Travel

Happy B’Day, Subway

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Today is the 110th anniversary of the opening of the first underground segment of the New York City Subway System.

Whenever I go to Manhattan, the subway is how I get around. I think I’ve only been in a New York cab once. Everything about the taxi experience was troubling and question-producing. Will we get where we’re going? What will it cost? Does this driver really have a license? Are we going to die?

Compared to that, the subway is a paragon of predictability. The noise, the crowds, the graffiti and the unsavory smells of the underground train are exactly what I expect to find there, and because I’ve anticipated them, they are nothing more than minor inconveniences. And apparently I’m not alone. The NYC Subway system is setting ridership records. On six separate days in September, more than six million people used the subway.

NY_Subway_1904

You can see in this image from 1904 that the NYC Subway had a fresh look at the beginning. It makes me think of a Disney World ride – clean, attractive and harmless. I expect to see a jolly little choo-choo come puffing around that bend any moment, brimming with charming characters. But of course there is no connection – the Disney rides were built on the popularity of a cartoon mouse, while the NYC Subway system has the Norway Rat as its totem animal.

Those rats were tested recently. Researchers at Columbia University found that the subway rats carry around disease-causing bacteria, viruses, and single-celled organisms in amazing numbers, much in the same way subway cars carry all different types of unsavory humans around. There were 30 viral species, including a 18 viruses that were previously unknown to man.

Among the many rat-borne delights – the Seoul Hantavirus, which causes an Ebola-like hemorrhagic fever.

And yet – next time I go to New York, I will take the subway as my first transportation choice. Yes, there are risks, but a prudent traveler can manage these ordinary hazards with a few simple rules.

  • Don’t put your feet on the seats.
  • One seat per customer.
  • Don’t make eye contact.
  • Don’t lick any surfaces.
  • Don’t make eye contact with,  or lick,  any Norway Rats.
  • Enjoy your ride!

What’s your favorite mode of transport?

63 thoughts on “Happy B’Day, Subway”

  1. I practically lived on the subway while a grad student in NY often riding from the beginning of one line to the end of the next. In spite of my long hours and the weird riders I often encountered, it is my mode of choice in NY.
    I am however fonder of the T in Boston. I see it as a compromise between the grit of NY and the Disney version found in DC. Besides the MTA has its own folk song.

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  2. Morning all – finally back in my base time zone!

    I’m fond of most public transport, however I just spent the last four days being driven around. While I don’t have any particular issue with having a driver on my trips, it’s really hard for me to deal with the formality of every time the car stops having the driver jump out of his seat to open the back door for me to get out. I know it’s his job but it seems silly to me. I did try for a day or so to whip the door open before he could get out, but then he just moved faster and I figured it was mean of me to make his job more stressful. (And he was a very interesting character – very involved in the Catalonian bid for independence from Spain – some great conversation around that!)

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    2. Well, VS, your career as a wealthy diva is short-lived if you won’t tolerate a driver! I always have wondered how people who depend on others to run their lives tolerate the lack of privacy.

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      1. Good question, Jacque. My best guess is that people wealthy enough to be surrounded by servants come to think of servants as less than real people. Therefore, what they see, hear and think is not of consequence.

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  3. Blevins Book Club. Jacque would like to host in December.

    December 14. 2 p.m. Jacque & Lou’s.
    American Gods,/i> by Neil Gaiman and Tribes by Seth Godin.

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  4. Love trains- Amtrak, S-bahn, U-bahn, the Metro (DC edition) and the L–especially the L.

    Sadly, here along W7th, we are in a transit wasteland. We can get downtown and to the airport, but he have to go to one or the other first if we want to get to any other place.

    When the s&h was younger and I had more time, we walked more-he still does, I should.

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    1. Consider yourself lucky to have bus routes running along W7th with regularity. Where I am, the buses are pretty available during office hours, but evenings and weekends they only run once per hour. Most West Siders cave in and get a car, even if they’re devoted to public transit. Metro Transit snubs us.

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      1. I would consider it lucky if I ever wanted to go to either of the terminii, but anytime I do go those places, the bus is impractical (although it might be good street theatre to board the bus at the farmer’s market with the mega-bag of squash at 7am).

