Riders hoping for a G train at Court Square last night had two choices: Squeeze onto a train and hope it got near their destination, or grab a Lyft. @joshmorrissey via twitter

On Thursday evening, at the end of a beautiful, sunny day, nearly every line on the New York City subway was delayed during the evening rush because of a cascading series of incidents that virtually paralyzed the system.

The evening of commuting nightmares began around 4 p.m., when a signal failure near the Bergen Street F/G stop halted service on those lines. At least one G train was stuck in the tunnel for two hours. Typically with “signal problems,” trains can still advance down the line very cautiously, which causes delays but at least keeps trains moving. Not so in this case, as G service was completely suspended for hours and F trains rerouted along the C or D lines.

On top of that, according to the MTA, there was a sick passenger at 36th Street in Brooklyn, a train with mechanical problems at 14th Street, and a police investigation at Whitehall Street causing issues on the N, R, D, and W. The 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 were feeling left out, so they got in on the act as well, thanks to a train with mechanical problems at Brooklyn Bridge, a sick passenger at Atlantic Avenue, and a host of other reported issues.

(1) We faced significant challenges during tonight's rush hour. Three individuals were struck by trains on the R, 7 and D lines respectively, and there was a defective piece of equipment at Bergen St that shut down our signaling system for the F and G trains. — NYCT Subway (@NYCTSubway) March 16, 2018

(2) For those impacted, we know your commute was incredibly frustrating and apologize for letting you down. Please know that we will be launching a full internal investigation of the signal malfunction, so that we identify the root cause to prevent it from happening again — NYCT Subway (@NYCTSubway) March 16, 2018

I think the L was OK?

All in all, it was an impressive display of a systemwide meltdown masquerading as an evening commute. Through it all, people posted frequent complaints that there were no MTA employees in G train stations informing people that the line wasn’t operating. Aspiring commuters took to Twitter to lament their predicament. Representative examples:

Just putting this out there the MTA is total garbage. Took me 3 hours to get home when it normally takes 30 minutes. Gonna take it easy the rest of the week and get on top of uploads next week along with streams. Stay Tuned! — Mike's Monster Gaming (@MikesMGaming22) March 15, 2018

I legit hate the @MTA so fucking much. How are you gonna raise prices for your shitty ass service? I’ve been waiting for almost an hour. Fuuuuuck youuuuuuuu @NYGovCuomo — Samantha (@tweetsammm) March 15, 2018

hey @MTA i just waited almost an hour for an F train to Brooklyn before giving up & taking a cab. at rush hour. do. your. job. better. — zoe kazan (@zoeinthecities) March 15, 2018

Just waited forever for the G then saw this tweet and checked citymapper just to find it's not running… No signs or MTA workers telling ppl https://t.co/iX6MpbV6Jb — Slug Soup (@mangosnake_) March 15, 2018

If you’re looking for some kind of detailed explanation of precisely how everything went so wrong all at the same time, here’s the best I can do: Every once in a while, it’s not only likely but quite predictable that when a system routinely experiences lots of delays, on some rare occasions it will experience a crap ton of delays all at the same time. In this case, the Bergen signal problem exacerbated an already bad commute. Because the F was diverted to the D and the R was diverted to the N, that meant two more lines than usual were running over the Manhattan Bridge, further clogging an already choked junction just before Dekalb Avenue (and hence the reports that trains were taking thirty minutes to get over the bridge despite “good service”). A similar effect happened with the F’s diverted onto the C, jamming up the works right where the C merges with the A to go under the East River. Add to that all the prospective G riders seeking alternative routes, and a broken door here or sick passenger there is all you need for icing on the broken-train cake.

But if you’re not after any of that, if all you want is some recognition that your commute really was that bad and that the subway really isn’t getting any better despite the spending of hundreds of millions of dollars to “stabilize” the system, then here is that recognition. And, I’m very sorry to tell you, this will happen again sooner than you would like, and we will be right back here once again in the not-too-distant future.