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<p>It happened at least twice this summer and at least once last summer. But the insane crowding during rush hour is a bigger problem, especially as the line (and the 1 seems to be the worst at this) get really backed up. Then three trains will arrive in a span of two minutes followed by 20 minutes without any.</p>
<p>i’m telling you, man, once you’ve ridden on BART, MBTA, MARTA, and DC’s subway, NYCT seems like a model of efficiency and quality. you try hard enough, you can find something to complain about for anything.</p>
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<p>Yeah, NYC has better public transportation than other urban areas probably because 1) affluent people actually ride pub transport in NYC, and 2) NYC’s government is comparably less corrupt and inefficient than those other cities.</p>
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<p><a href=“http://nymag.com/news/features/31530/[/url]”>http://nymag.com/news/features/31530/</a></p>
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<p>charming lol</p>
<p>so what’s your point C02? are you trying to prove that poor people are always coming out on top?</p>
<p>I think Sharf’s point is sarcasim…;)</p>
<p>The subway at Nyc is absolutely disgusting.</p>
<p>^ahh the whiners, who cannot bring themselves to contently take the same form of transportation as the masses, every college as a few, i assure you.</p>
<p>Saw my first rat down there. The barnard girls were totally creeped out but it’s cool as long as then don’t come home with me.</p>
<p>It’s not the rats that are disgusting; it’s some of the lowlifes that you see-- particularly when you head out to the outer boroughs for Shea, Yankee Stadium, Grimaldi’s or Peter Luger.</p>
<p>What? The 7 line near flsuhing doesnt have lowlifes.</p>
<p>yeah, there are rats on the subway tracks. they’re generally not on the platform, although every now and then you’ll see one. when it’s very late at ngiht and you’re trying to catch a subway home while drunk, playing a rousing game of “Count the Rat” can while away the time quite admirably :)</p>
<p>I beg to differ, it’s not the rats that bother me, it’s the freakin noise. NY’s subways screeechhhh, a slow torturous screech, I wear earplugs to protect my hearing. well not earplugs but noise canceling headphones.</p>
<p>^guys cummon, the noise and rats work well together, think of it this way, when the trains are noiser they’ll scare away more rats, and when there are rats everywhere a few of them are bound to get caught in the tracks … better lubrication = less noise? :D. i, for one, think without the rats and noise equilibrium, there’d be no charm to the subway experience.</p>
<p>i dont know WHAT you guys are talking about the metro in washington dc is like 100 times better. its cleaner and faster and centralized (a concept that just doesnt work in NYC cuz of its sprawling nature). In addition I have been to japan and the subways there are absolutely amazing. much better than over here.
dont get me wrong i love the NYC subways, i think they are part of the underground (pardon the pun) life of the city; but saying they are a) modern or b) the best one around is just plain wrong.</p>
<p>^please actually read the thread next time, it was pretty clear that being ‘modern’ wasn’t a particular strength of the subway, also new york public transportation as a whole is one of the best in the world. i quite disliked DC metro when i went there, i didn’t find it cleaner or faster. the nyc subway is comprehensive, 24x7 and quick, it also has the $2 anywhere to anywhere charge (helps poorer people who live further out not pay more). sure you aren’t as pampered like the ones in tokyo, but subways don’t need to be comfortable, take a cab if that’s atop your list, the nyc subways serve what they set out to do well - cheaply transport huge, huge numbers of people from anywhere to anywhere as quickly as possible.</p>
<p>oh, i read the post, i just disagreed with you. you are entitled to your own opinion though</p>
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<p>This is a good thing? 
I don’t like that the subway pricing structure is a progressive tax scheme.</p>
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<p>Cabs are filthy and generally have annoying/loud/smelly drivers. And depending on the time of day, it’s far quicker to take the subway.</p>
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<p>Tokyo and Hong Kong have subways that are set out to do exactly that. Those cities just to a better job at it than NYC.</p>
<p>^both tokyo and hong kong have newer subways, i don’t know the tokyo subway system, but i know the HK one very well. Tokyo has much more room to work with, and HK while as space constrained as NYC, has significantly fewer people to carry. Adjusting for PPP, HK prices are 1.5-2 times the prices of new york, which warrants a cleaner better metro. taking hk trains rush hours is slightly worse than nyc trains rush hours.</p>
<p>“This is a good thing? I don’t like that the subway pricing structure is a progressive tax scheme.”</p>
<p>but the $2 doesn’t reduce incentives for anything, except maybe gets people to hop into a cabs when in groups and travelling short distances.</p>
<p>You can hardly call a flat $2 fare a “progressive tax scheme”. that’s stretching the definition past its breaking point.</p>
<p>You are not getting charged more because you make more money. you are getting charged the same amount no matter who you are or where you’re going. If that isn’t the definition of equitable I don’t know what is. </p>
<p>There is nothing in the definition of “public service” that should force them to create an onerous system that charges differentially based on factors such as distance or timing. The fact that DC does that is, in my view, a waste of money in building the system and monitoring it, and a waste of time for all the commuters, not to mention a ludicrous inconvenience if you (say) lose your ticket en route, or if there’s a big line somewhere. The fact that the NYC subway system chooses NOT to incrementally harm those who are not fortunate enough to live near the city center (incrementally over the charge that everyone pays) is hardly a sin.</p>
<p>Denzera, you surely must agree that public transportation rates aren’t determined solely on the basis of economic efficiency. Rather, the rates reflect social engineering and politicians’ need to appease various constituencies. If the MTA tried to start charging higher rates for longer rides, you’d hear the usual class warfare crap getting thrown around nonstop.</p>
<p>The Asian subways are able to efficiently charge you based on your usage. DC’s profitability is problematic because of their inefficient union contracts, not because of the fare structure.</p>