My nasty subway story. It was rainy, no cabs, I was late for an appointment and jumped on a crowded train with a copy of Paris Match. I sat down and opened the magazine in front of my face to make myself my own little room. I felt someone too close, put the magazine down, and a man’s very excited private part was staring me in the face. I hurried to alert the conductor to the pervert. “Lady, unless the winning PowerBall numbers are written on it, no one cares.”

Lovely.

The NYC Subway is not that bad. I ride at @1AM going home from work and it is packed with others, never empty (24/7). I do the Times puzzle and when I get to my stop there are 24/7 diners and shops on the three blocks to my apartment, so if I think anyone is following me I can duck into one. (It happened 3x in 20 years.) The cars are not always the cleanest (I have been in the DC subway; it wouldn’t last a minute here), but strides are being made. Whenever relatives visit, they always want me to take them on the subway. Now there’s an endorsement.

I have to be careful reading on BART; more than once I have gotten so transfixed by the reading that I have missed my station. When I am with a friend, I almost always converse—or eavesdrop. Some of the eavesdropping is prime. Especially when people are talking on cell phones. I don’t think they realize they are not alone. People watching is usually pretty good on BART too. I did notice when visiting Washington that people were unusually quiet on the Metro. I thought at the time it was sleep deprivation, but it could be an uncommon devotion to duty. On cable cars, it is perhaps a mistake to try to read. But I do love reading on trains.

I was a subway virgin before I rode the Metro for the first time 2 weeks ago visiting DC area for business-fantastic! What can I say, we don’t have mass transit on that level in Wisconsin. I felt like an idiot because I couldn’t figure out how to get into the station, the nice metro worker showed me how, and it took me a bit to figure out how to get to my destination, but I really enjoyed the ride. But as a first time rider, I was really tired by the end of the day, and part of it was all of the work involved in trying to get where I needed to go, I couldn’t imagine doing that every day to get to work, I’d be tired before work even began! ha! But over 3 days I became proficient in Metro and enjoyed my time there. I’m probably spoiled for the other mass transit lines in the country, but I’m glad DC Metro was my first.

The last time I rode the DC subway, a few weeks after 911, they made an announcement that they would not be stopping at the pentagon exit due to an unfolding situation. I felt panic locked in that tube.

BART is the prototype for the WAMTA and the Atlanta People Mover, and like that. The tube under the San Francisco Bay between SF and Oakland is an engineering marvel. It was inspired by an earthworm, and is articulated to roll in all directions on the mud of the bay floor, so in case of earthquake, the BART tunnel is one of the safest places in the Bay Area. Cool, huh?

it has been many years since i was on a subway. the last time was in austrailia, while clean, it was dark and gloomy, similar to the nyc trains. the tube in london was quite another story, bright and clean. when i lived in manhattan i rode the trains more often… oasis is not one of the words that comes to mind when i think back on those experiences.

I commute on the D.C. Metro daily, and it is true that no one talks. Given how much noise is around me all day at work, I relish the quiet subway ride, especially in the morning. At the end of the day, there are always tourists on the metro, so the noise level is a bit higher. I love the cleanliness of the system, but during the summer months when there are more tourists in the system, it does become more of a mess sometimes. Some days the only quiet time I have to catch up on my reading is during my commutes.

I read for most of my daily train ride from New Jersey to New York and back, but when we pass through the Meadlowlands I make it a point to stop and look out the window. Now that spring is here, I routinely see egrets, ducks, cormorants, swans and maybe even a red-winged blackbird or two. Now I look forward each day to the opportunity to get in a little bird-watching as part of my NYC commute.

Just back from my first trip ever to DC, went w/my dtr (who was attending a conference) and 22 yr-old grandson, who had never been to DC either. Loved DC! Loved the metro (although the escalators are a challenge for someone with acriphobia AND claustriphobia). Grandson cracked the Metro code right away, we had a blast. We were those talkative tourists. Traveled at off-peak times, not very crowded. On one of the trips we were jointly working on a crossword puzzle, and a lovely young woman, clearly a native, joined in and solved one of the clues! I also had a fun conversation with a striking young DC police officer - very friendly. In fact, we didn’t have one negative experience the entire time we were there.

In Italy,traveling alone as a youngster,by train,expecting Italian stations to be in English! Fortunately I caught on fast!