The instant after one swipes their MetroCard and proceeds through the turnstile, they are entering the underground circus we New Yorkers call the subway. Over five million people use the subway to travel everyday in, out, and around the City. By taking a ride on a city train, one can truly experience New York because it contains all of the essential New York elements. The subway system truly represents the pure and concentrated essence of New York because it is animated, efficient, diverse, full of panhandlers, and raucous.
When one thinks New York, one of the very first thoughts that come to mind is how full of life it is. The subway system is no exception to this idea. While walking through the station, there is a very good chance that someone is putting on a show right there in the middle of the afternoon rush. Performers play on their makeshift drums that most of us call buckets, make amazing melodies using a bow against a saw, sing along to old blues songs, and play guitar riffs resembling Jimi Hendrix’s style. Once you have passed these musicians and have found a seat on the train, you are not completely done hearing everything the subway has to offer. The door connecting your car to the next opens and what else but a mariachi band comes through. They stand together, forming a circle, and wearing traditional mariachi band attire, sombreros and all, begin to play. After they are done going around asking for donations, they proceed to the next car. If these performances alone were not enough to convince someone that the subway is full of life, maybe the sheer amount of people who pass by them in ten minutes will. Over 5,000,000 people ride the subway everyday to school and work, to learn and get paid. With all of these people using the trains, it is undoubtedly a fast-paced environment.
People are always in a rush down in the subway. It as if some of them have very carefully planned out their schedule from the time the wake up until the time they get to wherever it is they are going in a way that they must run from one train to the next in order to avoiding standing on the platform waiting for the next train. Other subway riders have not done this, but instead they are part of what I like to call “the green line dash”. At one of the major train stops, Union Square, the second the arrived train doors have opened, it is an all out race to the platform where the 4, 5, and 6 train come into the station. There are two kinds of runners in this race, the line runner and the weaver. The line runner takes a straight path to the next train without a care of what is in his/her way because they know that anyone that is, will move. The weaver finds wholes between other racers and zigzags their way to their destination. Another reason why there may be all of this rushing is because of the straphanger’s number one rule; first come first seat. Since there are so many people taking the train and there is a limited number of seats, the first person to see the open seat and gets to it, sits.
Once one is settled in a seat, the next quintessential New York quality is found, diversity. Who is sitting next to you? Perhaps it is one of the easily noticeable camera-wearing, MTA-map-reading, backpack-slinging tourist. This person could be from anywhere at all in the world and is definitely not the only one from that country to have sat in that car in the last two hours. Maybe it is the typical businessman wearing is tailored suit, tie, and over coat whose hair was very carefully combed into place strand by strand and is reading one of his six newspapers. Also, it could very well be that you are sitting across from a homeless person who is surrounded by all of their possessions that have been put into bags and placed somewhere on a cart. For now they are asleep, but later on they could be working that train to earn some cash.
Panhandlers are all over New York, but one place they can call “home” is on New York City trains. These entrepreneurs come selling candy for their basketball teams, schools, or any other organization they can think of and at a dollar a pop, make ordinary train riders their customers. Nothing is better than satisfying a hungry stomach on the train then one of these businessmen to walk through the door, Hershey bar in hand. Another type of panhandler that has already been mentioned but is a major part of the subway system are the performers who go from car to car playing for whoever will listen. They walk around with their hats out after their number and hope for some donations. The last group of panhandlers kicks it old school. They are dressed in dirty clothes, haven’t shaved in weeks and simply ask for money. They have no gimmick, they are homeless and poor and searching for change. They start off with “Ladies and gentlemen…” and continue with their request for anything you can give them. Their cry for help goes unheard to the riders who are plugged into their iPods.
The noise level of the subway system is unbearable to some; these people work for the MTA and wear noise reduction headphones. As for the rest of us, we have to deal with the rumble of the trains as they zoom by on the middle track or come to a screeching stop in front of the platform. As well as the noise from the trains, there are announcements being made constantly over the speakers that are totally incoherent. When the performers play on the train at a reasonable volume are in absence, there is still a cornucopia of music blasting from the headphones of a fellow riders who listen to their music at a dangerous volume; something I am guilty of doing.
In summary, the subway system of New York embodies all of the necessary attributes of quintessential New York. It is animated, efficient, diverse, full of panhandlers, and raucous. Truly, there is no better way to experience a bite-size portion of New York than to take a ride on the City’s trains.