I don't like driving. I don't like having to pay for gas, insurance, car payments, repairs, and then dealing with all the danger and responsibility? No thank you.
I've managed to avoid having to drive by going to school in the city- we have a 24 hour subway system, an extensive bus system, and relatively clear directions on how to use them. Additionally, they're incredibly affordable.
I myself am a "subway" person. Some people prefer to take a bus places, others prefer the subway. I'd rather take a zippy little train through the underbelly of the city than hop on a crowded bus and stop at every red light in crowded Manhattan. The bus is nice if I'd have to walk really far, or if it's raining. But otherwise I'll walk or take a train as close as I can get to where I need to be. I love having the ability to wait no more than 10 minutes to catch a train that will take me darn near anywhere I want to go.
But some days, I hate the MTA.
Last Wednesday, there were computer problems at 86th Street on the 4-5-6 line, and it took me over an hour and a half to get home from Canal street.
Typically, I can get from my job to the dorms in about a half hour, maybe 45 minutes if I dilly-dally.
It took twice that long, because I waited 25 minutes for a train at Canal street, then it went one stop to Spring street, at the slowest pace I can imagine.
I would have gotten off, but my concern was that I didn't know that area terribly well. I didn't know if the bus was around, I didn't know what other train lines ran nearby, and since I'm underground, I didn't have service. A wonderful combination, don't you agree??
After sitting on a train with a crying child for 15 minutes (I like small children about as much as I like driving) I decided that nothing could be worse than this circle of hell, and decided that it was a night for an adventure.
Turns out, about 2 blocks from the Spring Street stop is the N-Q-R stop for Prince street. When I arrived there, my gut reaction was panic, since I saw hordes of people waiting on that platform too. I wondered if there were delays here too and if I should just walk home - but I was in heels and lazy.
Thankfully, and R train came almost instantaneously. I hopped on and nearly broke my neck tripping over bags and bags of food. Some students had gone grocery shopping and decided to take up half the subway car with their goods! That was one of the angriest trains I've ever been on. Everyone was crammed in around the produce and glared at the two young men who seemed to lord over this food like they were proud of their haul and the inconvenience they caused us all.
Finally I hit 23rd Street and could get off. I might have "accidentally" stepped on a bag of oddly crunchy mushrooms on my way out... but there was nowhere to walk in that car! I couldn't help it!
The N-Q-R comes up only 2 blocks over from where the 6 stops on 23rd Street, so luckily, the walk wasn't too much of an inconvenience. I wish a bus had shown up, but they were all heading in the opposite direction, so I simply had to walk home.
Some days I love the miracle that is the New York City transportation system. We move millions of people all around the city at lightning speeds. That system keeps the world of finance, of law, of government, and of media moving. The subway is was permits New York to be "the city that never sleeps", in my opinion.
But god, some days, I want a stretch limo and a police escort like the president gets. No one can stop me, no one can hold me up. No more smelly businessmen, or obnoxious high schoolers to knock into me, or little children who wipe their runny noses on their sleeves and then grab onto a subway pole.
My train experience has been fine since, for the record.
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