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  5. whats my favorite mode of transportation? motorcycle hands down. geeze. i like riding a motorcycle on a beautiful summer day. then again in the rain the cold the traffic the long trips where the bsck gets tired and the legs get crampled then the car sounds good the back seat of the van sounds better. i love the trains in cities where that works but in some places it only kind of works. i tried getting around chicago to appointments by train and it was way too interesting. there are neighborhoods in chicago where you need to be going on purpose in order to get there. a guy will stick a factory or a warehouse there but not figure on taking the trian to work and then hike the 4 blocks to get the rest of the way. in europe fine in chicago no. china has the most unbelievable trains and the most unbelievable city art projects and the most unbelievable squalor sitting right next to the train station.
    what the heck is with all the likes before 6 oclock in the morning? new york city has an appeal to folks in vs’ timezone of the recent past? i read that mcdonalds sales are way off since they received the low rating for burgers and the info on how the burgers are made of all the non choice parts of the beef ( duh) i wonder if the subways would suffer a little if dales research on the ebola rat scare was given to governor cuomo. maybe we could put the city in quarantine for a month or so and talk about it.

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  6. Trains, planes and automobiles. And let’s not forget the occasional ocean liner. I’d love to cross the Atlantic on the QEII or sign up for the PHC cruise this summer. I guess that’s what you would call a dream boat?

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    1. thats not a pillow…..
      i did a couple of cruises and the weather is the determining factor. i was on one where the weather was 45 degrees and the wind blew and the waves rocked the boat and there was no escape. people throwing up everywhere for days and you wondered why you would pay money for this. then the sun came out and it was wonderful. i remember thinking it was cool that they had a wave pool in the area on the top floor where you hang out on the boat then it dawned on me it wasnt a wave pool the boat was just rocking so hard that half the water would sloosh back and forth and the people in the pool got to enjoy the ride.

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      1. l’m going on my 4th cruise this winter – yes, on Carnival. All their ships have the same layout so navigating is easy. Each time, l’ve taken my daughter and two of her kids, rotating among her five so that they can all have the fun. Carnival is the only ship line that’s quite affordable (about $150 per person per day).

        My first cruise was the only unsatisfying one. For 7 days in a row, the sun never even peeked out. That was hard because the real fun doesn’t begin until evening, leaving me nothing to do all day. The only big cost is airline tickets, which cost twice as much as the whole cruise.

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        1. if you are interested in budget cruising let me know and ill steer you towards cheepy cruise. inside stateroonms on a lower deck but 600 a day is no bargain in my world

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    2. I may have written this on the blog before. My favorite route to Copenhagen: Fly to Oslo, and take the ferry from Oslo to Copenhagen. Ferry leaves Oslo at dusk; you sail out through Oslo Fjord, past all the colorful houses and beautiful coastline while the sun sets. As darkness falls, you dine in a choice of wonderful restaurants, sip a little wine, then retire.

      After a good night’s sleep in a comfortable cabin, as day breaks the ferry sails past Kronborg Castle as it enters Øresund headed south toward Copenhagen.

      You get off the boat, rested and relaxed, ready to be companionable, unlike getting off the plane, exhausted and ready to crash. Takes a little more time, doesn’t cost any more (what you save on airfare you spend on the ferry), try it, you’ll like it.

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  7. i love the picture of the brickwork in the subway. i love it when architecture gets plugged in an the designer gets to know that the impact of the choices have an effect. i love good architecture and get so sad when choices to make a new building or bridge leave out the choice to make it beautiful. the cool choices on how to make a building come to life form a curb appeal point of view and the ability to look at the choices made in the past. the wpa paintings the extra work that gave a craftsman pride to be creating a thing of beauty that would last for years beyond our lives makes a difference. the people who made the cathedrals knew it would not be done in their lifetime but that it would last for years and years beyond. my favortrite form of transportation may be mental time travel to places i remember and places i wish for. the mountains on winding little dirt looking down at the north pole from the window of the 16 hour tie traveler to tokyo driving the family to florida in the ice storm across indiana. mental travel is my favorite. somtimes i forget the stuff i want to sometimes i remember the stuff i should forget but thats the way it is with travel. you are just along for the ride sometimes.

