Down the subway station of Union Square was another city of its own, people running around trying to catch the next train, it felt like I would be attacked if I swiped my card incorrectly and stalled the line. The subway station was like a portal, stepping into the train and going into
nothing but darkness in sight picking up and letting people out along the way. Next thing you know as you step back out into the real world, you end up in Brooklyn, the more chilled out version of Manhattan.
We walked down another stairwell but this time it wasn't a subway station, it was a museum. A museum of subways, the MTA, it also seemed like a portal, but instead it was a time portal of trains.
We walked down another flight of stairs and there on the tracks were trains all the way back from the 19th century. Each of them had a story of their own, everything from the commercials displayed all around to the interior design of the trains.
From the soft comfortable seats in the past to the more rigid chairs, it seemed that people began to care more about the economical value than the comfort of their passengers. From the ads that went from the more cartoon-like pictures of different products such as soap, chocolate...etc. to a train that was filled with commercials of the products associated only with subways, socks with the subway map on them for example. This made me realize that subways became a transport system that cared less of the people's needs and more of the money coming out of it. Nonetheless it still remains a fascinating system.
When you mention the transition of the subways from being comfortable in the past to becoming more focused on the "economic value" of them, do you mean to say that the two things are mutually exclusive? Is discomfort part of the modern life of New Yorkers? Don't you think its better for the fast paced, modern life in New York for the subways to be less comfortable and just a means of getting to your destination and nothing else. You don't get lazy, you don't get comfortable, you just reach your destination in an instant just like "teleporting" in a science fiction. So, don't you think its discomfort makes it the modern way of commuting? Just a thought...
ReplyDeleteWell both ways you're going to be using the subway as a means of transportation, the subway ride is somewhat a short break from all the walking and from the very busy day. It is not necessarily modern, I mean a person might as well be comfortable while they're on the subway, it's not like their going to stay in the subway overnight, they would still have their errands to run. In our case for example, with us walking all day, the subway ride is also our short break,since you're already there, wouldn't you want it to be comfortable?
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