Thoughts on the Tracks

Here I am in our nations capital.  They have the nicesest subways here.  I mean the NICEST subways I have ever seen in the United States (maybe the world, well, no -in Budapest they had a celebratory 100 year old car in their subway to celebrate being the first subway -That was the nicest subway).  This is by far the nicest in the States, though, and despite what Bill -The employee of the MTA who I met at Brian’s party last week (really nice guy)- says, it runs pretty smoothly (Bill said it was starting to need maintenance).  Not perfect, (there were a few jerky starts after a stop at the DuPont Station), but overall, it’s much smoother than NY.  Sorry Bill, this is one nice ride.

And cleaner too!  Check out these pictures I took of these tracks!  If you were a rat in this subway system, you’d starve!  And every station had a clock telling you when the next train was coming -I had to wait 6 minutes for a train in Union Center, which isn’t very good at 8pm, but who cares cause at least they told me!  Oh, and the walls!  Great, big waffles of concrete arching over to the other side like a giant, Roman stadium entrance.  They’re massive and intimidating.  They kinda reminded me of Blade Runner.  In the middle of the tracks they have florescent lights that give a futuristic glow to the trains cutting through the station (all we have in NY is a third rail with 10,000 volts and has everyone wondering what someone touching it will look like).

They have cushy vinyl seats too, and carpeting.  Not that crappy orange drink color seats that we have that make you slide everywhere when you stop.  And they seem roomier too.  I just felt like putting my feet up and relaxing.

I’ve thought about going back to school, getting a law degree, running for public office and obtaining civil authority just so that I can work to positively influence the NYC Subway system.  It’s that much of a mess.  And it’s not just me.  Everytime there’s an article on Gothamist about a fare hike or a subway something, dozens of people comment.  And why?  Because the subway affects everyone that takes it.  And if you take it frequently, it becomes a part of you and you begin to take it personally.  Here is a picture of what the NYC Subway looks like:

So last Friday I, along with a bunch of others, had a long conversation with Bill about the MTA and all its problems and needs of fixing (the system takes in millions a day, but still takes millions more to run).  It’s an ancient system and in need of lots of work.  I made my two cents heard by pushing for an Adopt-A-Station type program where you give spare change and what not to your station and all that money can only be used to beautify your station.  I also requested more entrances because nothing is worse than getting off the train and having to stare at a guys butt because it’s so packed and there’s not enough exits.  

I could go on.  I haven’t given up my dream of running the MTA, though I know nothing about it (and yet surprisingly more than most).  It’s one of those things we NYer’s take for granted.  That it’ll just work.  And for the most part it does.  Even if employees sleep on the job.  Even if the smell is awful.  Even if it drips in weird places water tainted with rust.  Bill said his favorite part of the subway in NY was it’s people, and I can’t help but agree.  I remember telling my cousin once after he told me how he hates the subway.  ’It’s poetry’ I said.  And I believed it, though not everyday.  Then, last year, sure enough he emailed me an article from the NY Times stating the obvious fact in a 1000 words or so…The Subway was indeed Poetry.

That said, watch this….

Tags: Bill the MTA employee, DC Metro, MTA, Subway