Cute article on subway in NY Times Sunday travel section

Hi,

I%26#39;ve cut and pasted an article in this Sunday%26#39;s NY Times:

Where the City Schleps

By SETH KUGEL

HERE%26#39;S an abbreviated list of what tourists interviewed recently from Battery Park to the Metropolitan Museum of Art said were problems they encountered on (otherwise wonderful) trips to New York:

• It%26#39;s hard to figure out which restaurants the natives go to.

• The subway.

• Chinatown is too touristy.

• The subway.

• That cheap hotel found online turned out to be shabby.

• The subway.

• The subway.

• The subway.

• It%26#39;s illegal to carry a concealed weapon.

• The subway.

Souvenir hawkers take note, it looks as if it%26#39;s time to add something to the back of the “I ♥ New-York” T-shirt: “But I hate the subway.” It%26#39;s too dirty, visitors say. Too loud. Too hot. Too confusing which MetroCard to get. Can anyone tell me if it%26#39;s safe to take late at night? And what was that muffled announcement about “express to Brooklyn?”

Alma Buss of Plano, Tex., in town with her husband, Leroy, and her granddaughter Bethany, wished they could make it work. “We try,” she said, “we really try.” But it%26#39;s unbearably hot — especially in the depths of the No. 7 train platform in Times Square.

“A, B, C, D, where do they go? Which one%26#39;s an express?” asked Patricia Wundersee, a military pay technician at Fort Riley, Kan.

“When should you not get on the subway?” asked Doug Ivey, in from Tennessee.

“It%26#39;s rundown,” said Fernando Guerrero of Mexico City. “Considering what country we%26#39;re in, it%26#39;s really unsuitable.”

Those who moved here as adults remember how it feels. It takes weeks, if not months, for that multicolor spaghetti jumble to morph into a comprehensible map and for the screeching of brakes to fade away. But now, despite complaints galore, few New Yorkers would trade it for a cleaner, close-at-midnight-and-go-hardly-anywhere system.

But if you%26#39;re only here for a few days, how to survive? Take taxis and tour buses? You can%26#39;t really claim you%26#39;ve been here until you%26#39;ve swiped a MetroCard and received a “swipe card again at this turnstile” message and a courtesy jolt to the pelvis, or experienced the utter discombobulation of emerging back onto street level and having no idea which way is north or south or east or west.

So, visitors, here is your crash course (New Yorkers: add your own tips here:)

Plan your route You%26#39;ve journeyed back in time to pre-G.P.S. navigation. Get a map from the token booth attendant; it%26#39;s free and comes with citywide technical support. New Yorkers have an entire lobe of the brain dedicated to calculating subway routes, and a soft spot for tourists who can%26#39;t find their way. So stare at the open map, express confusion loudly, and 9 times out of 10 someone will magically offer to help. And though that person who comes to your aid may have an Indian accent, she won%26#39;t be talking to you over a scratchy line from Bangalore.

If you%26#39;re too immersed in the modern age to work with paper maps and human interaction, try www.tripplanner.mta.info or www.hopstop.com for MapQuest-like help. Both are surprisingly functional on BlackBerrys and Treos, though Trip Planner is New York-only and requires fewer clicks. Check for notices about service changes and get a second (human) opinion.

MetroCard math Here%26#39;s the basic rundown: Official price is $2 a trip, but if you buy five, the sixth is free, effectively cutting the price to $1.67 a trip. (Multiple riders can swipe the same card.) Compare that with the individual unlimited passes — the one-day for $7, worth it if you%26#39;re going to take at least five trips before 3 a.m. the next morning, and the $24 seven-day pass, if you%26#39;re sure you%26#39;re taking at least 15 trips.

Dirt and noise The subway has been around since 1904, so expecting it to be as clean and quiet as Washington%26#39;s or even Mexico City%26#39;s is unreasonable. (Mr. Guerrero, are you listening?) That%26#39;s not grime you%26#39;re seeing, it%26#39;s historical charm. And those creatures scurrying down the tracks are, um, underground squirrels. As for the screeching cars, how else can you tell the train is coming? A computerized announcement? Flashing lights? So unromantic.

Safety No one will fault you if you want to take a cab back to the hotel at 3 a.m. But you don%26#39;t have to. Around 3 a.m., the Manhattan trains can be so jammed with late-night revelers (and a few jealous bakery workers) that you%26#39;ll feel silly for even having worried about your safety. Two incentives to take a cab late at night: trains are less frequent, and should you fall asleep on the way, the cabby will wake you up at your destination; subway cleaners will wake you up at 4:30 a.m. — in the Far Rockaway section of Queens.

The heat In summer, stations can be a tad stuffy. Some prefer the terms “stifling,” or “living inferno.” One possible solution: come back in the winter. Another: buy cold water from the underground newspaper vendors (it looks as if they wouldn%26#39;t have a refrigerator back there, but nearly all do). Once you realize those people are stuck there all day, it%26#39;s harder to feel sorry for yourself.

