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I worked downtown, Wall Street. Nearly everyone from the C- Suite who commuted between Westchester, Long Island, Ct and NJ to the messengers used the subways to commute. It takes too long to get from point A to B, above ground.
Masses of kids in school uniforms commuting to/ from $60,000/ yr private schools were among the daily riders.
The very wealthy and politically connected typically have private cars/ drivers waiting out front or in building garages at the beck and call of their bosses.
I've never been to New York City, so I have no idea how the subway really works there. I know that New York City is one of the exceptions to the rule. There are high-earning people who take the subway. For New York City, it's a necessity. NYC is also very expensive, so it makes sense that alot of high-earning people will live there. A few people who have been to NYC have told me that the subways tend to be dirty.
This is where I was trying to get to. In alot of major cities outside of the USA, public transportation is seen as a good thing. Places like London, Tokyo, Paris, Frankfurt, etc. It is looked at as part of the greater good. I feel like the attitude towards public transportation in places like the UK, Germany, France, Japan,etc is different. There are wealthy people who use it in NYC. However, I do think the public transportation systems struggling with filth and its association with "undesirables" might have a connection.
Different cities, different countries, different cultures, different things that are tolerated.
The Tokyo rail is among the cleanest subway systems in the world. One thing I've noticed is this. In some other countries, public transportation is viewed as something you just have. It is looked at a necessity, a greater good. In America, with a few exceptions, it's viewed as something the poor and the "undesirables" use. Cities have it, but you can tell there isn't much respect for it.
It's all about culture. That and you get what you accept. I like visiting New York City, but even if I was a multi millionaire, I wouldn't live in that city.
I travel and have experienced public transportation, done the right way. Clean, safe, efficient. Not just the stations but the cars themselves. Spotless...
Anyone who can even pretend to be proud of the NYC subway system, has never experienced a good system. It's ok, a blind person might be convinced that if you mix green, brown and black together that you get a beautiful color. It isn't their fault. They have never seen a sunrise or a sunset. New Yorkers simply don't know any better. Just like Chicago folks shrug at their crime and say "That isn't us that the other side of Chicago." As if that makes it ok.
Different cities, different countries, different cultures, different things that are tolerated.
The Tokyo rail is among the cleanest subway systems in the world. One thing I've noticed is this. In some other countries, public transportation is viewed as something you just have. It is looked at a necessity, a greater good. In America, with a few exceptions, it's viewed as something the poor and the "undesirables" use. Cities have it, but you can tell there isn't much respect for it.
1) Yeah but NYC subways are nasty even when you just compare around the US. I mean seriously, they even wear that as a badge of honor to some degree.
2) I'd never picked up on the subways = undesirables stigma? Where did you ever get that vibe? Like some area with a "baby" metro system? Quite curious to learn more about this.
It's all about culture. That and you get what you accept. I like visiting New York City, but even if I was a multi millionaire, I wouldn't live in that city.
I travel and have experienced public transportation, done the right way. Clean, safe, efficient. Not just the stations but the cars themselves. Spotless...
Anyone who can even pretend to be proud of the NYC subway system, has never experienced a good system. It's ok, a blind person might be convinced that if you mix green, brown and black together that you get a beautiful color. It isn't their fault. They have never seen a sunrise or a sunset. New Yorkers simply don't know any better. Just like Chicago folks shrug at their crime and say "That isn't us that the other side of Chicago." As if that makes it ok.
The Chicago violence doesn't make it OK, just that most people think the entire city is unsafe when in reality it's pretty safe in the areas any tourist would ever go.
Now that raises some very disturbing other issues but it's a pretty valid point when the conversation is about how safe it is to visit the city or live there.
I'm just aware of this because I have 2 friends that were freaking out about Chicago and I had to explain how it basically has relatively small, extremely dangerous areas but the other areas are fine.
I am a huge fan of subways and subway architecture and make a point to use them throughout the world, where available.
Subways everywhere are a reflection of the people who use them.
[. . .]
It’s a reflection of the ridership.
That last sentence, right there, is the crux of the matter.
Some things are baked into a system when it's built, and they're very hard to change. Architecturally speaking, New York's subway system is horribly ugly. So too is Philadelphia's. Chicago's is meh, as is Boston's. Atlanta's, Baltimore's, Los Angeles', and Miami's are pretty nice looking. San Francisco's is pretty impressive. And Washington's is beautiful. Again, I'm speaking architecturally.
But it's the ridership that makes the difference. New York's subway is always going to be ugly, but the reason that it's so disgustingly filthy is that the riders make it so. Not all of them, of course, but enough of them.
I've ridden two subways in Asia, the ones in Seoul and in Busan. Architecturally, they're both OK, but not great. Probably Baltimore and Los Angeles are their closest American counterparts, architecturally speaking. But they're spotlessly clean. Why? Because the riders don't mess them up. Good luck finding a trash can, but it doesn't matter; the people take their trash with them.
As middle-aged mom so aptly put it, it's a reflection of the ridership.
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