London Tube vs. NYC Subway

NYC SUBWAY STATION

LONDON TUBE STATION

Fellow New Yorker Annie Scott wrote a wonderfully fun article for Gadling travel blog entitled 10 Reason's London's Tube is better than the NYC subway.  (See below.)  And while I greatly respect Ms. Scott's well articulated opinions, being a fan of the New York City subway system, I feel compelled to respond.

10 reasons London Tube is better than NYC subway

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Zella’s response:

• 1. Full Maps In Subway Stations.

 Okay—fair enough.  It’s rather nice to know where one is going.

• 2. Lack of rats.

Humph.  I do not see rats every day in subway stations.  Nearly every day, yes.  Every day, no.  And besides, rats, graffiti-filled walls, and discarded food on train floors provides lots of urban angst, which fuels artistic creativity.  A clean environment leads to banal writing, I say!

• 3. Cushions. 

I’m wary of cushions and fabric.  They harbor bacteria.  I like NYC’s plastic subway seats, which can be hosed down with bleach solution.  Remember the poor homeless bloke who had his bare, blackened, gangrenous leg elevated on a subway seat?  Bleach and plastic are our friends.

• 4. Seat dividers. 

Armrests are a good thing?!  In my experience, they lead to elbow sparring.  New Yorkers have sharp elbows.  Not fun.

• 5. Train times on screens.

I’m happy to report that many NYC stations are finally providing screens with train times.  (Hallelujah!)

• 6. & 7. Signage/Signage2. 

Good points.  Can’t argue.  I have bad vision and enjoy reading a properly printed, properly displayed sign.

• 8. Announcements.

(Please see my “urban angst” commentary in #2.)  Can’t hear or understand the names of stations?  Nothing creates angst like coming home to Brooklyn in the wee hours of the morning and missing my stop because of a garbled announcement, then spending the next hour backtracking to the correct transfer point.  Angst=good fiction writing.

• 9. Attractions. 

Train announcements should include local attractions and be tourist friendly??!  What next?  Give tourists free tickets to Broadway plays and vouchers for free lodging at the Waldorf?  Jeesh.  This coddling would only turn NYC into a veritable “nanny state” for tourists.

• 10. Fewer ads, more maps. 

Hey, Dr. Zizmore is an NYC icon!  I’ve been to his office.  He has a picture on his wall of him posing with Queen Elizabeth.  ‘Nuff said, right?

• 11. One final point in defense of the NYC subway system: SUBWAY MUSICIANS
  

Subway musicians perform some of the finest music you can hear in New York City.  Musicians also perform in London Tube stations, of course, but when I hear them, I can never fail to compare the experience to what happens in New York.  In Tube stations, the musicians perform well enough . . . but the reserved Londoners do not congregate around their musicians in the same numbers as New Yorkers do around theirs.  Consequently, a musical performance in a New York subway can turn into a "happening," which can be quite exciting.  Also, Londoners do not get down with the music like New Yorkers do.  You don't see dancing, clapping, and swaying to the music like you do here.  Instead, you see people politely watching for a moment and then going on their way.  Also, listening to a Tube musician in a clean Tube station is like attending a rock concert at Lincoln Center--the venue just isn't right for the performance.  On the other hand, listening to music in a dirty, New York subway station is similar to attending a concert at Webster Hall--totally cool.

But know what? . . .     I still ♥  the London Tube.    :-)

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