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  8. Rise and Ride Baboons!

    I am just back from a 3 day weekend in Phoenix to see our kids and grandkids. It was nearly derailed by a transportation snafu. For years we have gone to the light rail to catch the train to Terminal 1 or 2. This time the parking ramp we usually park in was under construction and closed, in combination with all the roads around it. When our system works, which is almost always, my son, who lives in the shared car world of Central Mpls, picks up the car for the length of time we are away for his use, then he picks us up at the airport at the other end. With the construction, all of that went out the window, with our car landing in the Park ‘n’ Fly on American Boulevard. We came close to missing our Southwest Flight out of Terminal 2–although we got there on time to make the flight.

    So this is NOT my favorite form of transportation. Phoenix’ car culture, which produces LA quality smog and particulate, is also NOT my favorite. Uffda–what a mess of construction, snarls and entitled drivers.

    East Coast USA and European style general public transportation systems–combos of subway, buses, trains, trams–are my faves. They are navigable, efficient, and cheap as compared to owning a car.

    Amsterdam, Rome, Paris, San Francisco, all have it. London has it, but it is unnavigable–who knows where you are. And it is expensive.

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  9. I admit to a certain fondness for driving. Not being a mere passenger, but driving. I like mapping my routes in my head, enjoying the scenery as it whooshes by, being my own pilot. My unplanned drive home from Chicago a month ago was a bit long, but being on the open road with NPR playing, lovely crisp fall day – it was grand. If I am visiting other cities with good public transport, that is my transportation choice there. But I got sucked in by the Eisenhower-era dream of cars on the open road, and I’m okay with that (when those cars have less environmental impact, I’ll be even happier).

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  10. Husband has a new pick up to drive north to his job on the reservation. He is so happy with it. As Hans can attest, that drive is not for someone in a small car. The oil field traffic drives fast and furious, and husband is glad to have at least a smaller truck to drive.

    I like trains and subways. Daughter is an experienced subway rider and helped best friend and best friend’s mom navigate the Boston subway/commuter train system last summer.

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  11. I will admit to a certain hankering for the days when you could go for days without getting in or on anything more than a bicycle for weeks at a time.

    I consider getting through a day without the car having to be moved as a major win.

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  13. Good morning. I like traveling by boat. Boat trips are a treat for me. I don’t travel by boat very often. If I had to use a boat frequently I might not Like this form of travel as much as I do now. There is something about boat travel that makes it sort of an adventure for me.

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  14. Hands down, for long trips, the train. Love the clickety clack, being able to get up and walk around whenever I want to, having your own little restaurant right with you… 🙂 The Observation Car. If I’m not on a tight schedule (and you don’t want to be in this country, where the tracks are owned by the freight companies), I don’t even mind the stops – that’s when I pull out the colored pencils and draw (very primatively) whatever’s outside the window. And you meet interesting people…

    I do love the freedom of the car, a la Anna. And I loved the subways in NYC, though I would add one more simple rule to Dale’s list:
    – make sure you are on the right platform so the train you get on is going in the direction you want.

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  18. Maybe it is no surprise that every form of transportation is capable of being wonderful or awful or maybe even both. Some of the nicest moments of my life were spent traveling by canoe, and yet I have spent over a hundred hours in a canoe with my father, and the experience would turn many people into a raging monster bent on patricide. I rode motorcycles one summer, zooming around on obscure little Wisconsin forested back roads. That was thrilling, partly because I feared for my life at every moment. One of the most frustrating trips of my life was on a train, but the next time I took that same trip it was one of the nicest times I ever had doing anything. And then there are all the sweet moments spent in an automobile, many of them full of serendipitous delights because I had no schedule or set route, just wandering around in my car enjoying some new world.

    All in all, the greatest transportation delight I’ve known might have been while walking. It seems ironic now, as I can barely limp a few yards at a time, but I was once famous as someone who could walk all day. I especially treasure memories of walking the vast emptiness of Dakota prairie, swishing my legs through high grass for hours with only the company of a dog, coming back to civilization at the end of the day so tired and hungry I would order a big plate of mashed potatoes and gravy but couldn’t then decide if I mostly wanted to eat it or put my face down in it and sleep a while.

