They call New York City by so many extravagant names, which brings about millions of tourists each year, but taking one step into (or whiff of) the subway system here and you would be calling your travel agent ASAP for a sooner flight back home. Let's see, germs, smells, close contact, stares of death, noise, filthy conditions, and did I mention rats? If you reside in New York City and have no choice but to ride the buses or trains of the MTA system, you are currently paying $2.75 for this medley of goodness (catch my sarcasm?) And if you have not already heard, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority just disclosed their plan to bump that cost up to a whole $3.00. My issue with this price expansion is that a) it happens too often without our choice and b) nothing relatively intelligible is being done for the conditions we travel in, even though we are paying for it (in more ways than one.)
Let's be honest, no one likes taking the subway or the bus. So let's talk about what the MTA could do for us before they request more money from our pockets.
The heat once you make way below is intense during the Summer. You are hit by a surge of humidity actually making you pray to be in the train now for the air conditioner. This combination of heat and humidity serves as a hotbed for everything unwelcome. At all costs, you should avoid touching anything! That includes the rails, turnstiles, walls, posters, doors, benches, and windows. Basically the only thing you should be touching, unfortunately, is your tush to the seat and the floor (with shoes, of course.) Which brings me to saying NEVER underestimate what is on the subway floors and make the mistake of trudging this through your home. There are so many germs that a team of scientists uncovered a whole new list of unheard of microbes but also found ones that regrettably bare resemblance to those of the Bubonic Plague and anthrax. And don't get me started on the bedbugs. The bad thing is when you have no choice but to hold onto the poles and other devices designed for that purpose or else you face the doom of embarrassingly wriggling or falling all over the subway car.
Now most trains are in need of a complete overhaul. Carved graffiti, among other types, are nothing new as you use your peripherals to scan the sides of where you are sitting. Scum and grit also detail the sidelines of these train cars. Some trains, like those on the E line are in adequate standing but still tend to have one of New York City’s many displaced homeless calling it "home". Others like the C train are old but still not as bad as the A line which makes the longest single ride trip of all subway lines here in NY.
The A trains are covered in a hue that induces vomit. For most, there is a coffee-with-three- creams color draped over the walls and laid out on the floor beneath you. The only difference is the bright idea to put speckles of white, black, and pale orange in the flooring perhaps to distinguish it? Which the slabs of old, black gum pieces could have done seamlessly. On other A trains you might see a black floor be-speckled with white and blue dots. Though mismatched, it looks highly better. The seats are a preschool yellow and orange with cream trimming. It seems like the MTA needs to hire an interior decorator to get with the times. As one of the first subway lines, the A is in need of dire renovation.
If you are (un)lucky you get to experience a real life horror movie moment when the stretch of lights flicker on and off in the subway cars. The reason being a missed connection between the signals of the rails and shoes equipped in trains.
Anyone who has taken the trains here knows there is no where to keep your eyes that won't be awkward or wrong. But there are uninspiring, irrelevant advertisements peeking at you and serving as a twist, you would rather look at them than the mean mugs of the passengers.
Some other suggestions for betterment include having an officer on board each train, in one car at very least. When you consider the crimes committed aboard or around subway lines, especially as of late, it makes perfect sense to utilize an officer on board. From the slashings that have caused widespread anxiety among all New Yorkers to a story that took place just last month where a young female was attacked in front of her parents on board the 1 train by two other young females, we need a bid for safety. The motive for the attack was a hate crime against the passenger’s Asian ethnicity. But even more disturbing was that her very own parents were helpless in getting the attackers to stop hitting their daughter. No one stepped in to assist and this is exactly why we need an NYPD officer on trains. At $2.75 and constantly rising, I do not view that as a fair price to ride in filth and worry. And with this latest unveiling of a new price increase to swipe those flimsy yellow cards, it is infuriating.
The money they are requesting from us is too much combined with the amount of other taxes we pay. This including the sales tax we pay directly to the MTA every time we buy regular items like a soda or sandwich. Consider this, in 2015 the MTA reported that 5.7 million people use the subway alone each day for commuting. Now you do the math: 5.7 million riders per day paying $2.75 each is a whopping $15,675,000. This amount not even including the taxes just mentioned. Keeping all this mind should alert you that these funds could sum up to sufficient amounts to serve us more properly.
All in all, despite the MTA taking “public comment”, they will get their way. So ultimately the little people will have to stump up their quarters, nickels, and dimes to ride their unsanitary buses and trains. This is inevitable. All we ask in return is that our dollars go to serving us in the ways listed here.
