Miscellaneous Observations on the New York Subway

Having been a daily commuter on the New York Subway for five weeks, many things have struck me as being better, inferior or just different to other underground systems, with the London Underground being my main other experience. They are summarised in no particular order here.

• There are express trains which skip several stops to get passengers around faster and confuse tourists.
• The subway runs 24 hours a day. But you can have a long wait of unknown length for a train after midnight.
• If you manage to get a seat it is a plastic bench rather than something vaguely soft covered in moquette.
• Most trains still have guards (or conductors as they call them). If you're lucky you might be able to understand what they're saying on the PA.
  
• Guards seem to like shutting the doors while passengers are still boarding. This is the case even when the passengers in question were waiting well before the train arrived.
• As a result of this door holding is extremely common. But can you blame people when their friends are being crushed or left behind through no fault of their own?
  
• On some subway lines the maintenance leaves something to be desired. The ride quality on some lines is so bad that it feels like the train has square wheels.
• As a result of this the noise, especially when a corner is encountered, is horrific.
• Many older trains don't have full width cabs. So everyone can have a "cab ride" by peering out of the front door.
• There are no train describers. So people peer down the tunnels looking for headlights and even feel for telltale breezes. Maybe it would have been quicker to walk, but there is no way of knowing in advance.
  
• The fare is a flat $2 regardless of how far you go.
• You can get 1 day, 7 day or 30 day unlimited Metrocards, but not annual tickets for some reason.
• It takes at least two attempts to get a turnstile to accept a Metrocard, which needs to be swiped precisely to be read correctly.
• You get free transfer to/from bus and subway.
• It is quicker to walk then to get the bus in rush hour.
• You need to use the entrance on the correct side of the street at some stations or either lose $2, wait 18 minutes if you have an unlimited card or take a train to the next station with a cross passage.
• Stations have long names based mostly on the road junction they are located at.
• Most stations have black (or maybe just not cleaned) walls, making them rather dark.
• The signage often leaves something something to be desired, and is sometimes completely wrong.
• The map is geographical and can be very difficult to follow, especially when lines get close together.
  
• The "Pocket" map is about the same size as an OS map.
• If anything goes wrong you tend to find out about it too late to take an alternative route as there are no station announcements or boards to indicate problems.
• Service alterations are often indicated very poorly, if at all on stations. I've seen whole platforms of people waiting for a train which won't arrive for two days.
• There are scheduled trains which take routes which aren't marked on the map, such as the very limited rush hour E service to 179 St Jamaica.
• Apparently 8:30pm is rush hour, so I ended up returning along that branch having already visited on an F.
• Many stations have almost identical names, so double check before exiting.
• There are abandoned platforms at some stations with nothing more than a very small "No Trains" sign to stop passengers entering.
• The one at Columbus Circle also has a sign labelled "A C B D Trains" pointing at it.
• "No Trains" actually means "Employees Only" (What about contractors?)
• Abandoned platforms are sometimes full of (hopefully clean) laundry.
• If an interchange isn't logical for the average passeneger it may not be signed at all. (E to J at Jamaica Center)
• The length of an interchange line on a map is proportional to its length.
• If you're thinking of interchanging from Times Square to Port Authority Bus Terminal don't (unless catching a bus). It makes Bankument look like a cross platform interchange.