New York musings #8: The Subway: What makes New York one of the best cities to be in is its accessibility. Where is it I read and who was it who said that the best gauge of an economically booming place is not with the number of cars its citizen has driving around town BUT the manner by which they go from place to place-- their mode of transport - is it available to everyone? The New York subway is the great equalizer. It is second oldest train transport next to the Brits tube. We complain about the P14 fare and yet here it is at $2.50 one way ride to anywhere and you can connect within two hours to the metro bus (this is another animal altogether up for discussion) to the destination of your choice. Oh their weekly unlimited fare is around $33 and their monthly is a whopping $111--those are already with tax--yes tax. And oh... thats an extra $1 if you will use a new card. New York is a grid they say. Yes maybe so to a certain extent... but if you are somewhere in the West side then its easy...but if youre destination is in the East side then it is not a straight path...and more often you have to take another train or worse a bus to connect to your destination. I believe it was the way how New York was first built. The more chi-chi snobby place is the old east and the more hip, modern middle class side is the west. But whatever which way you are going, you only have to remember two things: UPTOWN OR DOWNTOWN... its easy figuring things after that. Of course you have to know what train brings you to where --- 123, ACE, 4567, NQR, M,F,L, etc... express? or local? It takes a lot of getting used to knowing whether you are exiting south west northwest, southeast, northeast -- you lose your sense of direction if you dont see the sun or the stars... but in which case you can walk a little more or just cross the street to the right direction. One thing you must not forget is looking at the trains code before you hop in. Once I was in a hurry and got inside the train only to find out that it was going some place else. But it was cool... had to control myself from laughing since I was alone--most of the time. One thing for sure...if you are used to commuting in Metro Manila, riding the LRT/MRT, bus, and all...then you will find it easy taking the subway and living in New York. I really love Manhattan!
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 03:44:25 +0000
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