all my friends from college. As much as they rave on and on about how Brooklyn is so much better than the city, they always bitch about the TERRIBLE train service. Suckers.

I am stunned how unreliable the New York Transit system is. For the price it must be the most poorly run system in the world; For half the system to be knocked out by a night of heavy rain is embarrassing. Even worse is the announcements/notifications that they give their PAYING customers. I entered the subway today, and there was no announcement, sign, employee, or anything else that would warn me that something was wrong, or which track to use. Once on the track, there was also no announcements or warnings. Even on the train all you hears is "This train is wah wah wah waaaah wah waah weh wah." Let me know the system is not working BEFORE I pay to use it. I could have walked to work faster, hailed a cab, used my bike, anything except the train. If the MTA was an airline it would be bankrupt in a year. I won't even mention how dirty and broken the stations are.

Who needs the Taliban? We've got Con Ed and the MTA!

Has it occurred to anyone that if this keeps happening and tons of people are stuck in subways, like at Port Authority and Times Square, that it would be a perfect opportunity for some mean people to do a lot of damage? Come on MTA, I don't think the rain should be the cause of all these problems. Doesn't it rain a lot of the year in London? You don't hear about these problems there.

Al-Qaeda may have figured out that all they need to do is go to work for ConEd if they feel like blowing up the city or the MTA if they feel like crippling it .... just think about it: regular hours, nice benefits, you can be as destructive as you like and everyone just thinks you're doing your job. Because how could we tell you're not?

I don't know about all of you, but I enjoyed walking to work for once and checking out all the Wall St. business women on the way....

And finally, our favorite:

@!#$% The MTA... They are such losers... scum of the Hudson.

— Posted by Michael Bloomberg

You said it, Mr. Mayor! Gold Star!

Flooding Cripples Subway System [NYT]