NYC subway

The Ace is Back · 08-17-2007, 12:33 AM

Is it dangerous?

confidentialcoll · 08-17-2007, 12:45 AM

no, if your around people, which is almost always - no.

Denzera · 08-17-2007, 01:26 AM

not in manhattan.

towards the end of lines in the outer boroughs, late at night, there can be issues.

and be aware of what's up when you're on a platform standing there late at night. but other than that, no.

dubaiite · 08-19-2007, 10:01 AM

New York subways are very safe especially because there are always people in it and at the stations. In fact, new york taxis are more unsafe than subways as in a taxi you are alone and can be taken for a jolly good ride

woody · 08-19-2007, 10:18 AM

^^I would say that remark about taxis is unfounded. If you are stupid enough to take a gypsy cab, well, maybe you'll be ripped off, but I think that a yellow mendalion cabdriver is at a much greater risk than any cab rider.

PS The subways are fine and very user friendly.

dubaiite · 08-19-2007, 10:57 AM

i agree with you woody...in my 20 years of visiting NYC, i have been taken for a merry go round ride just about 4-5 times and that is not because of any other reason except that the cab driver wanted to get a bigger number on his meter. Now that i know New York well enough, that doesnt un nerve me so much but for a newcomer it can keep them at their wits end. By the way, ever tried telling a new york taxi driver to put on his air con?

jojodevka · 08-19-2007, 10:59 AM

The subway is awesome. I find that people that aren't native new yorkers are always very paranoid, but personally, I sleep on the subway nearly every time I'm on it. I've never been mugged, attacked, etc. Folks are usually very friendly. Even in the middle of the night, you usually aren't the only one in the car. And if you are, well, sometimes thats even better, because New Yorkers know how crowded the subway usually is. Occasionally, there will be the empty car with the raging drunk, but they usually won't approach you, just stink up the car really bad. Solution? Move to a different car on the next stop.

Denzera · 08-19-2007, 01:16 PM

yeah. new york probably has the safest mass transit system in the world, and possibly the most efficient as well (although paris is pretty awesome too, and i hear tokyo's is just as fast).

you pretty much have to be doing dumb things to get mugged or otherwise victimized, unless you're in really poor neighborhoods in outer boroughs.

karot · 08-20-2007, 10:16 AM

I dunno, Shanghai seems to be getting pretty good. Plus, they've got one of those magnetic levitation trains. HAWT!

The Ace is Back · 08-20-2007, 10:29 AM

Hmm Shanghai's is ok if you don't mind being elbowed by about a million people every time you try and get on or off. And the 'Maglev'.. completely overrated. I mean it's pretty cool, and fast (400+ km/hr) but it basically brings you from the airport to the middle of nowhere and then you have to get a taxi anyway and you end up spending about double what it would have cost for a taxi ride straight from the airport.

Hong Kong's MTR/subway on the other hand is pretty sweet. They even have little lights which tell you which door to get out of.

karot · 08-20-2007, 10:37 AM

Yeah, but the subway really is only that crowded at rushhour. Usually it's just standing room only.

But yeah the Maglev is kind of a ripoff although the price for it and a taxi might be similar now. Driving would take maybe 40 minutes and that's going to be close to 40 RMB. The only thing that I didn't like was that the maglev didn't speed things up at all. You've got to buy your ticket, and wait maybe 10 minutes for the train to come. Then it doesn't start moving until you've waited for another few minutes.

The Ace is Back · 08-20-2007, 10:35 PM

It cracks me up watching people launching themselves into free seats.

karot · 08-21-2007, 12:27 AM

Oh yeah. The best part is when it's rush hour and you have to pull your friend out of the rushing crowd to leave the train.

Columbia2002 · 08-21-2007, 07:51 PM

NYC's subway is dangerous in that someone can easily get hit by a train (accident or by someone else's violence). In some of the Asian subway stations (like the trams at airports like Dallas-Ft Worth), there are doors protecting anyone from falling into the tracks.

It also doesn't have many of the efficiencies that modern subways around the world have, such as telling you how long it will be until the next train will arrive. It's infrastructure is also pretty bad in that most of the the lines that are 1 floor below ground get flooded and have to be taken off-line any time there is bad rain.

The pricing scheme is also reverse-income-discriminatory. Poor people who get the privilege of riding the train for miles and miles from the outer boroughs to Manhattan pay the same price for a ride as rich people in Manhattan pay to go 3 stops from the UES/UWS to Midtown.

It's still a good system, but the "best in the world" crap is hyperbole.

confidentialcoll · 08-21-2007, 09:50 PM

have to agree with columbia2002, the subway isn't particularly modern, it's pretty average if you ask me, on many lines they're using new(/newer) trains. but the stations are a little dingy and dirty. at the same time it's quick, it's cheap and most of all pretty comprehensive. it covers all 5 boroughs and within manhattan except for a pocket or two, you're never more than a 4-5 block walk from a station. so $2 from anywhere in the city to anywhere, including changing lines. it's a smartly planned system.