The wait Sure, but a taxi doesn%26#39;t provide entertainment. Check out the crazy fingernails on that woman. Is that guy really playing the theme from “Happy Days” on his sitar? Who%26#39;d have thought there%26#39;d be so much legit artwork? And a special for science lovers: understand how anthill traffic works by observing the teeming underground corridors of the Times Square stop, where miraculously people never bump into one another.

Bearing the noise There are five kinds: a) The rumbling that says the train is coming; b) the honking that indicates a train is bypassing the station; c) the cursing that follows; d) the unimportant, clearly enunciated announcements (“thank you for riding New York City transit”); and e) the vitally important incomprehensible announcements (blah-blah-will-be-skipping-blah-blah-now-running-express-blah-blah-shuttle-bus). Solutions: bring earplugs, and ask for help.

Finding a restroom Good luck.

Here%26#39;s the link: …nytimes.com/2007/…

Cute article on subway in NY Times Sunday travel section

';It%26#39;s not grime you%26#39;re seeing, it%26#39;s historical charm. And those creatures scurrying down the tracks are, um, underground squirrels.'; - LOL! Great article, thanks for posting it!

If only those tourists had read GWB%26#39;s Idiot%26#39;s Guide to the Subway first - then they%26#39;d have been running around swiping their Metro cards instead of standing on the street complaining!

Cute article on subway in NY Times Sunday travel section

I love this article - obviously none of those people interviewed ever used TA!

The article itself should be made into a Sticky!

';• It%26#39;s illegal to carry a concealed weapon.'; - LMAO!

Basically, this article sounds like ';country mouse vs. city mouse'; issues to me. Also, a good indicator of car culture vs. mass transit. (I like think I was able to emotionally handle spur of the moment train cancellations in Amsterdam much better than a non-urban US tourist.)

But, aside from my immediate feelings of recognition or defensiveness from the article, I think the major theme is that people from places like Plano, Tx are picking NYC as a travel and tourism destination more than ever before.

Keep thinking: if you can make it (on the subway) here, you can make it anywhere!

That%26#39;s beautiful! It should definitely be added to the FAQ sticky, along with GWB%26#39;s idiot%26#39;s guide.

Hi

Very interesting reading material. I must confess that I dont understand all the talk about the subway being hard to navigate, we had trouble finding the damn entrances but I had no trouble in finding the right train and destination. I really dont why so many seem to be so scared of the subway, is it the reputation from before NYC started to clean up its a act a bit(I know that some of the natives would have wanted it to stay more gritty) or is it that a lot of people never have used the subway before? I think that the Underground in London can be a lot worse to navigate and the air is nonexisting in some parts.

Thanks for posting the link DSFM.

Matte75

Brilliant - thanks DSFM!

The answer is of course to just go for it. We started our first unaccompanied subway ride by going to 125th Street (it was just a pity that our actual destination was Battery Park). However, by the end of the week, I spotted my daughter chatting to someone further up the carriage. When we got out, I asked her what they were talking about. ';Oh, I was just telling him how to get to Times Sqaure'; she said!

• It%26#39;s illegal to carry a concealed weapon.

It%26#39;s a different world for sure. I%26#39;ve had a concealed carry permit valid in Texas and honored in 20+ other states as well for years. You can%26#39;t be a scumbag and get one due to the background checks. You have to be proficient with the weapon when tested at the range. You have to pass a written test measuring your knowledge of the law. Your fingerprints are sent to the FBI in advance of the issuance of the license. My family is safer as we walk the streets of San Antonio tonight while on vacation as a result of the right to carry.

the subway is a terrific way to travel the City! just look carefully at map..the lines are color coded,for g%26#39;ness sake;do you want local (stops) or express? uptown? downtown? and,hey ,look out the windows..grimy,sure,millions of al, different kinds of people use these trains..but the tiles/mosaics have all been looking cleaner since the %26#39;60s,%26#39;70%26#39;s ,%26#39;80%26#39;s when i lived there! it was real dangerous/dirty in those days,but I survived. it is a great way to travel,just requires a little attention,and time to figure out.

Is the No. 7 platform really that bad? I guess that%26#39;s a major reason why the reco on the boards is to use LIRR to Flushing Meadows.

I LOVE the subway. If with my 3 kids, I prefer to take the subway. As they would tell you, I tell them ';Its an experience'; I%26#39;m always looking for things for them to experience, and taking the NY subways one never know quite what they will experience. Being in your city last weekend with my 16 year old we rode the subways all over. Here%26#39;s what I learned, '; taking the subway to midtown from the village at 1230 am the cars are so crowded, I thought it could be rush hour'; the station at 1st by Katz deli is really stinky. All in all I love the ny subway system as I love a bargin and it get you to where you are going fast, and I have yet to spot one of the underground squirrels, but then that would be another experience!