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Big City has all types, some use the subways daily, some like me use it weekly, some drive or take cabs. City has a huge bus system that connects to the subways along with Express busses that get you to the outer reaches. Its learning all the aspects of the NYC mass transit system that makes this city so unique. Today I hopped the Staten Island Railroad to the Staten Island Ferry to the #1 subway to the #3 subway train to Times Square to check out Fleet Week in the city. Thursday I'll head out to Citi Field in Queens for the Mets game on mass transit. Riding the subways Monday thru Friday is busy but pretty simple. But weekends or after hours the system gets tricky with maintenance delays, lines changed, or shut down ... So you really have to think ahead, know your options, and stay alert.
How do natives learn the system? Practice and exposure. And walking up to the conductor when the train pulls in, and double-checking.
It's like learning a second language and indeed the system has its own peculiar grammar. Rather, since it is really three systems rolled into one, it is like a language that has antecedents from Latin and Greek and Aramaic, some of which are readily apparent.
Despite vast improvements in signage over the past 30 years or so, I can see how the system is wholly impenetrable to outsiders. Come on, the sign on the mezzanine says "Downtown" or just "D" with an arrow, and the sign on the platform says "To Coney Island via West End," and the sign on the train says "Stillwell Av," and the conductor announces "Brooklyn-bound." You have to be really up on your geographical redundancies and your lingo to understand where you are going. I remember reading about someone who had thought for years that there was a Culver Avenue in Brooklyn. Well, of course! Makes sense.
Sure, when I go to Chicago I have no trouble. The sign on the platform says "Howard" and the sign on the train says "Howard" and there is only one train that goes to Howard. Simple.
I do like helping tourists who wound up at 125th and St. Nick, who were trying to get to the Museum of Natural History, to get on the local back downtown to 81st. There always seems to be a wayward family every time I am in that station.
That said, I am really impressed by the tourists who give the system a go.
I am wondering about learning styles and learning the subway system.
I don't know if I can learn it. My perceptual/spacial skills might be lacking.
My dream is to return to NYC and explore neighborhoods using the subway, but I don't know if this is realistic. I am not sure HOW to learn it.
Let's say you are in the meat-packing district and want to go to Korea Town. What is the first thing you do?
Get a smart phone. Open Google Maps. Click the "Directions" icon.
Type "Meat-packing district" into the first line.
Type "Koreatown" into the second line.
Make sure you click on the icon for transit (as opposed to car or walking).
Presto.
I just did it. Gives choices to walk to the L and then transfer to the F or M and walk the rest of the way OR walk to the L and then transfer to PATH and walk the rest of the way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nobodysbusiness
Look at a map and then what?
Also, how do you figure out if you need to take a bus to a certain destination?
The color-coded maps look really confusing to me.
Of course, if you don't want or have a smart phone, you look at the subway map, find where you are, see where you want to be, and then see the train that best gets you there.
If you are not 100% sure, you can always do what everyone else in NYC does--ask somebody. I rarely take city buses, but I had to take one to LaGuardia once. I knew what the first bus should be, and I knew there were two possibilities for transfer, but I was unsure which was best. I asked someone on the bus.
The entire bus got into the conversation, with opinions flying back and forth on where I should get off and which bus I should take next. When I got off the bus, everyone was waving and wishing me a good flight to Florida. It was truly a New York Moment.
before smart phones, if people took a trip some place where they didn't go before, let's say a doctor's office.. they may have asked an office receptionist how to get there. Another way was to speak to the station booth attendant and they would give you a free map to keep with you. Many people used maps, kept them at home.
Most people took a same route each day, to home/school etc. The subway 'system' is meant for everyone (public) to use.. therefore it is fairly simple.
At least 80% of the time, "Brooklyn-bound" in Manhattan means "downtown." I can think of one exception right off the bat, the J that runs uptown from Broad St. to Brooklyn, and I'm sure there must be a few more (I guess the Brooklyn-bound L is neither up- nor downtown!). But even that one doesn't have an opposing "Queens-bound" (now that would be confusing!). Once I figured that out, I was good.
At least 80% of the time, "Brooklyn-bound" in Manhattan means "downtown." I can think of one exception right off the bat, the J that runs uptown from Broad St. to Brooklyn, and I'm sure there must be a few more (I guess the Brooklyn-bound L is neither up- nor downtown!). But even that one doesn't have an opposing "Queens-bound" (now that would be confusing!). Once I figured that out, I was good.
Not too many. The American general population in a whole is low-end regarding geography. Most are not aware that both Queens and Brooklyn are on Long Island. Acumen is decreasing as automation complacency is deepened by smartphone reliance.
Not too many. The American general population in a whole is low-end regarding geography. Most are not aware that both Queens and Brooklyn are on Long Island. Acumen is decreasing as automation complacency is deepened by smartphone reliance.
I don't necessarily agree with that, but a lot of people I know are terrible with geography.
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