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    2. in north dakota and amsterdam cross county skis and bicycles are good. flat and level ground off to the horizion. when i was a kid and visited the relatives in fargo we would ski on tow ropes behind a pickup truck like water sking. there were no hills for miles so we used the next best things. i dont think my relatives knew about cross country in 1960 but we had fun strapping on the slats for the tow. i love that you ski to work in a blizzard. did patients show up? i suppose its important for you to be there if they do huh?

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      1. side bar
        the ideal temp for cross countyr is – 10 degrees. i tested it out and if you ski at zero degrees you sweat like a pig/ minus 10 is perfect. it always makes me smile when i here it is -10 out and i realize its perfect cross country ski weather

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        1. I disagree. My cross country skiing days are behind me, but although I have skied in below 0º F temperatures, I much prefer temps in the low 20s. If you’re sweating like a pig at 0º, you’re not dressed right for the occasion. That’s just my opinion, but I’m sticking to it.

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  20. OT: my son is in IOS Boot Camp in downtown Seattle. Starting his fourth week of a long hard grind into early December. As a way to gel his learning and to give himself a public persona, he is starting a blog on IOS and Swift (The language of IOS programing). I don’t understand much of it, but I have said since he was 12 that he should be a writer.It is a smart move to do this.
    Anyway, if you want a glimpse into a whole other universe of blogs, here is his:
    http://iosdevlearnings.wordpress.com/

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      1. There are thousands of blogs for techies where they ask each other questions, share insights, etc. I tend to forget that blogs do all sorts of things.

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      2. I’m not suggesting that what he’s writing isn’t relevant or useful, just that it’s way beyond the level of my involvement or comprehension of technology (which is rather limited).

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    3. What’s especially nice about his Zombies entry is not only the clarity, but the helpfulness along the way – the sense that sharing what has been learned is the key component, not sounding smart to sound smart.

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  21. From my childhood on a big hill: sled, tobaggon, cardboard.
    Like Steve I did a lot of walking, which I cannot anymore. Buddy Barber Jim and I did hundreds of miles on the Superior Trail. The memories do me just fine now. Done biking. It’s the car these days, but that can be stressful with my travel partner. Ferry rides in the Seattle area were fun, interesting a several ways.. Two long train rides in my childhood to the west coast were misery. Plane travel wore me out all those years. Plane travel now with Sandy is an experience. Hope to go west to somewhere another time, but dread the thought of dealing with the travel.Nope Mattress it is.

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    1. too bad the travel is stressful.i can imagine all the hoops needed to get through are a challange. getting through with no hoops is no fun these days but its tolerable. hope the future trips go ok.
      i am glad your son is working toward a goal in that wonderful industry. i have a coupon to have 30 days free to study all the courses in the arena your son works in. there are a bunch different ones to choose from. i tried this once before hoping a friend would walk me through , that is a foreign language for sure. i have respect fo rthe people who figure out how to make that stuff dance. bless them all
      i am ready for the mattress earlier these days than in days gone past. restful mattress riding to you

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  22. The London trains (Underground and trains that take you outside of London, including the Chunnel that takes you to Paris) was the easiest, most convenient, most effective means of getting around that I’ve ever personally used. Awesome!

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  26. My favorite mode is whatever I’m on at the moment, taking me to where I’m headed – until there’s a problem causing a delay that causes other problems – then it’s no longer my favorite. Linda introduced me to the light rail last month when we went to a Twins game. It was clean, uncrowded, and smooth riding. On the whole, an agreeable commute. Although I did spot a couple squirrels. Ick.

    I use the subway when I visit my son but I’ve always relied on him or my DiL or my travel-partner daughter to navigate – with the system’s lotta ins, lotta outs, & lotta what-have-you’s. I don’t mind seeing a rat. In fact I feel it completes the experience. I also view it as a sign of good luck, for after seeing one, never have I been mugged or spit on. Fairly often, the ride is supplemented with live entertainment. Sometimes I open my purse to give them a dollar, sometimes I don’t. It depends on whether or not I’ve seen a rat. I KNOW I’ve seen these guys.

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